PR Resource

Google has a PR nightmare without end. It is its war against scammers who continually find new ways to rank high in search engine results.  When the company closes one door with its algorithm, the shysters find another and pile in until Google gets wise and shuts it. They are then off to other tricks as they find them. There is no point where Google’s search engine is perfect and stops scammers permanently. There is always a crack somewhere and the fly-by-nighters will find it. The company’s reputation depends on producing good search results to queries and if it doesn’t, people will stop using it. Hence, Google can’t ignore con artists. It must do its utmost to smoke them out and get rid of them. It is an onerous task but essential.

President Trump has signed a directive to NASA to send men back to the moon and eventually, Mars. It has been a long time coming. Man hasn’t been to the moon since 1972, and Mars is a gleam in the eye of space adventurers. The directive will mean little without money. Sans funds, the document is little more than a publicity stunt. It will take multi-billions to return to the moon and many more billions to reach Mars and return safely. NASA hasn’t had that kind of cash in decades. It has been reduced to unmanned probes. That hasn’t been bad. We have learned more about the solar system from instrument packages than we could have known with humans. But, it is time to have a presence on the moon as a place to understand the deep complexities of space and its effects on the human body. What we learn on the moon might get us to Mars but to little after that. The solar system is hostile to life but for earth.

A budding but incompetent terrorist set off a pipe bomb in a New York subway this morning. Authorities handled the incident well and over-communicated, as they should have, the particulars of the event to ease public concern. Only three people were hurt, apparently none seriously except the perpetrator who was burned and is in the hospital. Fortunately, New York emergency respondents had recently rehearsed what to do in the case of a terrorist attack so they were ready. The lesson here is that crisis handling and communication don’t work well on the page. One needs to run through everything that needs to be done from securing a scene through transporting victims, communicating to the public and collecting forensic evidence. It won’t be the last time this happens. The next incident might  be serious. It is good to know that New York is ready.

The greater fools are bidding up the price of Bitcoin by the hour. It is not going to stay that high and might even be breaking as I write. Some are going to get hurt badly, but that is the outcome of all mania. The Dutch Tulip Bulb bubble ruined thousands of investors. Bitcoin is no different and wise Wall Streeters have been counseling people to stay away. Yet, many are not. They see instant riches and they crave wealth. It is crowd psychology and there is no communication other than supportive that the audience will listen to now. Criticism is rejected out of hand. Anyone who isn’t on board with the mania doesn’t understand or is a hidebound conservative. When the price fever does break, and “I told you so” is ringing in their ears, they still won’t listen but will go on to the next surefire way to riches. Some people are gamblers always on the hunt for the next big thing. They rarely win.

The internet has made one type of fake PR easier to do. That is putting names onto phony comments to the FCC. The Federal Communications Commission has been deluged with opinions for and against net neutrality. It turns out many of them were made up with names stolen from databases. Unfortunately, one of the taken names was that of a reporter who blew the whistle on the ersatz grassroots campaign. The result of the fake PR is that FCC commissioners can more easily ignore the public reaction to their voting. The campaign backfired. The problem is larger than a government agency. It means any solicitation of public opinion is open to distortion and falsehood. One cannot simply count comments for and against and arrive at a public sentiment. There needs to be stricter standards for asking the public what it thinks.

President Trump’s apparent decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital isn’t going down well with Israel’s neighbors. They are frothing at the mouth even though Jerusalem has been the de facto capital of the country for decades. Trump is about to cross a line that will turn Palestinians against him since they claim Jerusalem as well. Symbols matter to ordinary people. Jerusalem is a symbol of heritage for Zionists and so too Palestinians, although the Jews have a longer claim. Anywhere but the Middle East it probably wouldn’t matter. In the millennial enmities of the Arab-Israeli world, it does. As long as the US Embassy was in Tel Aviv, the fiction of Israel’s capital endured. Once the embassy is moved to Jerusalem, the make-believe can no longer be accepted. There are other situations like this where communications gloss over reality.  Notably, there is Taiwan whom the US has never recognized because Beijing claims it as one of its provinces. It makes no difference that Taiwan has been its own country for decades. Diplomatic language and understandings make for odd bedfellows, but they endure when it suits the world to use them.

There is, perhaps, no greater crisis in the life of a company than its CEO dying by his own hand. Suicide leaves many unanswered questions about the executive, the executive’s family life and, of course, the company. Even if the CEO leaves a note, it might not stop the fear that the company is in trouble. The communicator and surviving executives’ first duty after expressions of sorrow is to assure employees,vendors and customers that the company will continue. If the company is in difficulty, it is time for a take-charge leader to guide the company out of it. If it isn’t, the assurances should be that the company will continue on its present course for a time. Suicide is an extreme act. Usually circumstances are dire to cause a CEO to take it as a way out. It might be depression, hopelessness or frustration, but whatever the root, it leaves everyone associated with the company hanging with their own dark fears.

If the Republican tax bill irresponsibly takes from the poor and middle class and gives to the rich, as is widely reported, the party will have a major communications problem in an election year. How do you explain to constituents that you have worked on their behalf? It is an issue tailor-made to put Democrats back in power, especially with a wildly out of control President. It will be interesting to see how Republicans spin implications of the bill and what they do, if anything, to clean up sections that are unintentionally hurtful. They won’t have much time given demands of campaigning, and there is a good chance Democrats will block them from making the bill better. The communications practitioners on both the House and Senate side will be working overtime trying to find messages that make a bad bill palatable. If on the other hand, the bill is not so damaging, senators and congressmen will still have a major communications challenge to turn around the conventional belief in time to be elected. Either way, I wouldn’t want to be a Republican operative now.

Sometime words matter to a point where there is news if one uses one or not. This is the predicament the Pope has put himself in. Western media expected him to tell authorities in Myanmar to stop persecuting the Rohingya, but he didn’t. He instead called for general peace and reconciliation. His critics are battering him for it. It makes no difference that he is visiting the Muslims’ refugee camps and spotlighting their dire needs. He kowtowed to the sensitivity of Myanmar power brokers, they say. The Pope did not need to get himself into this vise. He could have stayed away. However, he is not one to back down in the face of poverty and distress. He called for solutions to the migrant crisis in Europe and he led the way in spotlighting their terrible situation. He is known for his concern for the poor. So, he didn’t use the word Rohingya. He still got his point across, but he has taken a reputational hit for not saying it.

This is a good case study for handling a crisis. When brush fires bore down on the households of Keysight Technologies’ employees, the company sprang into action. It’s first job was the safety and care of employees, many of whom were burned out of their homes. The company set up care centers and systems to reach affected workers and ensure their safety. This was in the face of incinerated land lines and cell service.  The second action was customers who were concerned they could not get technologies they had on order with the company. Senior executives visited their offices and assured them they would get delivery on time and in full. The third action was to forestall competitors who were swift to take advantage of the company’s misery. Keysight had to knock down rumors and outright falsehoods about its ability to service customers.  Communications was at the heart of much of what the company did. It went all out to reach those affected and to learn what their challenges were. Although no companies could be prepared for the scale of the disaster that Keysight encountered, they could take a lesson from how Keysight prioritized its response and moved forward.