JanMagazine:Layout 1 12/30/10 2:39 PM Page 1 Pg. 16 Pg. 18 Pg. 32 2010: A year Greenpeace files suit ‘Full body scan’ has in review against Ketchum airlines in PR freefall Communications & new media Jan. 2011 I Vol. 25 No. 1 SPECIAL ISSUE: 2011 CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS 2010’S TOP PR WINNERS BLUNDERS BUYER’S & LOSERS OF 2010 PG. 50 PG. 10 WHAT TO DO WHEN GUIDE YOUR BRAND COMES SERVICES& PG. 36 UNDER ATTACK 1,000PRODUCTS PG. 24 SOCIAL MEDIA: BENEFITS & LIABILITIES IN 60 CATEGORIES BROADCAST MONITORING, SPEECH TRAINING, CRISIS IN HINDSIGHT: PG. 26 A LOOK BACK AT BP PRESS RELEASE DISTRIBUTION, CLIPPING SERVICES, RADIO, VIDEO, TV PRODUCTION, CRISIS IN INTERNATIONAL COPYWRITERS, PRINTING, PUBLIC SERVICE WATERS PG. 22 ANNOUNCEMENTS, MEDIA MONITORING, NEWSWIRES, MEDIA TOURS, GRAPHIC SERVICES, WEBCASTING, SOCIAL MEDIA, SATELLITE SERVICES .... AND MUCH MORE! January 2011 | www.odwyerpr.com STARTS ON PG. 57 PROFILES OF CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS FIRMS: PG. 38 JanMagazine:Layout 1 12/30/10 2:39 PM Page 2 JanMagazine:Layout 1 12/30/10 2:39 PM Page 3 JanMagazine:Layout 1 12/30/10 2:40 PM Page 4 Vol. 25, No. 1 January 2011 CONTENTS EDITORIAL ASSETS AND LIABILITIES OF PR education is being oversold. SOCIAL MEDIA: Incorporating a social media policy FCC APPROVES NEW NET 6 24 can be a daunting and delicate task. NEUTRALITY RULES The FCC in December approved a con- LOOKING BACK AT BP troversial set of rules to ensure fairness on8 Almost a year later, communicators the Internet. 26 can still learn from BP’s PR follies. STUDY FINDS FOX VIEWERS PRIVACY BECOMES 10 “UNINFORMED” NUMBER-ONE CONCERN www.odwyerpr.com A study of voter opinions finds Fox Federal authorities are cracking down Daily, up-to-the minute PR news News viewers are “significantly” uninformed.8 28on the targeting of consumers with ads. FTC CALLS FOR “DO NOT INSURANCE BIZ HURT TRACK” TOOL WITHOUT MANDATE A report issued by the FTC calls for a 9 Why conservatives should rethink their new “do not track” mechanism on the Web. 30position on healthcare reform. 2010’S PR BLUNDER LIST FULL BODY “SCAM” HAS BP, Toyota, NPR, Amazon and others AIRLINE PR IN FREEFALL top Fineman PR’s annual “Top PR How the TSA’s implementation of the Blunders” list. 10 32“full body scan” has become a PR disaster. CRISIS 2010: ARE WE OUT OF FROM SHAKESPEARE TO THE WOODS YET? SMARTPHONES PR pros give their predictions on 34 How the “winds of change” are shap- what to expect after the “worst decade12 ever.” ing mobile comnunications. WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR PUBLIC STONES, CRISIS BRAND IS UNDER ATTACK FROM THE GLASS HOUSE Timing and action are essential when Privacy breaches that become head- 36 a crisis strikes. lines could happen to any of us. 14 PROFILES OF CRISIS PR IN 2010: THE YEAR COMMUNICATIONS FIRMS EDITORIAL CALENDAR IN REVIEW Janua ry: Crisis Comms/Buyer’s Guide Jack O’Dwyer discusses the changes 38 WASHINGTON REPORT February: Environmental & P.A. that shaped the PR industry in 2010. 16 March: Food & Beverage GREENPEACE FILES SUIT 54 AGAINST KETCHUM PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT April: Broadcast Media Services The environmental giant accuses 50 Fraser Seitel May: PR Firm Rankings Ketchum of unlawful campaign practices.18 GUEST COLUMN June: Global & Multicultural MANAGING DIGITAL RISKS, 51 Ron Torossian OPPORTUNITIES. OPINION July: Travel & Tourism The art of having the right digital 52 Jon Gingerich August: Financial/I.R. tools, metrics, and performance indicators.20 PEOPLE IN PR 56 September: Beauty & Fashion CRISIS ACROSS CULTURES October: Healthcare & Medical How an increasingly international 2011 PR BUYER’S GUIDE November: High-Tech business environment has heavily impacted communications. 22 57 December: Entertainment & Sports ADVERTISERS AP Images.......................37 EurekAlert!......................31 KEF Media.........................3 Ruder Finn.......................45 Atomic PR..........................5 Falls Communications.....19 Log-On.............................47 Sard Verbinnen................25 Booz Allen Hamilton.........7 Fleishman-Hillard..BACK COVER NAPS...........INSIDE COVER Shoot Publicity................15 Carpe VM........................17 Gourvitz Comms..............21 Nicolazzo & Assocs.........28 Sloane & Company..........30 Cone..................................9 Grayling.........................103 Omega World Travel.......49 Tierney Comms................23 Davies.............................29 Hennes Paynter Comms...18 Quinn & Co......................41 TV Access........................53 Dix & Eaton.....................27 Kaplow............................33 Ron Sachs Comms..........35 Walek & Assocs..............13 O’Dwyer’s is published monthly for $60.00 a year ($7.00 for a single issue) by the J.R. O’Dwyer Co., Inc., 271 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016. (212) 679-2471; fax: (212) 683-2750. Periodical postage paid at New York, N.Y., and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to O’Dwyer’s, 271 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016. O’Dwyer’s PR Report ISSN: 1931-8316. Published monthly. JanMagazine:Layout 1 12/30/10 2:40 PM Page 5 JanMagazine:Layout 1 12/30/10 2:40 PM Page 6 EDITORIAL PR education is being oversold EDITOR-IN-CHIEF R students and recent grads need practical job advice. But if what they read in Jack O’Dwyer PR textbooks is any indication, they’re not getting it. Veteran writer and PR pro [email protected] PJane Genova wrote a Dec. 7 column for odwyerpr.com that is worth a stack of textbooks and years of college PR courses. ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER She quotes an article on the “Education Bubble” that compares it to the real estate Kevin McCauley bubble — an over-priced, over-hyped commodity fueled by excessive credit mostly [email protected] underwritten by the government. Genova says PR is an intensely practical and personal activity and that time in the EDITOR trenches trumps anything that comes out of a book or instructor. Jon Gingerich “PR is like plumbing, sales and journalism,” she writes. [email protected] This writer’s experience with PR is that if someone knows what’s working, they’re SENIOR EDITOR going to keep it to themselves. Writers don’t go around telling the competition how to Greg Hazley pen good articles or novels. [email protected] Genova tells fledgling PR pros to knock on doors —“cold call” all the merchants and businesspeople in town and offer what they can do to publicize and promote their busi- CONTRIBUTING EDITORS nesses. Fraser Seitel The best “textbook” for a PR careerist is the bio of “America’s Greatest Publicist” Richard Goldstein — Ben Sonnenberg — “Always Live Better Than Your Clients” by New York Timesman Isadore Barmash. ADVERTISING SALES Sonnenberg, who became rich enough to fill a 12-story town- John O’Dwyer house with valuable art Advertising Sales Manager objects, was a fountain- [email protected] head of ideas. He would Jack Fogarty give as many as 100 to a National Advertising Representative client. [email protected] His goal was to get as close as possible to O’Dwyer’s is published monthly for $60.00 clients—be the first a year ($7.00 for a single issue) by the person they saw in the J.R. O’Dwyer Co., Inc., morning and the last 271 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016. one they saw at night. (212) 679-2471 He found out what was Fax (212) 683-2750. in their “heart of hearts” and worked on that. For © Copyright 2010 well-off businesspeople, J.R. O’Dwyer Co., Inc. it wasn’t more sales or profits. It might have been a OTHER PUBLICATIONS & son or daughter who couldn’t SERVICES: get into college. Do a favor for a client’s child and you’ll never lose the account, he advised. www.odwyerpr.com breaking news, For many years he did the humblest of PR chores but eventually worked for many commentary, useful databases and more. blue chip CEOs. The title of his book was the “revenge” he got for all those years of humiliation. Jack O’Dwyer’s Newsletter An eight- We recently gave away O’Dwyer’s Directory of PR Firms to about 60 PR grads and page weekly with general PR news, media undergrads in return for them telling us about their job-hunting experiences and how appointments and placement opportunities. their educations suited them for that. O’Dwyer’s Directory of PR Firms has None ever heard of Sonnenberg nor did any teacher ever tell them to knock on doors listings of more than 1,850 PR firms through- and talk to proprietors. What they got was a lot of theory, process and methodology. out the U.S. and abroad. They read a lot about how national PR crises were handled although such materials were readily available in the press. O’Dwyer’s PR Buyer’s Guide lists 1,000+ What employers were interested in, they told us, was not what they majored in but products and services for the PR industry in 54 how many PR internships they had served. Two were good but three were better. Only categories. a small percentage of PR grads are going to get “real” jobs these days. The rest are going to have to fend for themselves. What’s ironic about this essay is that almost no jobs.odwyerpr.com O’Dwyer’s online PR professors would allow their students to see it. job center has help wanted ads and hosts resume postings. — Jack O’Dwyer 6 JAN. 2011 WWW.ODWYERPR.COM JanMagazine:Layout 1 12/30/10 2:40 PM Page 7 JanMagazine:Layout 1 12/30/10 2:40 PM Page 8 MEDIA NOTES FCC unveils new Internet “neutrality” regulations By Jon Gingerich their networks, thereby preventing even if it is not as good. And even if they favoritism of certain content which ISPs charge money, when Google Maps is free.” may have monetary affiliation. The idea is Moreover, the new regulations do not to keep the Internet a level playing field, rule out the future possibility of “paid pri- he Federal Communications one where, for example, Google would not oritization,” or tiered networks created by Commission on December 21 receive preferred treatment on Verizon’s ISPs in concert with content providers that Tapproved a series of new rules that network in lieu of the companies’ recent offer closed systems where preferred con- would prevent telecommunications com- partnership.