PR Resource

It takes a great deal for one’s mind to begin to comprehend a trillion. The number is so large it is unimaginable. The figure belongs to government debt or to data stored on computers. The news that Apple is now valued at a trillion dollars is mind-boggling. Its size and wealth are beyond any other corporation in US and probably, world history. The company needs to understand, however, that its exalted position is tenuous. It can fall back at any time should it misstep in product innovation and marketing. Previous behemoths in technology, such as IBM and Hewlett Packard, are still growing and profitable but nowhere near Apple’s multiple. Apple will hit a maturity at some point when its technology is ubiquitous and widely imitated. It will need to find another breakout product and that will be difficult. Meanwhile, competitors will keep nipping at its lead in a chance that they can bring the company down. Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.

One nightmare for executives is to be trapped by crises not of their own making and that come out of seeming nowhere. For example, like this one. Cardinal Kevin Farrell, head of the Vatican’s family and laity office, once served under a formal cardinal in Washington DC who stands accused of sexual abuse of young men. He says he is angry and would have done something about it had he known. His problem is that critics say he should have known because he lived in the same rectory as now-disgraced ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. There isn’t much Farrell can do to convince the public that he didn’t have an inkling of the case. He is going to have to live with the suspicion that he is covering up. There are PR problems for which there is no good answer. This is one.

Chipotle Mexican Grill is snakebit. Yet another restaurant has had to go offline from food-borne illness. This time under the chain’s new CEO.  For some reason, Chipotles nationwide have suffered from poisoning outbreaks. The firm has changed its sourcing, logistics and cleanliness practices but to little avail. It just can’t get it right and the public has responded by staying away from its burritos. This is a chronic PR crisis for the company and one it must solve sooner rather than later. There are many ways viruses and bacteria can enter a food chain, and a restaurant company needs to guard against all of them. It doesn’t have the leeway of occasional lapses. The CEO will have to bear down on procedures to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Goldman Sachs has taken an interesting way to gauge the valuation of a company and its stock — buzz on social media. Its analysts used comments to warn on Tesla and its Model 3 sedan. Here is how they did it:

“Goldman analysts looked to gauge sentiment on the Tesla TSLA, +0.63% Model 3 by analyzing daily social-media posts and categorizing Twitter and Reddit posts as positive, negative, or neutral. The buzz has skewed negatively recently, they said.

Economics has become more interesting since the field moved to behavioral studies — what people actually do and not what they are mathematically supposed to do. This experiment shows how to cross the bridge between intention to pay debt and the action of funding it. The authors theorized that people get busy and fail to follow through so they changed outbound calls to delinquents to gain their commitment to action. The test worked although the numbers were small but the expense avoided and revenue generated was larger. The focus was on gaining commitment to a specific time frame for paying debt. Rather than talking to the debtor, the system asked for the deadbeat’s response then solidified the answer. It is one more verification that effective communications is two-way.

US airlines have submitted to China’s demand that they label Taiwan as part of China rather than a separate country. China has pulled a power play. Taiwan is separate in government, economics and culture. Nothing can change that, and the longer the country is apart from the mainland, the more distinct it becomes. Unfortunately, because of China’s political and economic might, few are willing to buck the government, whether airlines or other countries. Taiwan has become a non-entity on the international scene. It’s there, but it’s not. It exports products, but it gets no recognition for doing so. From a communications perspective, the country is in a long lasting bind. At some point, China is determined to take over the island, but it isn’t ready to risk condemnation from the world community for doing so. So it waits and applies pressure on everyone to call Taiwan a mainland Chinese territory. It is a terrible position for Taiwan to be in.

One of the foundations of trust in a society is its money. The public has to believe that it can use paper documents to purchase or pay for something. When that trust breaks down, the public will eschew notes and find other ways to fulfill economic transactions. This is what is happening in Venezuela where monetary inflation is reaching one million percent. Its money is worthless, and the public is trying anything to get the necessities of life from barter through blackmarket dollars and in the worst case, theft. How did it get so bad in a country living on a sea of underground oil? The government wrecked the economy and continues to pursue its ruinous ways. It has lost public trust and maintains power through the barrel of a gun. Should the military turn on President Nicolas Maduro, it will be the end of him. Thus far, he has maintained his grip, but for how long?

When a 13-yer-old boy in Minneapolis started a hot dog stand, he didn’t have permits from the city. He was reported. But, instead of the city crashing down on him and putting him out of business, the bureaucrats went out of their way to help him become legal. It is a heart-warming story, especially since the young fellow is trying to raise money to buy new clothes for school. It could have easily gone wrong with patrol officers ticketing him and harassing him out of existence, but it didn’t. It shows that Minneapolis city workers have empathy for budding entrepreneurs, young or old. It makes one want to live there and is an example of smart PR.

There is a leadership crisis when there is an unplanned succession. Who will take over? How will the company change? What’s to become of its market position? That is the worry Fiat Chrysler found itself in over the weekend. Its long-time and popular CEO was suddenly replaced because of ill health. He had shoulder surgery a few weeks ago but something went wrong. The report did not mention if he was fighting for his life, but no matter, there was an urgent need for a new CEO. Mike Manley, 54, who spearheaded the growth of Jeep and RAM trucks over the past decade, has taken over in an internal succession. The directors of the company seemed to have been prepared for succession, which is not always the case. There will now be a testing period for Manley to see how well he can run the entire organization. With luck and skill he will be OK.

Can a huge aircraft be a publicity stunt? Airbus thought so, and now we have the beluga cargo plane. It was achieved on the one-off parts ferry for Airbus’ factories. The bulbous craft now sports a smile and a pair of eyes that make it look like the whale.  The BelugaXL will not be readily spotted since it is flying from factory to factory, but the paint job has already achieved international recognition.  Not bad for generating news copy and a few gallons of paint. Kudos to Airbus.