Info about this month's luncheon Full schedule of luncheons Other PCC Programs

Maintaining the Brand

(Dec. 11, 2002 PCC Monthly Luncheon)

Speed of Media Coverage Challenges PR Professionals To Work Harder To Protect Integrity of their “Brand”

By Sue Masaracchia
Public Information Officer
Deerfield Park District

The news cycle today moves at super-sonic speed, challenging PR professionals to be ever vigilant about news coverage that could impact the integrity of the “brand.” A brand today not only refers to a product, but can also apply to a service or organization. Your reputation, shaped by perceptions, will largely determine the success of your brand over the course of time.

A panel of PR professionals gathered at the December meeting of the PCC to offer strategies and tactics that can chart a course for clients and organizations.

Moderator:

• Diane Salucci, Corporate communications consultant, formerly with eFunds and DeVry, Inc.

Panelists:

• Scott Farrell, executive vice president of Golin/Harris International

• Dan Miller, Chicago Sun-Times business editor

• Jeff Zilka, executive vice president/deputy general manager and director of financial communications for Edelman, Chicago

• Delroy Alexander, business reporter for the Chicago Tribune

Scott Farrell

Scott Farrell began his career at Burson-Marsteller and Culligan International. Returning to the agency side, he led marketing communications at Cohn & Wolfe’s Chicago office, working for such clients as Ralston Purina, Lipton and S.C. Johnson.

Based on his experiences, Farrell reminded those attending that their goal is always to get the story told correctly. “It’s been 20 years since the Tylenol crisis,” he says. “Today, there are new crisis rules; it’s a new era.”

In the light of the watersheds of WorldCom, Enron and Tyco, it is evident that this is a different world. Farrell reminisced that in years past, due to a very different news cycle that lacked today’s immediacy, meetings could be held in the morning and in the afternoon and still appear to be responsive to media. “Now,” adds Farrell, “the news and media coverage changes by the minute.” In this environment, media focuses more public scrutiny on companies today, necessitating a greater degree of trust.

These are the days of activist journalism. There are more tools and means by which to find stories. Before the web, it was harder to locate information. However, this has brought additional problems, as well as solutions.

Investor interest and expectations have grown higher and litigation has increased. Politicos are volleying for more attention. Not only has the speed of business increased, but the way people need to conduct business has evolved to a different level. Farrell refers to this as “crisis creep,” since PR people can be caught unaware of a crisis that may be brewing and over which they have no control. He gave as an example the Enron employee who blew the whistle on the company that started the company’s demise.

Dan Miller, business editor with the Chicago Sun-Times since July 1999, is responsible for the daily and weekend business sections of the newspaper. Prior to this position, Miller served at Crain’s Chicago Business as editor for 10 years, and was publisher of Crain’s City and State newspaper. He also served as chairman of the Illinois Commerce Commission, the state utility regulatory agency.

To illustrate the fact that media form their opinions about a company based on their interaction with reporters and accessibility, Miller contrasted two Chicago companies embroiled in controversy. United Airlines’ story is a positive one, with chairman Glenn Tilton doing photo ops for media and answering questions, all the while hugging clients and working with employee unions. On the other extreme, Miller noted that McDonald’s tends to “put on their helmets and head for the tall grass.”

The public communications person “at United is available 24/7. According to Miller he follows up and is very positive, always trying to make sure the media has all the information necessary to get the story right, while McDonald’s spokesperson is much harder to pin down. Miller says that McDonald’s is fighting an uphill battle.

“While United makes sure we have all the facts and direct access to information,” says Miller, “McDonald’s has a large PR department, but no visibility. Their relationship with the media is adversarial.”

Miller urges media people to pay attention to what is around them and to get the right story out. He asked PR people to fight against the prevalent trend to intimidate reporters and bad mouth those who don’t “play ball.”

Jeff Zilka

Jeff Zilka is a strategic financial communicator with almost 20 years of senior-level experience who advises companies in the United States and overseas. Most recently, Zilka was the partner responsible for U.S. client services in the Chicago office of the Weiser Group. Prior to this he headed U.S. financial communications for Hill & Knowlton, and was chief communications officer at Archipelago. He began his career as an investment broker and working in investor relations for Hillsdown Holdings, a food company based in London.

Zilka agreed that the speed of new cycles creates an “interconnectiveness.” There is a need to cover the big story -- and a struggle for clarity and insight. He related this to defining the difference between a generalist and a specialist. The generalist says, “How’s life?” while the specialist acknowledges that “I’m learning less and less about more and more and know nothing.”

He defined the “meta message” -- the good guys vs. the bad guys, like the retirement of a corporate founder vs. a David against Goliath story. The meta message is how the press with cover a story.

Be sure to communicate the right message. There can be muscle in bullying the press, an artful lining up of third party investors, academics, etc., people to support your point of view. The media, according to Zilka, is more authoritative than before. “How the story will play becomes more important. Therefore, he says, “target journalists individually.”

Some stories have a life of their own. No matter what, you can’t change what will happen. Therefore, he urges the audience to line up friends before they are needed.

He stressed three points:

• Get the release right.

• Make establishing relationships with the media imperative.

• Target your story.

Delroy Alexander

Delroy Alexander joined the Chicago Tribune in March 2001. He was instrumental in covering Arthur Andersen and its involvement in the Enron debacle. Prior to coming to Chicago, he was business editor in the Caribbean for a newspaper group; while there, he revamped their business coverage and reporting on trade and finance in Latin America and the Caribbean. He began a new national business publication in the UK and headed the UK’s Sunday Business’s investigative business news team.

Alexander tells Chicago what is going on in the business world. He “fell” onto the Andersen story, having met with Andersen people for background and then finding the shutters coming down. According to Alexander, Andersen felt it could manage the process by not speaking; they actually fueled the story by their silence.

“Be able to communicate your story to me,” says Alexander. It amazes him that PR people do not know their companies very well. “It is your job to tell me how your company runs and provide the necessary information and statistics.” When this doesn’t happen, he says it creates a lack of trust and confidence.

He will approach each new story with an open mind, looking for direction but frequently finds it fails to come from the company itself. With Andersen, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal led the coverage while he wanted to get a handle on how the business was run and how decisions were made. Investors are looking more and more at their pensions and want to know where their money is going. He was disappointed that few companies, like Enron, today want to put their senior people in front of the media to answer his questions about people, numbers and how decisions at the company are made. There is a general lack of quality information on companies out there making it a challenge for reporters to understand the company.

Business stories are appearing more frequently on the front pages of Chicago papers. As he urges PR people to build personal relationships with those who write about their businesses and companies, he says he needs a sense that those running the businesses know what they are doing.

His current quest is to find out more about McDonald’s, learning how they make their money despite their lack of cooperation. “I always want to be right,” he adds, “and hope I’ll be first [to get the story].”

When a reporter calls, Alexander urges PR people to consider what they talked about and what was the result. “Don’t keep saying you’ll call back. Instead, urge management to be more open.”

Farrell alluded to Warren Buffet’s urging to get it quick, get it right, get it out and get it over. He urges considering potential consequences and alternative strategies.

Since the CEO is the flagship of the organization, Zilka says, “show a little leg! Tell the story you want told.”

[Return to top.]

(Index to articles about monthly luncheons)