An Email to Make a Professor's Day

I get a lot of emails from former students. It's always nice to know they actually want to stay in touch even when they are no longer 'required' to communicate with me because they are taking a class. It's also nice to know what happens to students after they move on. I have several years of intense involvement, and then "poof"--they're gone. I like to hear where they ended up getting their first job, where they are living, if they got married, etc.

Public relations is about relationships; so is teaching, and life in general. One of the greatest joys of being a professor is watching young people mature and develop, to go from timid sophomores to passionate and articulate seniors. And then, to going from being a student to being a peer, a colleague, a friend.

So when I received this email this week, it made my day, my week, my semester:

Hi Tim,

I just wanted to tell you thank you. I know it's been six years since I graduated (how can it really be that long?), but a PR class many years ago where you taught us media training has been invaluable this week. In that class, we had to stand in front of class and be prepared for reporters' (our classmates') questions. You taped the interviews and then played them back and we critiqued them.

This week, I am one of a team of eight who is teaching media training to high ranking military officers from 45 different countries. The basic skills I learned in your class I am now teaching to these students.

Thank you for such a great class and such a fantastic undergrad education. I couldn't have done this without you.

Wow. The truth is, I couldn't be a great professor without the validation and encouragement from great students and alumni.

'Smackdown' a Smashing Success

Last Thursday's Creative Smackdown was another successful event. Frank Blossom, a visiting professor in the Advertising/Public Relations major in GVSU's School of Communications and the organizer of the event, said there was record turnout this year representing 8 area colleges and universities.

Part of that record turnout may have been due to the stellar promotional work of students in Grand PR, the student-run PR firm that is part of the GVSU PRSSA group that I advise. All credit to the students on this one. (And contact them if you need some PR work that you can't handle yourself).

If you didn't take the time to go observe, you missed out on seeing some really creative work in advertising, graphic design, and web design categories. It's unfortunate that only three can win in each category, but the winners were deserving. Here they are:

Ad Finalists
1. Cody Eckert
Kendall College
Advertising
Title: H1NO
2. Jenna Eisma
Kendall
Advertising
“Paper Necessities”
3. Michelle Kozak
Kendall College of Art and Design
Advertising
Bounce

Graphic Design Finalists
1. Erica McCary
School: Kendall College of Art and Design
Graphic Design
Title of work: Shangri-La Annual Report
2. Amanda Adams - a first for Baker College
Baker College Graphic Communications
Graphic design
"Orphic"
3. John Knoerl
GVSU
Graphic Design
Concert Poster
4. Chelsea Chandler
College: Grand Valley State University
Category: Graphic Design
Title of Submission: Poster

Web Design Finalists
1. Abby Peters
Central Michigan University
Web Design
Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival Email Flyer Series
2. Jeremiah Britton
College: Central Michigan University
Category: Web Design
Title of Submission: Bite of Seattle 2010 Web
3. Christa Skelton
College: Grand Valley State University
Category: Web Design
Title of Submission: GVSU American Marketing Association

It always sounds hokey to say that every participant is a winner, but that really is the consensus. As one student who did not place as a finalist told Frank Blossom:

"I want to thank you again for encouraging me to participate. I enjoyed networking with local professionals and being able to get insight into my career. Ultimately, Smackdown takes the doors down off of the biggest agencies in our area and lets us just walk right in and ask for advice. I'm assuming that doesn't happen in Chicago.”

PR FIrm Uses National Ads for Local Visibility

I was trolling the PRWeek site the other day and noticed an ad placed by Google AdWords. The ad was for Holland, Michigan-based Boileau Communications Management.

I asked myself, is this a case of a local West Michigan firm casting the net wide for some national clients?

Randy Boileau answered me in a phone call yesterday: no.

"We didn't do it (advertise via Google) to stretch out our client base," Boileau said. "We did it because it is effective, low cost, and helps our firm come up higher on the list of search results."

Boileau says 95% of their clients are local or regional, and that the ads have helped raise and maintain the firm's visibility in the region. In fact, the algorithms used by Google have a geographic component, causing the Boileau ads to appear in West Michigan based sites--including GRPR via the AdSense box top right--as well as PR related sites like PRWeek.

Given all this I also asked Boileau why the firm's Web site does not make plain its West Michigan location. Apparently, he has found that the local market recognizes where the firm is based. As for potential national clients, the location is less relevant than the services they offer and the online portfolio demonstrating their talents.

West Michigan Company on CSR Top 50

Congratulations to Benton Harbor-based Whirlpool Corporation for getting national recognition for its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices. They came in 23rd on the 2009 list of the 50 top companies for CSR.

I first learned about the honor in MiBiz. The Whirlpool news release adds some more detail (although the release is not in the company's online press room).

Most impressive is that Whirlpool has stressed being a responsible corporation since before CSR was a buzz word in PR. There are still too many corporate CEOs who think CSR is costly and counter to business objectives. In fact, CSR is directly linked with reputation, which pays "dividends" in many tangible ways. The fact that the list is determined jointly by the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship and its Reputation Institute demonstrates the link.

This particular list is determined by measuring public perceptions of companies in terms of citizenship, governance, and workplace. You can learn more about those criteria and see the full list of the 2009 best CSR companies here.

Meanwhile, I wonder why there are not more West Michigan companies on the list. Maybe they just weren't measured in this study. I know our region's businesses have a pretty good record for CSR and sustainability.

If you are the PR director and want to know more about CSR measurement, here are a few other souces:

• CSRWire -- for news about CSR and sustainability
• Reputation Quotient (RQ) -- another way of measuring corporate reputation
• Dow Jones Sustainability Index
• Aquinas College Center for Sustainability -- and we're back to West Michigan!
  

The PR of Art Prize

ArtPrize turned out to be bigger than I imagined, as the photo at right illustrates. Kudos to Ginny Seyferth, who I bumped into at one of the venues, for her firm's handling of this masterpiece of community events.

This just goes to show that you have to have a good plan but also a little faith if you are putting on a major event like this. It also is further evidence that public relations---from event planning to media relations to everything else we do--is as much art as it is science.

At first glance, it seems that the results of this big event could be a masterpiece. In all my years living in West Michigan, I have never felt such a positive, hip buzz in Grand Rapids. There were artists and art fans--and people who previously perhaps did not care much about art--from all over the world. Out-of-towners told me their visit to Grand Rapids shattered their media-cultivated perception that all of Michigan looks like Detroit. I also overheard people who appeared to be locals--either suburbanites  or living in one of the surrounding counties--commenting that they never knew Grand Rapids had so many cool spots.

But art always has its critics. So I wonder if all of the above is having a large and long-term affect on the Grand Rapids "brand," or if it's a temporary blip. As for long-term, we'll have to wait and see. As for large, a quick Google News search shows most of the media discussion has been from local media, with a few articles in the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News. There was one piece in TampaBay.com about participating artists from that area. Of course, media impressions are less important than personal impressions of visitors to the city, but it would be nice to see some positive  press about the Calder city from coast  to coast. (By the way, there are also other art prize competitions, such as in SanDiego and Dubai, that could affect how ArtPrize contributes  to brand GR. I also read about one in the Middle East.)

The event in SanDiego led to some bickering about the venues, judging fairness etc. So, one PR issue will be how any of that negative vibe is handled. 

Meanwhile, I was fascinated about the layers of PR in this event. Beyond promoting the event itself and by extension the region, there was a lot of other PR going on. Venues seized the opportunity to show their face in a new light to the community. Restaurants and other businesses co-branded themselves with art prize in some creative ways. Others, unfortunately, did not. Why were some businesses closed during a time when there was more foot traffic in downtown Grand Rapids than anyone can remember? Also, while certain restaurants stayed open, they clearly did not anticipate the crowds and staff up appropriately. A friend and I were ignored like bad pieces of art and several establishments before we finally left. Others we met had the same problems. (Hat tip to the server at the BOB who gave me an iced tea on the house because he was working the crowd  so fast he didn't have time to collect my coin.)

Then of  course, came the artists. It's funny to me--working with lots of artists on campus--who love to decry the "evils" of PR doing things for the money. But when artists have a piece on display and a quarter mil on the line, they are all about the promotion. Postcards, events, news pitches, social media fan pages etc. I'm not saying they shouldn't do it, I'm just enjoying the show. It will be interesting to see how much anger is expressed that the winners are rewarded more for promotion and visibility than artistic excellence. 

I would say, regardless of any complaints, the event was a phenomenal success. Even if some art snobs sniff at the 'crowd favorite,' I would say that's the beauty, that's the 'art' of this event--engaging thousands of people with art and with Grand Rapids who otherwise would not have cared.

I'd like to see a coffee table book commemorating the event, with lots of photos of the various pieces. (Brian Kelly, you up for that?) 

We can all learn more about these and other PR aspects of ArtPrize when Ginny Seyferth gives the PR backstory on ArtPrize at the February 10 Interchange meeting. I plan to attend.

In the meantime, I have to head out of town for a week to teach at a GVSU partner school in France. So, when the ArtPrize winners are announced, I'll be at the Louvre. We all have to make our sacrifices.

GR Press Does PR!

There was an interesting example of media convergence yesterday.

The Grand Rapids Press had promised a detailed map for Art Prize, the phenomenal art exhibit/competition/community promotion happening in downtown Grand Rapids. But the map that was delivered in print in the Sunday Press had errors--not all of the art venues were listed, and the "inset on D7" indicated on the main map was no where to be found.

There were complaints on the Art Prize Web site. There were complaints on Twitter, which is often fed to Facebook and vice versa.

But in those same fora, the problem was addressed. A pdf of the missing map info was posted to the Art Prize site. The GR Press--both as an organizational entity and via various individual reporters and editors, including Entertainment Editor John Gonzalez--acknowledged the error, apologized, fixed it, and let everyone know via Twitter and Facebook. This is textbook crisis management for such a situation. As one of the complainers, I had a post to my Facebook wall and an @reply on Twitter from Press staff.

They did all of this quickly, directly, and on a weekend!

What's really interesting is that the Press was so directly involved in the crisis and solution. It wasn't just Art Prize, or staff at Seyferth and Associates (who have done a great job garnering interest and involvement among artists, art fans and broader communities). No, the Press was doing PR. They did it quite well.

Social media is causing media convergence in new and interesting ways. Whether you are in PR or journalism, it is increasingly clear that you can't just push information out there. You have to know, engage, and be responsive to your publics.

Ohh, the irony is delicious!

Why the News Media Are Not That Into You

If you ever wonder why the media don't seem to care about you, here's a real gem.

OK, that's a bad play on the name Wondergem Consulting of Grand Rapids. Kate Washburn and others at the firm produced this fun video as part of their workshop "They're Just Not That Into You" as part of the biennial nonprofit PR workshop sponsored by the West Michigan chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (WMPRSA). 

The video features a series  of clips of reporters and editors from most West Michigan TV and print media outlets, each sharing a reason why they get annoyed or frustrated by PR pros--or non PR people--pitching stories in less than ideal fashion.

It's funny. It's educational. It's right on. I'll be sharing it with a class or two in the future.

It's also a nice effort in brand building by Wondergem, demonstrating that media relations involves actually having relationships with the media, not just blitzing them with self-serving information. Put another way, not just anyone can do media relations well.