If you missed it (and it would be hard to do so if you spent even a minute online today), Abercrombie offered to pay some of the Jersey Shore goof balls NOT to wear their clothes. Truly, a brilliant PR move.

One of the keys to success in PR is understanding shifts in popular culture. In this case, the folks at Abercrombie realized that the 15 minutes are just about up (or should be, anyway) for the untalented, overexposed clowns who “star” on Jersey Shore.

The move has worked incredibly well in terms of overall brand exposure for Abercrombie. In one quick scan of my twitter feed, I saw stories in posts from Wall Street Journal, Forbes and CBS. There have been myriad posts on Facebook and this was one of the top 10 trending topics on Yahoo. Literally, I saw all this in under one minute.

Whatever Abercrombie is paying the Jersey Shore gang not to wear their brand, it is well worth it. Abercrombie is raking in millions (maybe billions) of media impressions today, and getting people to talk about their brand.

Well done, Abercrombie PR team!

Light Rail…right idea, wrong execution

I’m afraid Detroit’s light rail plans are ill-conceived.  A parking lot at the State Fair Grounds near 8-mile, with a train that heads downtown.  Why would I want to drive 14 miles, park the car, then take the train? 

A rail that runs the length of Woodward from Jefferson to M-59 in Pontiac, with stops in Birmingham, Royal Oak, Ferndale and a couple spots in Detroit would be ideal.  Costly, yes.  But, much more useful.  I know some of my friends are much closer to this initiative than I am…let me hear your opinions. 

Movie business – keep the incentives

I’ve spent a lot of time listening to both sides of the film industry incentives debate.  The rational, number crunching side of my brain fully understands the governor’s stance…

But, there is more to the film incentives than just the numbers.  There is something to be said for creating buzz and enthusiasm in the region.  Nothing has created more buzz in the region the past several years than the budding film industry.  Let’s keep the incentives…let’s build a fun industry that keeps young talented people here in Michigan.

Let me hear from you on this issue…both pro and con. 

Jim Tressel should be fired…

There I said it.  Are you happy Todd Krieger?

The Chevy Volt is priced to fail…

I love the look of the Chevy Volt, and it is an engineering marvel.  But, at $32,000 it is simply too expensive for mainstream America to buy in volume.  I believe GM’s heart is in the right place, but the Volt will go down as a painful, overpriced mistake.  But, I really hope I am wrong.  Your thoughts?

I hope Travel and Tourism does well this summer…

Michigan’s second most important industry is probably Travel and Tourism…I think Pure Michigan is one of the best marketing campaigns ever (though, I must admit, the Pure Michigan spoofs are good too!).  I also will be doing my part to stimulate the state’s economy with at least two trips up north this Spring and summer to Bear Lake.  What about you?  Do you have travel plans within the state this year?  I’d love to hear about your favorite vacation spots. 

Good luck Tom Gores…

I’d have rather seen the Ilitch family buy the Pistons, but at least the sale is done.  The past season, the entire organization was in limbo, and it impacted the product on the court.  It will take some time to get the Pistons back to prominence, but, hopefully they will start moving in the right direction next year.

Good luck Red Wings…

The playoffs are here.  Go Wings.  I wish I could grow a decent playoff beard.

P90X works…

You’ve seen me and Dave post about P90X a lot…that’s because it works.  Best work out/nutrition plan ever.  If you want to get started, let us know.  We have some friends who are BeachBody consultants who can get you started.

Marathon and Half-Marathon training…

I’m probably going to do the Brooksie Way Half Marathon this fall.  Training starts now.  If you can run 20 miles a week by early June, you are in good enough shape to take the next step and train for a full marathon.  If you are up for the challenge, I am always happy to be part of a runner’s support system.   Let me know if you need advice, encouragement, or even an occasional running partner.

Okay…now I am ready for Wieme and his dissenting opinions…

So, here goes.  It’s kind of like how a Bill Becomes a Law…but for news releases:

Somewhere in lab “A” at some large company in America an engineer or scientist is looking for an adhesive product that can make his product better. Of course, you think “tape is tape,” but this guy has to bet his entire professional career on what tape he picks. There must be a tape out there that has properties that are superior to other tapes.

There also is some raging a-hole in purchasing who also thinks “tape is tape.” And he will sell his soul to buy mass quantities of tape at a penny per pound less. So internally at this behemouth company, we have a conflict between good tape vs. cheap tape.

Somewhere else across America in lab “B” a scientist who has spent the last 20 years dreaming up better ways to combine chemicals to make things stick together has a breakthrough. Stickier (but more expensive) tape!

Lab “B” also has a sales person who gets paid a healthy commission for selling the more expensive tape, and he has to come up with a way to justify the additional cost for his product.

There is likely a trade show looming…we’ll call it “AdhesiveCon” in Las Vegas…it is the one chance for Lab B to prove to the scientist and his purchasing goon at Lab A that Lab B tape has superior properties.

So, the Lab B sales guy says “We need a press release!”

So, the corporate PR folks, who are too busy communicating about “shareholder value” and trying to justify the gynormous salary of their egomaniacal CEO, call the agency.

The agency CEO, who is busy trying to win new clients, is at lunch at the DAC, so he assigns the task to one of his trusty VPs, who then assigns it to a 25-year-old two years removed from (insert name of partying MAC school here).

The 25-year-old, who got into this business dreaming of pitching Hollywood Insider on Paris Hilton’s next celeb appearance, grudingly rolls their eyes, mutters “I can’t believe I’m writing about Tape” and whips out a news release.

Back at Lab B, the sales guy and the scientist edit the sh** out of the release, injecting endless jargon and just plain bad grammar. They send the release back to the VP who really has no clue about the chemical properties of tape, so is in no position to stand up to the client.

The release goes back to the 25-year-old who puts together a media list and emails the release to anyone who ever heard of tape, has possibly used tape or can spell tape.

And, that, my friends, is how crappy news releases are made!

One sunny afternoon, Mike was listening to the Mitch Albom Show on WJR-AM 760, and Mitch was deriding Twitter as a silly fad, inviting listeners to call in and share their Twitter stories.  Mike called, actually went on the air and told Mitch that Twitter was a pretty powerful tool, gave the example of how we were using it and predicted that there were going to be both personal and business applications for Twitter that people haven’t even thought of yet.

Of course, Mitch and his sidekick Kenny Brown listened politely, then launched back into their own thoughts like “What do I care what Oprah had for breakfast?”  Clearly, Mitch (and Kenny), in the early stages of Twitter was completely missing the point.

Undaunted, The DeVilling Group kept looking for applications where Twitter could help build businesses.  Dave Wieme joined the firm with a clear mission: utilize social media to give our clients a stronger voice in the marketplace, find ways to drive traffic to their websites, turn “fans” into “customers” and then into “ambassadors of the brand” and finally, figure out how to raise our client’s SEO (of course SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization or how popular/high up on the search list a company is in a search engine, like Google).  We’ve done a lot…we are podcasting, managing client Facebook Fan pages, we are writing blogs, and yes…posting on Twitter. We have even had success with SEO.

And, it turns out that Twitter is quickly emerging as perhaps our clients’ most powerful social media marketing tool.  Some recent examples:

• The Michigan Sports Hall of Fame used Twitter to promote an online fundraising auction. The Twitter feeds led directly to the auction items posted on EBay and produced an average of 5,000 hits per day in just a five day period. The Tweets also resulted in hundreds of additional bids and MSHoF raised more than double their projected goal for their two-week long, online event.
• Cattails Golf Club in South Lyon, used Twitter to promote their indoor golf simulators this winter.  Web traffic jumped by 400 percent and the simulators were booked solid the latter half of December. At one point, Cattails GC was listed third on a Google search for “indoor golf Michigan” and they are the number 1-20 result when you search “indoor golf Michigan” on Twitter.
• Levanto Financial launched a Twitter campaign this past weekend.  After the first 160 tweets, there have been nearly 1,000 click-thrus to the company’s website and they have increased their website traffic by more than 100% over a three-day period.   

We have found Twitter to be an incredibly cost-effective and powerful social media marketing tool. 

We recently researched some stats and found that Twitter has more than 300 million accounts with people joining Twitter worldwide at a rate of 300,000 per day. Twitter is the SECOND largest search engine in the world showing numbers of more than 24 BILLION searches per month. People use their smart phones to Tweet and the research told us that the number of smart phones in the world is expected to more than triple in the next year.

Social media, namely Twitter, is where people are and we are encouraging and helping our clients find ways to reach out to this huge and rapidly expanding audience. 

Oh, and by the way…Mitch has seen the light – TIMES TWO.  You can follow him at http://twitter.com/#!/freepmitch or http://twitter.com/#!/MitchAlbom.

Follow Mike DeVilling at: http://twitter.com/#!/mikedevilling

Follow Dave Wieme at: http://twitter.com/#!/DavidWieme

See you in the Twittosphere!

Now, before you roll your eyes and say, “There he goes again, bragging about one of his kids,” please hang in there…yes, I’m bragging a tiny bit.  But, I have a point and there is a lesson to be learned.

Seeing Taylor’s Algebra grade made me smile…and made tears well up in my eyes.  Taylor is a bright kid, but math has always been a struggle.  Everybody is wired a little differently, and Taylor just happens to be one of those people that needs a little more time for mathematical concepts to sink in.

But, when Taylor was younger, it was something that truly worried my wife Jana and me.  Should we get a tutor?  Is she falling behind?  What should we do?

When Taylor was in fourth grade and our fears were probably at their highest point, we were at parent/teacher conferences.  We shared our concerns with her teacher, and this is what he said:

“Well, college isn’t for everybody.”

College isn’t for everybody.  I can still hear these words hanging in the air as if it happened yesterday.  Now, it is true…college isn’t for everybody.  But, Jana and I were not about to give up on our nine-year-old daughter.

I don’t think we’ve ever shared this story with Taylor and if she’s reading this blog (hi, sweetie!), she might be hearing this for the first time.  In fact, I’m not sure Jana and I ever really discussed it.  We just went back to life as usual.  We created an expectation in Taylor and her sisters…work hard, get good grades, go to college.

As the years went by, Taylor simply grew up.  She became more focused.  She developed good study habits.  And, while math has never been easy, she’s always done okay.

A couple months ago, I went to the mail box.  There was a letter from the Central Michigan University admissions office.  My heart was pounding through my chest.  I yelled up the steps, “Taylor…come down here, there’s something in the mail for you.”

As Taylor opened the envelope, I was literally shaking…then, I saw a big smile cross her face, and tears of joy and relief began to stream down her face.  Jana and I ran up the steps and hugged her, sharing a good cry.  It was simply one of the most beautiful and proud moments of my life.

Taylor is in.  College.  Central Michigan University, Class of 2015.

And the great lesson to be learned?  Never, ever let someone’s negativity stop you from focusing on your goal.  Believe in yourself.  Work hard.  It might not be easy.  But, you can do it.

Great job, Taylor.  You proved him wrong.

Money scripts.

No, it has nothing to do with the burgeoning film industry in Michigan.  It has everything to do with how people handle their finances, and in some cases, how money impacts relationships as adults.  From the time we are first conscious of the term “money,” we are influenced about how to handle finances.

I heard the term in a brainstorming session with a group of psychologists, sociologists, marketers, financial planners and religious leaders at our client, Levanto Financial in Troy.  Levanto Financial provides financial wellness technology and coaching to help people improve their cash-flow, save time, and put themselves in the best financial position possible.

The marketing challenge, frankly, is to get people to realize how much they actually need, and can benefit from, Levanto’s unique coaching services.  If you have income and expenses, you can benefit from Levanto (I’m not just a PR consultant, I’m also a client!).

As an important step in the process, CEO Paul Cloutier, brought together this eclectic group to better understand the barriers that people erect when it comes to personal finances.  Because I hadn’t had a psychology or sociology class since my junior year in college, I hadn’t really thought through to the obvious conclusion that our attitudes toward money are formed early in our childhood. 

Did you live in a family that spent freely and went on vacations, but didn’t really teach how those vacations were funded?  Or, were you raised by a depression-era grandparent who watched every nickel, didn’t trust banks and re-used everything?  Either way, it had a profound impact on how you view money today.

Knowing your own money script – or maybe having your financial coach or advisor help you figure it out – is an important step to setting and attaining financial goals. 

It is also important to know when your money script is flawed, or at least temporarily skewed by macro-economic events (smart sounding phrase, eh?  I did have two Econ classes in college!).  Conventional wisdom for somebody my age was “buy a house, put money in your 401(k).”  That was my money script and I followed it closely. 

For a long time, it worked…I thought (and maybe a few of you did, too) that this strategy would carry on forever.  But, housing values have plummeted and the stock market has been lackluster at best.  I need to take in this new info and adjust my money script.

The brainstorming session was an important step in our journey to truly fine-tune the customer service, marketing and communication approach for Levanto.   Based on this brainstorming session, we are conducting research to validate a few assumptions…is ‘budget’ a bad word from a prospect’s point of view (I like ‘financial road map’ a lot better.)?  Are we merely ‘helping clients increase cash flow’?  Or are we ‘empowering them to envision a better financial future’?

Either way, I’m looking forward to learning more about what motivates people to share the details of their financial lives, and helping carry this important message from Levanto Financial to their potential clients.  I do know this…people who work with Levanto rave about the impact it’s made on their lives.  The company is truly making a difference.

Don Draper, the brooding yet brilliant creative director, was the subject of a profile in the trade publication Ad Age.  But, the profile is less than flattering and causes great angst among his colleagues, as it is a missed opportunity for the agency.  When confronted about why the article didn’t contain certain pertinent facts, Don angrily retorts, “What was I supposed to do?  That was the reporter’s job.”

Of course, Don missed the boat.  Rather than looking at the interaction with the reporter as a strategic opportunity, he looked at it as a nuisance.  He should have prepared for the interview the way he prepares for a client pitch. 

If we were the PR firm for the agency Sterling, Cooper, Draper and Lane, how would we have counseled him to prepare?

The first question to ask…what are the pros and cons of doing the interview?  On the positive side, it would be good exposure for the agency and can help position the firm as a fast-rising, risk-taking creative agency.  On the negative side, would doing the interview cause more harm than good?  In last night’s episode, failure to mention one of the clients cost the agency a significant piece of business.

In this case, we would have to say “Mr. Draper, this interview is a great opportunity.  But, make sure we mention all the firm’s clients so no one feels slighted.”  In a case where there are multiple clients, we would likely provide a list to the reporter and ask that they be included in a side-bar, if possible.

Next, we would sit down with Mr. Draper and possibly one or two other executives to determine the agency’s key messages.  What are the firm’s unique strengths?  What are some examples of its work that underscore its risk-taking creative approach? 

Once Mr. Draper and the team agree on the messages to convey, we would then turn to what likely questions would be asked by the reporter.  We would do practice interviews with Mr. Draper to ensure he was prepared for as many questions as possible.  With practice, the agency’s key messages would become a habit.

By taking these simple steps Mr. Draper, or any executive facing an interview, would be well prepared to turn the interview into something positive, raising the visibility of the agency, which could lead to more business down the line.

Mr. Draper concluded the episode by doing a sit-down interview with a reporter from The Wall Street Journal.  He seemed to go off half-cocked again…we’ll see next week if this one blows up in his face or not!

On the surface, the programming seemed like a marketer’s dream…an hour of air-time devoted to one of the world’s biggest sports celebrities…a charity tie-in and a chance for his sponsors to get some additional visibility. Millions will tune in, everybody wins, right?

Well, the marketers forgot to ask one simple question.

“How is this going to play out?”

Visibility is not always the most important factor when PR people make decisions about strategies and tactics. As one prominent sports PR executive told me recently, “It’s all about protecting the brand.”

There were several factors working against LeBron in this instance. First of all, there were six teams in pursuit of LeBron. By announcing his decision live on television, there were five organizations and their cities and fans that were getting slapped across the face on national television. Fans in those cities buy a lot of Nike and Gatorade products. This stunt just cost a lot of goodwill.

A second huge factor is the economy. I saw a lot of Facebook chatter throughout the day leading up to “The Decision.” Much of it focused on “why should I care where some millionaire is going?” With unemployment and under-employment running at the highest levels in 30 years, and people already somewhat disgusted with out-of-control athlete salaries, the spotlight grabbing one-hour special comes off as incredibly shallow.

Next is the charity tie-in. I love the Boys & Girls Club and it’s good to see them get additional funding. But, LeBron, Nike or Gatorade could have just written a big check. Frankly, I think the charity tie-in backfired, as the Boys & Girls Club looked like another cog in Team LeBron’s marketing machine.

Finally, LeBron’s track record does not put him in the same class as Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant or even Isiah Thomas. They all have championship rings. LeBron has never even won a single game in the finals. Hard core basketball fans recognize LeBron as one of the most gifted players ever, but until he wins, he doesn’t merit this level of adulation.

So what would we have counseled LeBron to do? First, call each of the teams that pursued him recently and let them know with a personal phone call. It’s just common courtesy.

Next, spend a little more time thanking the Cleveland fans and Dan Gilbert publicly. They’ve treated LeBron like a king. But, that doesn’t mean he needs to treat them like peasants.

Finally, just hold a press conference. You didn’t cure cancer. You just signed with the Miami Heat. Keep it humble. That will play out well.

It is a hobby that I really enjoy, but I’ve been finding myself comparing a lot of things in life to poker. The other day, I was following up on a press release and pitching the media, when I began to notice similarities with poker. It was interesting and I thought I’d jot down some of my observations:

STUDY THE GAME

When it comes down to poker, the more you understand the game, the better player you will be. There are resources out there that can give you a poker education. And there are opportunities to go out and test what you learn – free poker online, local poker rooms, games with friends, etc. — and learn more.

When you pitch the media, you need to have studied “the game”. Know the publication or the show that you are pitching. Study their history — what stories they have done in the past and what the format of those stories has been. And then use “free” opportunities like you have with poker: call a friend with your pitch, send an email to another friend who has a critical eye. Get to know someone in the media and use them as a mentor for constructive criticism of your pitch.

KNOW YOUR OPPONENT

The best poker players study the other players at the table and gather as much information about them as they can. They study their verbal and non-verbal communication. They pay attention to the way their opponents play. Are they tight players, only playing when they have great hands? Are they loose players, check raising with rags? Great players gather any and all the information they can about their opponents and use this information when they play.

Do the same in PR – know your opponent, in this case the reporter you are pitching (okay, I know, they are not really an “opponent”…allow me some poetic license). Read past articles they have written, watch news stories they have done. Know tendencies of these reporters; do they usually do negative or positive stories, what beat do they usually cover, etc.? Find and read their bios; where did they work before, where did they go to college, do they have family, etc.? Do research on when and how they like to be pitched; email, phone call, meet face-to-face? Gather information and know your “player.” You will establish relationships, make better pitches and have greater success.

GET YOUR MONEY IN WITH THE BEST HAND

This is a phrase you don’t hear often, mostly when guys are short-stacked. Basically, it means that when you have your best hand, play aggressively with large, sometimes all-in, bets.  For example, if you are dealt pocket 10s and the flop comes as 10-K-6, you should bet aggressively with your set of 10s. Even if someone has a king in their hand, you have them beat with your set (apologies to those that this looks like Chinese…play more poker).

It’s the same with the media. When you have your best pitches, get them in the game. Pitch the best sources or the biggest sources, maybe even ones you have never considered or have never pitched in the past. When you have a good story to tell and you know that it is going to benefit the reporter’s readers/viewers, go all-in, putting maximum effort into your pitch and to the resources that will produce the greatest return.

KNOW SITUATIONS

Poker players, as they play, are presented with a great number of situations. Good players have an understanding of how to play certain starting hands – pocket aces, connectors, suited cards, etc. They also know the odds associated with different situations – flopping a set, one card to a straight, two cards to a flush, etc. They understand how much to bet, if they should check raise and when to fold. One thing to note is that good players watch the other players after they have folded their own hands. Information is gold at the poker table.

When it comes to media, those that make the best pitches are the ones that know the situations. They have been studying the media and have seen a variety of situations – when is the best time to pitch, what is the best way to pitch, what are the best types of stories to pitch, etc. They can handle being cut off by reporters, they leave concise, effective messages and they understand when they have the best shot of getting their story accepted (so they DON’T get cut off by reporters). Like good poker players, they study the media after they have “folded” — when they don’t have a pitch or any news. The best PR people gather information and use it. It’s gold.

HAVE PATIENCE

One of the best tools a poker player can have is patience. Playing marginal hands and being a loose player, will bust you in no time. If you play long enough, you know that most of the time, you are (and should be) folding your hand. What they don’t show you on ESPN’s World Series of Poker is the number of hands that the players fold during a tournament. The best players are patient (disciplined) enough to play their best hands in the best position, even if it’s only one or two times per night. This kind of discipline will make you a better (and profitable) player.

Pitching the media? You’re going to have to be patient. They aren’t going to like every pitch you make. They aren’t going to get back to you in a timely manner (if ever at all). It may take several calls, emails, texts, Facebook IMs, etc. to get any kind of response from the media. Be patient when you are dealing with the media; pick your spots, pitch your best stories, when you are in the best position and you will have greater success rates for placements of stories. Get one or two great hits every month, and you are going to be seen as very, very good PR professional.

Play well.

So, as my cab pulled up to the gleaming glass structure known as the Jacob Javitz Center on day one of media days on Wednesday, one question popped into my head:

“Where the heck is everybody?”

Okay, I’m a bit of a homer, I admit it.  I worked on the PR team for the North American International Auto Show for seven years, and frankly the Detroit show gets in your blood.  It’s a two-week, high- pressure, sun-up to sundown PR free-for-all.    It’s among the hardest assignments I’ve ever had, but among the most rewarding, too.

I expected much of the same here in New York, too.  But, when I saw one of my favorite video consultants (who shall remain nameless to protect the innocent), she didn’t have that crazed, running on fumes, meeting tons of deadlines look you see in Detroit.

“Hey, how’s the show,” I asked.  “You running around like crazy?”

Her answer stunned me…

“Nah…not so much,” she said.  “Got a few things going on, but nothing major.”

And, as I roam the cavernous Javitz Center, I can see why.  There just aren’t that many people here.  Despite this being media Mecca, New York press days pale in comparison to Detroit.  A typical year in the Motor City?  More than 6,000 journalists, every major broadcast, print and online publication in the world in attendance and major news coming out of the show.  Every year.  Bar none.

The biggest news here so far?  The Nissan Leaf is affordable.  Yawn.

The North American International Auto Show is still the king.  And, I predict, it will be for some time.  At the NADA/IHS Global Insight Automotive Forum here yesterday, several industry pundits said Ford and GM are on the comeback trail.  Noted industry journalist John McElroy went as far as to say they will be “wildly profitable.”

Strong domestic automakers will cement Detroit’s role as the world’s auto capital.  In turn, the NAIAS will stay the king of the North American shows.  It will keep pumping millions into the local economy, and keep shining a positive light on the region.

Now, if we can just fix Cobo…but that’s a blog for another day.