Recently in Minding Media Category

The president closed his comedic-style remarks on a somber note saying "we have seen humanity shine at its brightest," referencing how first responders to everyday citizens came together as a country to assist with the recent tragedies in Boston, Texas and the Midwest.

"We also saw journalists at their best who took the time to wade up stream through the torrent of digital rumors and chase down facts," said the president in a packed room at the Washington Hilton Hotel.  "If anyone wonders whether newspapers are a thing of the past, all you needed to do was to pick up or log on to papers like the Boston Globe.  When their communities needed them most, they were there making sense ... that's what great journalism is and that's what great journalists do."

No doubt the president was playing nice with the media.  It's also important to keep in mind that Saturday's event was organized by the White House Correspondents' Association, an organization of journalists who cover the president.

Whether or not the president was continuing his charm offensive remains unclear.  There is truth to his comments, however.  More stringent editorial protocols exist for print outlets than many self-publishing online media even though newspaper staffs have been heavily downsized.

In fact, the newspaper industry dropped 30 percent of its newsroom staff since 2000 and hit below 40,000 full-time professional employees for the first time since 1978, according to the Pew Research Center's State of the News Media 2013.

There is an upside however.  Pew reported that newspaper circulation revenue, both for weekday and Sunday editions, has remained relatively steady over the past two decades.  Moreover, decline in total print ad revenue seems to have leveled off somewhat, although online ad growth has been minimal at best.

Several factors have contributed to the small glimmer of good news within the newspaper industry including a surge in pay wall subscriptions, which coincidently the Boston Globe recently halted in the aftermath of the Boston bombings.

Newspapers are not out of the woods yet.  These outlets have created strong brand awareness cultivated over decades by providing local news to communities.  The trick is leveraging this attribute while reorganizing their business models to successfully compete in today's online media landscape.

Late night TV talk show host Conan O'Brien who headlined the correspondents' dinner may have said it best, "... many people are saying print media is dying, but I don't believe it, and neither does my blacksmith."

-- George Medici, gmedici@pondel.com

World wide web (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Countless efficiency studies have been released on managing content, mirrored by just as many reports on tapping key audiences in a cluttered marketplace.  For instance, standing up in a packed movie theater yelling "Fire!" will certainly grab attention, but it's probably not the kind of exposure that is sustainable over the long term. 

Facebook and Google's ad strategy of creating more personalized content based on user preferences may be the future of marketing.  The fact remains, however, that people turn off when the proverbial information flow goes on overload.

Walking a delicate balance is the right strategy.  Consider the following five tips when engaging online audiences:

1.  Whether corporate, investor or marketing-related, make your message relevant.  Know your audience's wants and needs and develop messaging that resonates on a deeper level.  For example, time-strapped CEOs may be more inclined to listen to a vendor that understands the pressures of a "bottom line."    

2.    Don't try to speak to the entire world.  While having a video or tweet go viral is rare, most times less is more.  Try having more personalized online conversations and work on building deeper relationships with audiences. 

3.  Start off slow.   Don't bombard your audiences with too many messages at once.  Keep it simple.  Start a conversation and then slowly move into other topic areas with time.

4.  Add value.  Make sure you provide your audience with something they can't get elsewhere.  This is paramount. 

5.  Try the post office.  May sound corny, but a nice follow up letter using old fashioned snail mail with an actual signed signature goes a long way in today's fast-paced, digitized world.  Think about how many personalized letters you receive these days.

And finally, remember the old adage of selling the sizzle, not the steak.   Keep in mind that there are millions of conversation threads each day.  Why should anyone join yours?  

-- George Medici, gmedici@pondel.com

English: homson Reuters CEO Tom Glocer and CEO of Groupon Andrew Mason at a plenary at the E-G8 Forum in Paris. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In 2010, Sun Microsystems CEO Jonathan Schwartz got the ball rolling on this trend, tweeting "Today's my last day at Sun. I'll miss it. Seems only fitting to end on a #haiku. Financial crisis/Stalled too many customers/C.E.O. no more."

It's a fascinating twist on messaging when executives - and employees for that matter - are given the boot. How this might become a powder keg was on display in an episode of Netflix's critically acclaimed original series "House of Cards." The scene involves editor Tom Hammerschmidt, who, at the behest of his publisher, begrudgingly offers the White House correspondent job to a young, ambitious, rising star reporter named Zoe Barnes. When Barnes turns the job down, he calls her an "ungrateful, self-entitled little (expletive)" and fires her. While the confrontation has Tom steaming, Zoe calmly pulls out her smartphone in front of him and tweets to her legion of followers what he's said and done. The end result is that Tom is forced to step down and Zoe lands a new job at a political blog.

How will this all play out in the future?  For good or bad, it's possible that more and more corporate goodbyes will trend toward bluntness and, gulp, honesty.

-- Ron Neal, rneal@pondel.com

The announcement of Pope Benedict XVI's resignation just before the start of Lent season comes as a shocking surprise to the world.  Depending on how "resignation" is defined and how the Holy See's records are interpreted, as few as four and as many as 10 popes have renounced the Papacy.

Pope Benedictus XVI (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The last pope that resigned was Pope Gregory XII in the early 1400s, and like his predecessors, Pope Benedict's resignation is sprinkled with controversy.  So, how does the Vatican respond to such unprecedented news?

The Vatican's semi-official daily newspaper is L'Osservatore Romano, and so far it is gearing its coverage toward restoring readers' faith in the Church by emphasizing that the Pope's resignation is conquerable and recoverable.

The newspaper's coverage hammers three central points: the Pope's resignation is a difficult and regretful decision but made for the greater good; the Pope's character is that of courage and humility to admit his inability to stay in his position; and the Church will recover from all of this.

Rather than focusing on the fact that the Pope is leaving his position, L'Osservatore Romano draws attention to the Pope's character, calling him courageous and humble for being so honest.  And despite the social lashing the Catholic Church has received in the media, the Vatican's messaging isn't defensive, but supportive and positive.

Consistency is key in the Vatican's messaging, particularly at a time when a lot of people are looking to the Holy See for a resolution and a way to restore order.  In fact, the messaging has been so consistent and effective that it is positioning the Pope's resignation as an opportunity for change and a restoration of faith in the Church.

The Vatican's approach serves as a good example that it is not enough to communicate what will be done to fix a situation, but rather it is how a message is communicated that determines whether the message can restore people's faith.

As an investor relations professional, there is nothing more interesting going on now than the public drama surrounding the activist attack on Herbalife.  To remind you, Pershing Square Capital Management's Bill Ackman conducted a highly public attack against Herbalife with a 300-plus page slide presentation, going short nearly a billion dollars. Management then countered with a three-hour long investor meeting to rebut and explain the company's side of the story.  

Meanwhile, activist investor Dan Loeb goes long, purchasing nearly 8% of the company.  And If the battle of activist titans could not get any more interesting, I recently listened to Carl Icahn and Bill Ackman bickering for nearly 30 minutes on CNBC, with Herabilife as a backdrop.  

Perhaps the candid nature and public name calling took the reporter back a little, because he was reduced to a bystander, but Icahn never let on if he was long or short Herbalife - not that he would.

-- Matt Sheldon, msheldon@pondel.com   

The stats on social media's global growth are staggering.  A graphic recently posted in Mashable.com illustrates how the world consumes social media.  And boy does it! 

Image via CrunchBase

We all know that Facebook now has one billion users in 127 countries and is the top social media destination.  It's also interesting to learn how countries and regions outside the U.S. are adopting social media like Asia, which has grown to more than one billion Internet users in a little more than ten years. 

Or that 800 million users visit YouTube each month with more than 70 percent of the site's traffic coming from outside the U.S.  In fact, 700 of these videos are shared via Twitter every minute.  Moreover, LinkedIn increased its membership nearly by half in the last two years with Turkey, Brazil and Indonesia seeing the largest user growth.    

All this data can seem very overwhelming.  Even though the growth of social media seems to be a no brainer when it comes to global marketing, many executives still
fail to grasp the opportunity.  Let's be clear: social media is not slowing down anytime soon.

Not all social media platforms may be relevant for every business organization.  There is no one size fits all solution for tackling this new media landscape.  However, given the global economy and the opportunities social media presents, these new platforms can help organizations engage with consumers, customers, and even investors, all over the world.  It's like six degrees of separation on steroids. The proof is in the data. 

So, the world is consuming social media.  Are you?  

-- George Medici, gmedici@pondel.com

There was a time when most investor relations professionals had either financial journalism or public relations backgrounds and applied their specialty communications skills to publicly traded companies.

Then there was a wave of IR executives entering the field with finance, investment banking and analyst backgrounds. What such backgrounds may have lacked in writing and mass communications skills typically were offset by technical financial acumen.

Now, yet another new surge of IR professionals is surfacing as Roger Pondel reports in a recent bylined article for NIRI's IR Update titled, "The Road to the C-Suite." Pondel also points out in the embedded video that these new IR folks not only have the financial chops, but are equipped with the necessary DNA to understand the more complex world of today's media.

While today's new-wave pros typically are on career tracks in IR, those who entered the field from financial roles may well be headed back to their roots. But no worries, in many cases, they are traversing the path to becoming CFO.

-- George Medici, gmedici@pondel.com

President Barack Obama discusses the situation in Sudan with actor George Clooney during a meeting outside the Oval Office, Oct. 12, 2010. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

While that's a nice chunk of change, it really is a drop in the bucket to anyone either running for president or trying to get reelected.  The media buzz, however, can be worth a lot more--or not.     

The Oval Office has had a long love affair with Hollywood, starting back before the famed 1938 meeting between First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and 10-year-old actress Shirley Temple.  Celebrities and presidents always got along nicely, as long as they shared the same politics.  

Americans love movies and the star actors that shine in them.   A litany of entertainment-based TV shows and magazines demonstrate a huge market opportunity for the celebrity segment, which means lots of potential voters like to watch or read news about their favorite actors.

No doubt there is a risk-reward factor by aligning with a celebrity, especially if you're the president.  Fortunately for Mr. Obama, George Clooney scores high in the DBI Index, a ranking that measures the ability to influence brand affinity and consumer purchase intent.  Basically this means Clooney is an admired, trusted source.   

The reality is that an alliance with Clooney probably won't get President Obama more votes this November.  The American public hopefully will vote on a presidential candidate's political platform, rather than solely by the company he or she keeps, although George Clooney seems to be a pretty cool guy nonetheless.

What Thursday's fundraiser will do, however, is give the president more cache and a broader reach to voters who may not necessarily tune in every Sunday morning to get the latest scoop in Washington, DC.     

Just like in the corporate world during proxy season, in politics, votes are the highest currency, too. 

-- George Medici, gmedici@pondel.com

How much is a YouTube view really worth if the view comes from hiring a marketing firm?  Earlier this month, the L.A. Times reported that Los Angeles City Atty. Carmen Trutanich paid for YouTube views for his campaign videos promoting his run for district attorney. 

His videos boasted 725,000 views, with the most popular clip surpassing any campaign video from GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich or Rick Santorum, according to the Times. 

Sounds like payola to me.  But I wonder if some videos need "primer" views to promote organic views. Consider the psychological effects of viewing a clip with tens of thousands of views versus a couple dozen.   The more people that view a clip the more likely other people will view the same clip.  Before you know it, the video goes "viral" and begins to prompt some sort of social movement.  And then, perhaps, a politician is elected, a brand gets sticky, or a warlord is overthrown.

By now, many of us have heard about the Invisible Children video that net almost 80 million views in about a week.  Are all of these views organic?  Beats me, but the video's content is very compelling and probably could have drummed up at least a million views without any help from fluffers. 

The bottom line is that the digital world values transparency, and if you are going to hire a marketing firm to bolster views, perhaps disclosing this fact in the first few seconds of the video would actually enhance the credibility of your message.  After all, it's a lot easier to disclose upfront that you are artificially inflating video views, as opposed to suffering the consequences of someone else, i.e. the media, disclosing this fact.

Even better yet, how about producing video content that is actually worthy of bona fide viewership?