Lambert, the Sanfords and Tiger, Tiger, Tiger: Our List of the 10 Top PR Nightmares of 2009

by Tony Shelton, Shelton and Caudle Communication Training and Crisis Counsel, a division of Vollmer Public Relations

Politicians and performers, wannabees and wackos made the news again in 2009.  There were even some strong and effective responses to communication crises this year.  Of course, that was before the news became “All Tiger, All the Time.”

Here are our picks for the Top 10 PR Nightmares of 2009 – from bad to worst:

• United Airlines breaks guitars: Wronged customer strikes back. Especially effective approach if you happen to be a talented guy with a following on YouTube.
  
  
• Adam Lambert on the AMAs: Not that we really care who kisses whom, but Lambert’s antics at the American Music Awards should have been preceded by a warning to send the kids off to bed before he started. Still, shocking performances (see Madonna and Britney, for example) have been known to help careers, as this one seems to have boosted Lambert’s.
  
  
• Gross-out Domino’s employees:  Props to Domino’s for jumping in and quickly jumping on this one with both feet.  As good a corporate response as we saw this year to a crisis that struck directly at essence of their business – the implied promise of wholesomeness of their product.
  
  
• Governor Sanford:  No one will ever think of “hiking in the Appalachians” the same way again.  On a positive note, Jenny Sanford, who allowed she was “apparently not” the Governor’s soul mate, showed some class.  At least until she announced her book deal.
  
  
• Kanye West interrupts Taylor Swift:   Who knows if it was really staged?  It was an early Christmas to young Ms. Swift. Kanye, on the other hand, was even rebuked by the President. And, he didn’t help himself with his dippy, weepy interview with Jay Leno either.
  
  
• David Letterman’s affairs:  By telling his story in his own loopy way, he reeled us in and kept us from recoiling completely from the “creepy things” he said he was accused of doing with female members of his staff.   The few cries of outrage at the sexual harassment aspect of the story were soon forgotten. Good for Dave, bad for employee relations.
  
  
• Mammograms at 40, 50, when?   Did anybody get a clear recommendation anywhere in this mess?  The Today Show’s Ann Curry should have been ashamed of herself for letting Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sibelius get away with her patronizing and content-free “clarification” on NBC.
  
  
• Secret Service and White House party crashers:   Not funny. If these airheads can get that close to the President, so could somebody whose goal was a little more sinister than getting on reality TV.  Secret Service heads should have rolled immediately.
  
  
• Michael Jackson's doctor:  Took control of his story by telling it on YouTube. We may not all be convinced of his innocence, but he told his story and told it his way.  However, the King of Pop is dead and Dr. Conrad Murray will forever be associated with it whether responsible or not.
  
  
• Tiger’s Tale of Woe:  Hiding never works. Whining either. He could have learned from Letterman about taking control of the story.  To Tiger’s minor credit: At least, his women friends were not subordinates at his workplace.

There was no shortage of choices for our list this year.  You likely have your own favorites. Let us hear from you - give us your favorite PR Nightmare of 2009 below!

One last note:  For the effective crisis communication response, a few basics remain true: We understand that “stuff happens” but, when it does, we want to see somebody step in and do what needs to be done to make it right.  Plus, if you’re famous and you get caught doing something you shouldn’t, you’d better take responsibility and apologize – and you’d better be quick about it.  

The Lingo Tango: 2009 Lexicon Gone Wild

by Helen Vollmer
Founder and CEO, Vollmer Public Relations

Sunday morning found me curled up with my cup of coffee and my New York Times (Dec. 20 edition) laughing out loud.  The article was about the buzzwords of 2009.  Some, like octomom, I expected to see.  But others, like aporkalypse (undue worry in response to swine flu, e.g., removing unnecessary kisses from a Mexican telenovela) provided glee and delight.

Others that particularly caught my eye were:

• Birther - a person who believes Obama wasn’t born in the U.S., so can’t be president
• Botax - a proposed levy on cosmetic procedures
•  Jeggings - jean leggings
• Green shoots - signs of an economic recovery

I love this stuff!  Because as much as those in our offices would tell you that I’m a stick in the mud for grammatical correctness and following appropriate journalistic style, language is meant to evolve and change to better describe what and how humans need to communicate.  Apes may groom each other and butterflies may migrate, but we change our words like we do our clothes to express ourselves.  And, that’s pretty cool!

Certainly, technology has advanced lexicon in new and different ways—from bytes to blogs to tweet-ups, many neologisms (new words) have emerged from how we find, gather and communicate information.  But technology, isn’t the only bearer of new language—think of snarky, staycation or locavore.  And this has been going on since man could talk.  Consider that Elizabethan semantic freewheeler, William Shakespeare, who brought the likes of excellent, lonely and leapfrog, among others, to everyday use.

My favorite of the year came to my attention from our 21 year old daughter. A fomo (the acronym for the fear of missing out) is a person who is constantly focusing just beyond the conversation she or he is currently having.

By the way, the American Dialect Society will select its Word of the Decade in January.  In fact, there’s still time to nominate a word by sending an email to Grant Barrett at woty@americandialect.org before January 7, 2010.

Creating new words and phrases to better express ourselves is just human nature.  The operative word here is “creating.”  We evolve, we change, and we want to give meaning to our lives.  As a species, our use of language truly distinguishes us.

As we enter the next decade, we need to keep up the good work in finding new expressions that provide clear meaning to our intentions.  And if we can’t, then perhaps aporkalypse will come to have a new meaning—the return to the use of Pig Latin when your cell phone dies, you can’t text, and you have to verbally communicate.

*You can follow Helen on Twitter @goofydooly or friend her on Facebook! 

Sometimes You Just Have to Laugh....

by Denisha Stevens
Vollmer Public Relations Dallas

Earlier this year we introduced a new Vollmer logo and design to reflect our company motto of Passion and Expertise in Action. So, in recent weeks we’ve been excited about developing a new website that incorporates these changes.  We planned on kicking off 2010 with a fresh website and fresh outlook for the new year!

One of our last steps required capturing photos of the Vollmer team in action.  I’m quite sure military maneuvers have been coordinated with less hassle than what went into planning this shoot.  We secured interesting locations and juggled schedules that were complicated by year-end projects, 2010 planning meetings and holiday events.  Then there were all of the little details to handle: When would we start?  What would we wear?  Where would we stand?  What would we eat for lunch?

In the end, the shoot was a success.  Everyone pulled together to squeeze an amazing amount of photography into one day.  One team member took on the role of prop master while another assisted with hair and makeup.  Others worked to keep us on schedule and fueled with plenty of coffee.  I was impressed with everyone’s contribution.  Most of all, I felt blessed to work with such a great group of talented and creative people.

Maybe it was all of that coffee, but I was almost giddy when we wrapped for the day.  I drove home smug with the thought that we had captured wonderful photos and moved a step closer to launching the new website at the beginning of the year.

Evidently the universe had other plans!

Soon after I got home and propped up my feet, I received an alarming phone call.  Our photographer and his assistant went to dinner immediately after the shoot.  While they were in the restaurant, someone broke into their car and stole their photography equipment as well as the laptop that contained all of our digital photos from the day’s shoot.

What a shock!  My feet were still recovering from standing up all day and now I was hearing that all of our efforts had been wasted.  I sat there for a few minutes staring into space.  Then, I burst out into a fit of uncontrollable laughter.  I laughed and laughed.  In fact, I laughed until tears came to my eyes.   I’m sure the colleague who called me thought I had lost my mind.

But, why not laugh?  Nobody was injured during the incident. The equipment can be replaced. The photo shoot can be rescheduled. The website will still launch in 2010, just not as early as we’d hoped. And most of all, I still work with an amazing group of people. No thief can take that away.

I invite you to check out the Vollmer website in the new year.  We hope to launch the new design sometime in January after we recreate those fabulous photos.

Until then, you just have to laugh!

Tiger’s Tale of Woe: Five Lessons from Woods’ Fall

by Tony Shelton, Shelton & Caudle, the Communication Training & Crisis Counsel Division of Vollmer Public Relations

Good-bye, Gillette!  So long,  Accenture!  Adios, millions and millions in endorsement deals!

Why has the public, to say nothing of his sponsors, turned on Tiger Woods so viciously?  Because he betrayed that carefully honed, squeaky clean image and, of course, his wife?  Yes, but there’s more to it than that.

Quite simply, he botched his crisis communication.

Here are five things you can learn from Tiger’s experience:

• If it’s going to come out, anyway, you should be the one to make it known, your way.  The story of the low-impact run-in with the fire hydrant was possibly the weirdest traffic-related story since the slow-speed police chase of O.J. Simpson.  Everyone who heard it tried to make some sense of it. Certainly, after the first woman came forward, Tiger should have known the whole story would come out.
  
  
• Don’t wait.  The very day David Letterman was approached by his blackmailer, he delivered the first part of his story to his audience about the “creepy things” he was accused of doing with women on his staff.  Although he was criticized for not apologizing at that time, he did apologize later and his popularity took only a slight dip.
  
  
• No whining.   Tiger’s first statement was at least half gripe and mostly content-free.  Yes, we know.  Life’s not fair, your personal life should be your personal life, and the media will turn on you.  Blah, blah, blah.  All true, but that’s the life you’ve chosen and, along with the adulation and the millions, comes scrutiny.  Just buck up and deal with it.   Tell us what you’re going to tell us, leaving out the “ifs” and “buts.”
  
  
• Let us see you– at least once.  We’ve got to see and hear you in order for us to decide how to think about you from here on out. You could just put a statement on YouTube, like Michael Jackson’s doctor did, but it’s better to do it at a news conference. (Note: You don’t even have to take questions. You can just read your statement.)  And do not, under any circumstances, ask your wife to stand there while you admit what you’ve done.  Let us hope that Jenny Sanford has delivered us from any such cringe-worthy charades of that kind in the future.
  
  
• Once you admit it fully, STOP talking about it.  Tiger might have said something like: “I’ve done some terrible things.  I’ve been unfaithful to my wife, and we are now working on healing our marriage. I’ve had to admit to myself that I have a serious problem and I’ve entered counseling. I’m deeply, deeply sorry for all the pain I’ve caused. At some time in the future, I hope to be able to return to the game of golf. I truly don’t know what else to say and, for my family’s sake, this is the last time I will be talking about this.”

Curiously, now that Tiger has finally admitted his “infidelity” and said he is taking himself off the tour indefinitely, the jokes may stop, and he may even begin to get some sympathy.  Think of the child who misbehaves and then says:  “I’m just no good.  I’ll go out in the yard and eat worms.” Doesn’t Mommy sometimes say, “Yes, honey, what you did was wrong, but I know you can do better.”  Maybe now the public will begin to forgive and move on.  Besides, we need him.

Without Tiger, professional golf seems to just get lost in the woods.

Happy Holidays! Stand Up and Be Counted!

by Lori Martin, Vollmer Public Relations Houston

Most everybody knows the story about a young woman named Mary and her husband, Joseph, packing up and heading to Bethlehem.  But do you remember why they made the trip?

As ordered by Caesar Augustus, they had to be counted -- for what is now known as the census.
Census and Christmas don’t typically go hand in hand.  However, this year, on the cusp of the next decennial count, the word “census” is buzzing through the hallways at Vollmer Public Relations.  Vollmer recently was awarded a contract from the City of Houston to support its Houston Counts program for the 2010 U.S. Census.

In the 2000 Census, Houstonians were seriously undercounted.  This time around, we are working very aggressively to ensure that Houston gets its full fair share of funding based on this upcoming census. Federal funding allocations for education, social services, and transportation, among other things, depend on counting everyone, including our “hard to reach” residents.

Wherever you live, please make sure you’re part of the solution. The 2010 Census will arrive via mail at your home address in mid to late March. The census form must be submitted via mail to the U.S. Census Bureau on or before April 1.

Remember:

• It’s easy – It’s only 10 questions.
• It’s safe – Your answers are not shared with the IRS, with Citizenship and Immigration Services, or any other agency of the federal government.
• It’s important – Houston failed to receive around $234 million because of the undercounts of the 2000 Census, and many areas are still not receiving the benefits they would have received if the count had been accurate. (If you live outside Houston, your city may also have been undercounted.)

Here are 50 more reasons why it’s important.

So, join us on Facebook and encourage your friends, families and neighbors to be counted, by submitting their census form by April 1, 2010.