High-Tech PR Blog >> Beyond the Hype

Protecting Little Miss Sunshine

There is a sweet scene in last year's hysterical film "Little Miss Sunshine" where the title character stands in line to meet Miss California and gets the advice she is looking for:  yes, Miss California, a beauty queen, eats ice cream.  It's funny and poignant and fits perfectly into the film that veers wildly from pathos to slapstick and somehow leaves you with a smile. 

This morning's CNN American Morning news program reminded me of that scene when reigning Miss America Lauren Nelson, wearing her crown, talked about teaming with Symantec to promote online safety for kids.  She talked about a sting operation she participated in to help expose online predators and how this interest grew out of her own experiences as a teen when she and some friends provided too much information online and someone approached them inappropriately.  This week Nelson and Symantec are hosting a Town Hall Event in conjunction with Giant Campus' Cybercamps program, a technology summer camp for kids, to explore the role the Internet and other technologies play in kids' personal, school and family lives.

It's an interesting PR move and I must admit I smirked a little when I saw the beauty queen with the tiara talking about the Internet. But it's a good step that might help the young girls in particular who don't really understand the risks.  Hopefully it is designed to educate about appropriate use of the Internet and chat rooms rather than providing the FUD that some parents have mistakenly employed to keep their kids off of computers entirely.

Crowdsourcing moves ahead

There was widespread coverage and conversation today on the VC investment in NowPublic.com, a site that bills itself as "crowd powered media."  USA Today and Gannett turned heads last year when it revamped its approach to publishing news online and reporting on it by bringing citizens into the journalistic process.  CNN made it possible for a Virginia Tech student to submit a camera phone video of the scene outside the building of the tragic events of this past spring.

NowPublic claims over 100,000 reporters in nearly 4,000 cities around the world, and recently formed a partnership with AP for the news service to leverage content from NowPublic as part of its coverage.  Whatever it is called -- crowdsourcing, citizen journalism, open source journalism -- it is a building force that requires communicators to adapt.  I often see in "new PR" conversations that companies are losing control over getting a story told because anyone can start a blog, and because anyone can be a journalist.

I look at it differently.  Companies still have control.  It requires thinking about communications differently and using social media to tell your story directly to the public, and in particular, your community -- which could include the "new reporters."

End of an Era

For years, those of us who worked both with StorageTek and then Sun Microsystems after the acquisition, helped to educate many in the media and analyst community on the evolution of tape within backup and archive for the enterprise. 

Sure, tape was and continues to be an easy thing to bash.  Just ask those few companies profiled in news articles the past few years when a DLT or LTO tape holding valuable information is "misplaced, lost or stolen."

However, throughout the media and analyst discussion, Robert C. Abraham, founder and author of Freeman Reports, stood as one of a few that followed all the breaking developments, tracking all the major players' market position and product innovations.  So it comes as a blow to many of us who've dealt with Bob over the past few years that he lost his battle to cancer last month.

Jo Maitland's obituary of Bob for SearchStorage covers just some of why Bob was such an influential analyst.  As Dianne McAdam, analyst at GlassHouse Technologies, Inc. noted:

Bob was a quiet, soft-spoken guy with a tremendous understanding of the tape industry...This is the loss of a great person and a great service.

His passing also puts closure to what had been happening already within the industry analyst community -- a shift from focus on developments within tape such as library automation, 1TB tape drives, drive formats to technologies impacting tape such as VTLs, VTEs, encryption, removable disk, and MAID to name a few.

Sadly, Freeman Reports will not survive Bob's passing. 

Promoting your company during dry news periods

When I was a journalist, we called them slow news days.  Now as a PR professional, I recognize those periods that our clients just don't have new deals to announce or products to launch or customers to publicize as a sort of summer doldrums period -- appropriate for this sultry July day.  In an industry in which everyone is checking minute by minute for news, you certainly don't want a lot of minutes to go by without your client's brand being promoted in some way.  And we all know PR is the most cost effective and influential way to keep your brand fresh in the market.  So what do you do?

Here are a few tips you might want to consider:

(1) Speak on behalf of the industry.  As a representative of your marketplace, you can provide expert commentary on industry happenings and events.  Even if they aren't all about you or your company, your brand will benefit by you being included as a source of valued information or interpretation.

(2) Get into your competitors' coverage.  We love to do this when our clients are willing to.  It's great fun to go after the larger competitors in particular and infiltrate their coverage -- get ahead of it by keeping your ear to the ground to determine when they are making moves.  Provide quick responses to their moves in the market.  It's not only good for your brand, but it drives your competitors crazy.  Bonus points.

(3) Build your relationships.  As Ed Finn, editor of Barrons, said recently at an FH Meet the Media event, it is so much better to build a relationship with a reporter than to send them a press release.  He urged companies to build that relationship before they are bringing news to the reporters who cover them.  It's good advice.  And it applies to the new types of influencers such as bloggers.

(4) Write and speak.  Bylines, blog postings (on your own blog or comments on others' relevant blogs) and speaking opportunities help keep your name out there.  And you may bump into some great reporters or bloggers at key venues for that all important relationship building for when you do have news.

So it's not really a dry period.  It's a creative, proactive period.  We have managed to keep some of our clients' relevance in the media as high during these non-news periods as when they have news, partnering with our clients to do some combination of these techniques.  It's all about the right strategy and a glass half full kind of approach to PR.

SF Chron Puts Blogger in Editor Position

This jumped out at me from my feeds today.  Via the Editors Weblog (which came from Editor & Publisher), I saw that the San Francisco Chronicle named Eve Bately as the paper's new online editor.  What's notable about this is that Eve's background is as a blogger and PR professional, not as a journalist.

Every day there is fresh evidence at how fundamentally media is being redefined.  This is the latest.  The opportunity is shifting online and pace of change at the traditional media properties is blinding.  The excerpt of the memo from SF Chron editor Phil Bronstein cited by Editors Weblog is particularly telling:

"There is no question that our future is so inextricably tied to online and digital that the person who oversees all things web for the newsroom should have the authority to operate at the highest levels,” explained Bronstein in his memo. Although he admitted that Batey does not have “the traditional newspaper/journalism background,” he expressed confidence that she will help “dissolve the walls between the online and print Chronicle functions.”

This just underscores how we're going to continue to see newspapers and other publications evolve to encourage more participation with readers.

The YouTube Debates

Two years ago, it was how YouTube made an impact on the public opinion of political candidates, as former Virginia senator George Allen's campaign turned on the "Macaca" moment.  The next (baby) step played out last night with the Democratic Presidential debate following a first-of-its-kind format whereby the questions were asked of the candidates by ordinary citizens via YouTube videos.  Out of nearly 3,000 videos submitted as part on an ongoing contest, 39 questions were picked and put to the candidates to respond.

One of the biggest takeaways for me from this event is how the format points again to the gradual "disintermediation" of traditional media.  Most debates are driven by a panel of journalists from newspapers, local and network TV stations and radio asking their own questions of candidates.  We've seen in the last couple of presidential campaigns "town hall" style formats where citizens are selected to ask questions, but there was a careful screen in place to keep decorum in order.

Granted, last night's debate was broadcast by CNN and the videos handpicked by the network.  However, the types of questions posed were unlike those ever broached in debates before.  Questions like, will Americans give reparations for slavery?  Are we watching the same *blanking* war?  Or a snowman asking, what are you going to do about global warming?

An introductory question asked the candidates to give direct answers, but most candidates didn't heed, IMHO.  They're still politicians, after all.  But it was refreshing to see the candidates respond to questions that represent what's really on voters' minds.

And just to be clear, this is a bipartisan post, as I'll mention that the Republicans will be put before the YouTube community on September 17.  It will be interesting to see how that one plays out.

Welcome Back Scott Kirsner -- Innovation Does Exist in New England

Scott Kirsner is back writing regularly for the Boston Globe again. His new weekly column, the Innovation Economy, will be covering "entrepreneurship, technology and venture capital" in New England. First, let me say that it is great to have Scott back focusing on this area. He has always been very receptive to discussing new companies and products with PR people. It also shows that the Boston Globe is showing some re-commitment to covering an important segment of the local economy.

Unfortunately in Scott's first piece he examines what has become an all too familiar tune. The New England technology market is losing yet again to Silicon Valley -- in the area of consumer technology. In this particular case, he contrasts the conservative, business-market orientation of New England VCs versus the more risk taking, consumer-tech oriented Valley VCs. I certainly won't argue the overall point. We are all well-versed in the history of how we got to where we are today. 

But there was one example that was made to contrast the two different approaches that I have always found somewhat unsettling. New England VCs tend to want to see companies actually making money, whereas this was not seen as important to the gang on the West Coast. Since when is expecting a company to actually make money not a positive thing? My colleague, Ted Weismann, wrote a previous post about this attitude in which he cited an entry on TechCrunch which compared our client, ZoomInfo, to some of it competitors and almost disparaged the fact that they were a "solid business" and the only ones that had actual revenues. Huh??

Yes, culturally we are more conservative. And yes, our tech economy maybe is based more around business than consumers. But there are still hundreds of great technology companies being built here, and many are targeting the consumer. Check out one of our clients, Zink, which is doing some incredible stuff that will change the digital printing business -- both for consumers and business. You probably know of many more. If so, tell us about them. In the meantime, I look forward to future articles from Scott which I hope will change people's perceptions about innovation in New England.

 

A Precautionary Tale

Last week during an interview, one of my clients referred to the "precautionary principle" as it relates to the healthcare industry implementing new technological innovations. He loosely stated that healthcare had taken the principle to new heights and that it now seems to operate under the rule, "If any bad result from an action is possible -- at all -- do not proceed with that action."

It got me thinking about the media as it relates to health topics and specifically medical devices: has this principle started to trickle down into the way medical innovations are covered in the press?  The answer to myself was, "To some degree, yes."

I agree that the media has a responsibility to be cautious about setting expectations among patients/consumers related to outcomes and availability. They also need to keep safety in mind and should require clinical data in support of any new procedure or device. But, when national health segments on "Sleep" report on the benefits of dark, cool rooms and debate the pros and cons of hard versus soft pillows, and "Macular Degeneration" segments remind people to take their vitamins, aren't we missing a huge opportunity to introduce patients/consumers to the growing number of proven, FDA-cleared procedures and devices available today?

With more and more patients relying on various media outlets -- rather than the doctor's office -- for their health information, I hope the media hasn't opted for precaution over the chance to educate their audience about sound medical advances.

A Lesson From Harry Potter

I just finished re-reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in anticipation of the seventh book in J.K Rowling's series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which comes out this weekend. It reminded me of what makes a good story with compelling characters, complex and imaginative events, tension, intrigue and heartfelt interaction.  It's no wonder that it has spawned many books, movies, marketing paraphenalia, online communities/fan clubs and even soon-to-be-built theme park attractions.  According to the WSJ the latest movie has already grossed $140 million since opening July 11th - Wow!

But how does this relate to high-tech PR you are wondering? While there are many lessons that can be learned from the Harry Potter books and ensuing marketing mania, the one most compelling to me is how the books incite discussion and interaction in publications, libraries, bookstores and especially online communities.  It has created a connection across the world to people of all ages who share a similar interest and want to share their views on what will happen in the next book. BusinessWeek mentioned in a recent article how a popular Harry Potter fan site, MuggleNet.com, gets 1 million hits a day. It's proof to me that online communities can have tremendous power if companies know how to harness it.   

How can high-tech and life sciences companies make their online communities conjure up this kind of magic?   The key is to identify what excites your customers, what makes them think, reach out and want to share ideas.  Understand how they like to communicate and gain information about products. Find themes and issues that connect them to you as a company and to each other. Share your views and they will more likely share their experiences on your site.  Help your customers grow and learn and they will, in turn, help you grow.      

Semiconductors and the Sun

I'm sitting in a Starbucks in San Francisco today, attending my 9th annual SEMICON West conference. It's a scary prospect, but feels good at the same time to recognize old faces in the crowd. The conference is the largest one catering to the semiconductor equipment and materials suppliers, who outfit the fabs that manufacture computer chips that are found in just about any device a consumer picks up. To say it's a techie crowd is quite an understatement. The brainpower hurdling through the Moscone Center this week is massive.

The show started out in the fairgrounds of San Mateo - RVs served as the company booths, which apparently held a keg of a beer combined with a multi-million dollar piece of equipment. Times obviously have changed, but the event now exists more for networking purposes rather than generating sales.  This morning I already have talked to three different companies that told me PO numbers aren't exchanged at the show anymore. Instead, it's all about sustaining the relationships and demonstrating who has more marketing prowess. If you are familiar with how much a trade show booth costs, you see that this is quite an investment to maintain relationships and showcase your brand.

One thing that did catch my eye was the excitement around the solar market. The semiconductor market has the transferable skills to push solar technology into the mainstream, and according to the industry titan Applied Materials - solar technology is about to experience a price inflection in the near future that will create a new booming market worldwide. The semiconductor industry needs to join forces and make this happen because as it stands now, Germany and Asia-Pacific dominate the market. The press is catching onto this story, and I hope the semiconductor industry is able to band together to give the U.S. market a piece of the pie.

I attended an event in Austin, Texas a few weeks ago where Herman Scheer, the President of the European Association for Renewable Energy, spoke to a group via conference call. He said it best - "as long as the sun exists, we can create solar power." And according to his scientific sources, we have at least another 5-8 billion years.