Smile for the camera

Have you ever considered a two-camera shoot of a live speech for your next video?

I had the unique opportunity to see the action from the second camera at a conference today and the results were not pretty! Here are a few tips I picked up:

1. The camera angle picked up the "exit" sign at the rear of the stage. The framed photo made it look like you were speaking in a Howard Johnsons, not a convention center.

2. The camera angle picked up the white projection screen at the side of the stage. It wasn't a faux pas, but it made for bad composition. If the camera angled a bit differently, the background would have the been the drape, which was one color and blended into the background. Instead, the camera picked up something that would be distracting.

3. The room was divided into 3 sections, stage left, center and stage right. People sat in the first two sections. The camera was in the third section, which was empty, except for me and the camera man. The speaker spoke to people in the first two sections. This means that the speaker rarely face the camera. At best, the camera got side shots of the speaker's head. At worst, it shot the back of the speakers head.

4. The camera man wasn't tuned into the content of the speaker. At one critical point in the speech, as the speaker was hammering home his most important point, the camera man picked up his tripod and moved to a different angle.

What should you do?
1. Look at your backdrop and figure out where the camera should be so distracting backgrounds are never recorded.

2. Don't play to the camera, but don't shy away from it either.

3. Cue the camera people to your content so they know what is most important. That way they can move during your throwaway lines.


Don't let this happen to you!

Is it news, or is it Memorex?

No one minds when people send a press release to a TV station and they read it on the air. But what are you supposed to think when a company or government agency sends a video news release to a TV station and the station runs it as if it were original reporting?

This tactic is being done increasingly by vested interests with their own agendas to promote, as documented in the New York Times on March 13, 2005. And we're not talking about small stations in Podunk. The report shows that stations in major markets are passing along VNRs are their own original work -- or at least aren't going to any great pains to tell viewers that the material was supplied by a vested interest.

In some respects, TV stations have only themselves to blame. They cut their news staffs, but still need to fill the time slot. VNRs are an answer made in heaven.

We could discuss how this impacts a free society, or raise questions about freedom of speech, or even debate if we are splitting hairs over newspapers that print earning reports word for word from press releases, but we won't.

Instead, grasp the obvious. If TV wants VNRs and will run them, you should ask yourself: How can I create a VNR and get it on TV?

I'd suggest you call my friend Rick Frishman at Planned TV Arts for the ins and outs on how to create a VNR. You can reach him at 212-593-5845, rfrishman@plannedtvarts.com. Tell him I sent you.

Movie Review: The Notebook

If you haven't seen this delightful romance, go to your video store and rent it this weekend. You'll be glad you did.

It has all the essential plot elements you'd expect, plus enough twists and delightful performances to make this a movie to remember.

It also tackles the issues of Alzheimers and memory loss; as well as romance among the eldery.

I don't recommend many movies -- in fact I sleep through most of the ones I rent -- so consider this high praise! Enjoy.

A request for civility

I begun offering free teleseminars to my clients on the topic of how to sell more books. I decided that my former clients would benefit from these sessions, so I emailed them the announcement as well.

Of course, some people don't want to receive mail from me no matter that it is a free seminar with no strings attached that will help them immeasurably. That's fine. I'm sure your clients and former clients feel the same way about your irresistable prose as well.

Like all ethical marketers, I told people how they can get off the list. Here's the twist--I asked them to reply with a message that said "No thanks" in the subject line.

I can't tell you how nice it is to get a message saying "no thanks," that "bleep off you rotten jerk."

If your system allows for this type of response, I'd suggest you do this so you feel better about the entire situation.

Memo to Bill Gates: Fix This

Today's Wall Street Journal (3/28/05) carried an interesting article about Bill Gates going on his annual retreat to decide which projects he'd like Microsoft to fund.

The article also pointed out that Billionaire Bill has risen from college dropout to world's leading philanthropist in a mere 25 years.

The two thoughts crossed my wires and I made this connection:

If Bill Gates wants to do something that will truly help the world, I'd suggest he FIX everything that his company has produced that is now broken.

What do I mean?

How about fixing security holes in Internet Explorer? That would be a good start. Why can virus writers find holes in his systems mere minutes after the supposedly secure service is released to the public?

How about creating a system that defeats spammers at the opeating system level so we don't have to waste time reading and deleting junk? If we count the number of hours spent dealing with spam and handed the invoice to Bill, I don't think he'd be rich any longer.

I won't even mention that the industry he helped to create is the only one on the face of the planet that charges people to get the new, improved versions of products that were bullet-ridden to begin with.

As you look at the great philanthropists of all time -- Rockefeller, Carnegie, Vanderbilt, Pulitzer, Nobel and others, you see a few similar patterns emerging: they built their businesses on the suffering of others by creating monopolies, oligopolies and cartels that hoarded millions. Then they thought of their legacies and decided they didn't want to be remembered as Robber Barons or the publisher of "yellow" journalism newspapers or the like. They sought to remake their image by making the world a better place.

Maybe Bill Gates can leave a lasting legacy by correcting what he unleashed.

Marketer of the Week -- BJ Gallagher

Hats off to this week's marketer of the week - BJ Gallagher!

First, she was quoted in an article on Boeing's CEO getting canned for having an affair with an employee.

Her sound bite from the Seattle Post Intelligencer:

In late 2003, racked by scandal, The Boeing Co. brought Chief Executive Harry Stonecipher out of retirement to be its knight in shining armor.

"Instead, it seems they got a knight in shining amour," observed ethicist B.J. Gallagher after Boeing's board Sunday fired Stonecipher in connection with an intraoffice affair.

If you look at this article closely, BJ's quote inspired the writer to write his lead paragraph as a lead in to her quote!

That's power.

Also, don't overlook the fact that Boeing is based in Seattle. The reporter could have had his choice of any local expert. He went with the best quote!

BJ's antics didn't end there. She sent me an envelope with a very interesting stamp . It looked like her book cover! Her book is called "Who Are They, Anyway?"

Yes, it is legal. Why not put your book cover, or your company logo, or your face on a "stamp"?

She made the stamp at www.photostamps.com. Read about it. It is very hot!

Scalping him would be too soft a penalty

Mike Tice, the lowest paid head coach in the National Football League, admitted to scalping tickets to the Super Bowl -- a day after he denied the charge.

Maybe Tice should read the Crisis Communications Playbook which says, "Admit the problem. People will probably forgive you if you do. If you deny, they'll impeach you."

This is another prime case of people in charge thinking the public is too dumb to see the truth -- or that they think they are above the law.

Delta Airlines: Singing those Delta blues again

Do you believe the nerve of Delta?

They issued a press release the other day (printed in the NY Times) saying that they are cutting out food service and pillows in an attempt to "improve customer service."

Do they think we are idiots?

No one improves customers service by cutting amenities!

They cut the amenities to save money, pure and simple.

So why are they afraid to say it?

Are they worried they might be close to bankruptcy and people might find out?

Oh, yeah, that's the headline in today's newspaper.

They didn't keep that a secret long!

I'm sure you think I'm going to rant on their PR people.

You'd be wrong.

No PR person is THAT stupid. This must have been dictated by lawyers or the CEO/COO's office. Only they could be that dumb and arrogant.

Leadership Lesson: Failing Your Way to the Top

Looks like Carly Fiorina's departure from Hewlett-Packard might be a momentary blip on her resume. She's being considered to run the World Bank.

So, no matter how bad a job she did ruining one of America's most inventive companies, there is still room at the inn.

Hey, do you realize the reporters are now calling her "Carelton" instead of Carly? What's up with that?

Is this an image makeover? Rebranding?

Okay, no more badmouthing Carly, er Carelton. The point of this blog is to learn. So what can we learn from Carly's fall from grace and Phoenix like resurrection?

Rule 1. It is okay to fail. We learn by failing. Failing is good. Learning from failure is better. Repeating mistakes is just dumb. Which are you?

After all, I made mistakes in my first PR job when I represented Prentice Hall . (I can admit if now. It was a long time ago and everyone who worked there then is either dead or working someplace else.) But I learned from those mistakes and that helped when I promoted Grolier. And the mistakes I made for Grolier helped me when I did publicity for AT&T. See, failing your way to the top is not only fun, you work with bigger companies!

Every second-rate speaker has used the story in Napoleon Hill's book about JD Rockefeller NOT firing one of his senior staffers who messed up a $20 million deal (back when that was real money). "Why would I fire you," folklore says, "I just invested $20 million in your education." More folklore says that messed up miscreant was named Charles Schwab, who just might be related to the real Charles Schwab who seems to have done pretty well for himself.

Imagine if JD Rockefeller had kicked Old Man Schwab out into the streets of the Depression. Where would the world of discount brokerages be today? We'd all be paying full price commissions, that's what!

So before you go firing employees and vendors who mess up, remember, their grandchildren could be the boss of your grandchildren.

So tell that to your clients the next time you mess up. I'm sure they'll be delighted they got to know you on the way up!

Rule #2: Remember that you'll see them on the way down. So be kind.

Blogging for Ad Dollars

My friend Eva Rosenberg writes a great blog at http://www.taxmama.blogspot.com. This week she wrote an open letter to President Bush. Doesn't matter what she said (I'm not about to play politics), the point is Google didn't know what to do when it came to finding an appropriate ad to put on that page. So they chose a non-profit ad for some group that had a lot of initials and I didn't bother to see what they were about.

So here's the point.

If you are blogging for dollars (and who isn't?) you need to get real ads on your blog, not these woosy public service announcements that don't generate cash.

So I thought a bit.

That means if you want ads to appear, you have to have content that relates to real products and services. For some dumb reason, Google seems to put a lot of ads for freelance writers on my blog. That's not okay for two reasons: 1. My content doesn't appeal to freelance writers. 2 Freelance writers are pretty industrious so they probably won't feel the need to buy anything from companies that want to sell them anything. So it is a waste for me, the reader and the advertiser.

So I thought a bit more.

How about writing about topics that relate to products, services that people want to buy? I could offer my opinions on the new iPod, for example.

So I thought a bit more.

How about writing about topics that generate lots of traffic? Like politics, or celebrities, or popular culture (TV, movies, music, etc.)

Hmmm.

Would that generate more traffic, as well as more targeted ads? More plus more equals much more. (I like that! I'm trademarking it. Don't steal it. I'll show you where you can by the T-shirt and bumper sticker soon!)

Hmmm again.

What about writing articles with liberal name dropping of highly searched terms, like Michael Jackson or whoever is popular or unpopular today.

I might add that I was one of the early predictors of "contextual commerce" as the killer app on the web. I did an extensive media tour on this topic more than 5 years ago. It is finally catching on!

I'll share the results of this test over the next few weeks.

Branding Martha Stewart

Seem like every media pundit is interviewing every PR person on what steps poor Martha Stewart will need to do to rehabilitate her image after she is released from prison.

Well, I have news for them.

She doesn't have to do one darned thing.

She is the strongest brand in America today.

Everyone knows what she stands for -- and that's the keenest definition of good branding.

Love her or hate her, you know what Martha Stewart is, does, and acts.

A timeout in jail won't affect anyone's opinion of her. Go on, marketers, do a big, fancy, costly research study of the public's opinions of Martha today, next month and last year and I'll bet you the people who like her still like her and the people who hate her still hate her. So there.

One of the more interesting studies I've read recently says that people want to believe what they want to believe. No one wants to have their opinion contested. Whether it be their politics, their religion or anything else. More on that later, though. This tidbit offers the seminal point for anyone involved in public opinion research today. It's not about changing people's attitudes anymore, it is about solidifying your core constituency and mobilizing them to take the action you desire. As for the people who don't believe in your cause, forget them. They've already forgotten about you!

Now, back to Martha.

If the classic definition of a brand is "a promise" then Martha has always delivered on her promise and has been true to her mission. While I can't bake a cake, create a wreath from scratch or make a bed without 10,000 wrinkles, I know who I would turn to if I really needed the answer. And so do you.

Martha is the brand.

She is invincible because she is true to her brand.

(Editor's note: No, don't even get me started on her guilt or innocence; the injustice she suffered by the tabloid media, or the double standard that befell her as a woman compared to men who actually robbed and stole pension funds at Enron and other top corporations. )