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September 2005 Archives

September 1, 2005

Unspeakable Tragedy

Hurricane Katrina has dealt a devastating blow to our country.  It'll be weeks before we know the extent of the damage, loss of life and depth of human suffering it has delivered to the Gulf States.
 
At PAN, our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, refugees, aid workers and everyone else directly or indirectly affected by this horrific, slow-motion disaster. 
 
Please give what you can to the aid organization of your choice; the people of the affected regions need help immediately, and for the foreseeable future.  PAN and its employees have chosen to donate directly to the Red Cross, and have set up a page where visitors to the site may do the same.   
 
But there are many sites on the Web where people can give.  The Red Cross is here, the Network for Good is here, and Feed the Children is here, to name just a few.  
 
Please donate wisely; the Charity Navigator will help you find an established charity quickly and has good advice for avoiding people who might try to take advantage of this disaster. 
 
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Posted on September 1, 2005 7:09 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Helping Those in Need

The images of devastation and the stories of survival and despair from Hurricane Katrina are so moving that Americans across the country are coming together to help in any way they can.

At PAN, many of our employees and clients want to show their support for the victims by contributing to the relief effort. To do our part as an organization, PAN has pledged to match the contributions of our employees and clients -- dollar for dollar in the hope of helping to ease the pain of so many. As Joel noted below, we have chosen the American Red Cross as our vehicle. We hope that with our contribution we can help provide food, shelter and other services to the victims of this terrible disaster as they try to rebuild their lives.

Posted on September 1, 2005 10:32 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Up to The Minute - Slidell Hurricane Damage Blog

Of the sites we've been monitoring to get news and information about Katrina's aftermath, none have struck quite as hard as the minute by minute accounting by PR guy, Brian Oberkirch on his Slidell Hurricane Damage Blog .  He's doing an amazing job of  bringing us in while events unfold and rounding up sorely needed informational resources for people in New Orleans and Slidell, LA, an eastern suburb on Lake Pontchartrain.  Brian has a survivor site roundup (kind of like the message boards New York used during 9/11) which, when you think about it, says the most about this cataclysm. 
 
Thanks Dave Parmet for showing us Brian's site.  Thanks to Blogspotting for amplifying the message.  Hopefully folks up here in N.E. will find this a source of information.   
 
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Posted on September 1, 2005 1:08 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

September 7, 2005

Product Launch Time of Year

September and October tend to be a busy time for product launches. Keeping in mind that these months are highly competitive in trying to achieve time and mindshare with reporters and customers, the best thing a company do to achieve a successful launch is bring in a PR firm several months in advance of the product launch.

Even if you are unsure of product availability, an early connection to your PR team on what products are on the horizon and which markets they address can make a major positive impact on the coverage achieved and audiences addressed.

For example: If a PR team knows that a new product is being launched in September when a much more advanced, upgraded product will be issued approximately five months later, it can change strategy. Perhaps the PR team can focus on an exclusive piece for the first launch in September when achieving mindshare with reporters is highly competitive and an exclusive is a golden word during this competitive time. While the second launch, with a more impactful product and later time-frame, could take a broad-brush approach.

It all goes back to a simple adage: knowledge is power and power is success.

Posted on September 7, 2005 9:26 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

September 12, 2005

In PR, Actions speak louder than words

Today's Wall Street Journal (sorry, behind a firewall) has a great piece about Wall Mart's ability to recover after a natural disaster.  There are clear chains of command; distributed support personnel and fleets of trucks to move goods where they're needed most.  More importantly, the article notes the stores (in Katrina's case) were ready to spring into action early, when the storm was still over Florida.  That seems to be the company's MO, too. 
 
The speed at which Wall Mart recovered its own operations and was able to assist the hard-hit communities in which it operates has won it almost universal praise.   First responders on the ground looked to Wall Mart before FEMA.  It's likely they'll never look to FEMA again, either, after this episode. 
 
Which just goes to show that in PR, actions frequently speak much louder than words. 
 
 
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Posted on September 12, 2005 7:14 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

September 20, 2005

Journos Blogging PR Pitches?

Stephen Baker of Business Week/Blogspotting has an interesting post/challenge to PR people.  In it he asks if it's kosher for blogging journalists (or journalist bloggers--whichever side you're with) to blog the inner workings between journalists (of the more traditional ilk) and PR folk (of the flack variety).
 
So--for now, ignoring the debate over what/who/etc. constitutes a journalist--is it okay for journalists to blog the pitches they receive?  Stephen thinks so and says this would give more perspective on how companies are pitching their line and positioning themselves.  That's cool.  But, would he/they treat all pitches equally?  Meaning, If he/they received an interesting pitch and blogged it, would that then disqualify the pitch's content from potentially turning into a story later on?  I ask because Stephen goes on to say that journalists are "loath to admit that we get story ideas from PR people."  
 
So how would that shake out?  Would the authors of pitches that resulted in a story be sourced in stories that make it to BW Online or the magazine? Jeremy Pepper goes into more detail and brings up some other good points here.            
 
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Posted on September 20, 2005 5:31 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

September 27, 2005

Brain Teaser

Can you imagine trying to do PR for this guy? 
 
Inept doesn't really sum him up; maybe 'contempt' for others better describes his attitude?  How can Brown continue to throw people other than himself under the bus for FEMA's underwhelming Hurricane Katrina response? 
 
Maybe we can learn something from Brown; he'll definitely be an interesting college assignment/case study for PR majors.  But what about the working PR community? If you were given the unfortunate assignment to be Brown's publicist (and that'd be a big job indeed), where would you even start?
 
I'll kick off the conversation by immediately pulling him from the view of another camera.  People in the affected areas are looking for someone to blame and he's making himself and his relations a pretty big target.  Now what?   
   

Posted on September 27, 2005 12:49 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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About September 2005

This page contains all entries posted to PAN Blog in September 2005. They are listed from oldest to newest.

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