The Big Hit: USA Today for Entrust, Inc.

By: Allison Burum, Edelman Dallas

Edelman client Entrust’s President and CEO Bill Conner was featured in the USA Today article, “ID Security CEO: ‘NYT’ hackers did their homework,” written by leading Technology Reporter Byron Acohido. In the article, Conner provided detailed commentary on how the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) orchestrated a spear-phishing attack that compromised the username and password of an ISP administrator, disrupting the media giant’s site for several hours. The article was published online on August 28 and received prominent placement on the USA Today homepage. It also ran in the August 29 print edition and was syndicated to more than 50 Gannett outlets.

How it Happened: 

Edelman recognized from previous Twitter hacks that similar hacks would likely occur again, and worked with Entrust to develop pre-approved quotes on various scenarios and had a pitch ready to go. Preparing quotes ahead of time proved helpful in the past after the team realized that reporters in the space were writing quickly and pre-approved quotes and quick commentary generated leads and coverage. 

This time, the team landed a big fish. When Edelman saw news that The New York Times website had been hacked on the afternoon of August 27, the team reached out to top-tier media contacts offering Bill Conner, a leading security expert, to lend commentary and insight on how the hack occured. The next morning, Byron Acohido of USA Today responded requesting fresh information as the Times’ website was still down. The team quickly set up a phone interview between Acohido and Conner, after which Acohido reached out throughout the day and evening to fact-check and ensure he had the highly technical details correct around the hack and the providers in question.

This was the first time Entrust had spoken to USA Today for an in-depth interview in more than five years, and the client was thrilled with the piece. The resulting article can be read here. 

Media Trends: How Mobile Media Reaches Multicultural Audiences

By: Stephanie Florence, Edelman New York 

After more than a decade of immersion in the global digital revolution, the resulting changes, impact and opportunities continue to loom larger each day. Fast-growing digital information platforms proliferate at blazing speed, and the accessibility of mobile devices together with the power of social media is capturing and empowering a new mainstream: The multicultural digital consumer.

DREAM Digital recently brought together current Hampton University students, recent graduates and New York area Hampton University prospective students with industry executives, entrepreneurs and journalists from leading media companies for its inaugural symposium. Below are some key quotes and insights from the event:

·      o   “One of the challenges faced today is finding ways for content to seamlessly transfer across platforms…from desktop to tablet to phone.” – Norman Pearlstine, former Chief Content Office, Bloomberg, current Chief Content Officer, TIME

o   Takeaway: When pitching, offer insights into how a journalist can distribute the content through multiple channels

·      o   “With sports content, fans either cheer or boo – they never send a ‘thank you for this information’ email. 60 percent of ESPN’s traffic on Sunday’s results from mobile – people are actively reading, sharing, etc. football-related content.” – Rob King, SVP, Editorial, Digital & Print Media, ESPN

o   Takeaway: Consider incorporating mobile into initial plans and not as an afterthought

·   o      “One of the challenges Ebony faces is how to translate meaningful relationships that exist with readers who view Ebony as a curator of the African American experience past, present and future. Integrating archived content is a nod to the past to what Ebony was like at the beginning.” – Desiree Rogers, CEO, Johnson Publishing Company

o   Takeaway: Research related, archived content that plays into pitch and strengthens story

·      o   “When hiring, often look for journalists off the beaten path. Search Twitter/blogs for people with a new perspective and an already cultivated following that can transfer to the website.” – Kierna Mayo, Editorial Director, Digital, Ebony

o   Takeaway: Digital media is a new way for new voices to be heard

·      o   “Young people don’t identify themselves as their race. Instead, they identify around a passion point.” – Alvin Bowles, CEO, Grab Media

o   Takeaway: Readers will search for the content that most interests them, regardless of its origin/author

·      o   Re: maintaining the voice of the brand: “Must start with authenticity. That will lead to how you monetize audience insights and how you spread the content to audience and outside typical audience. The traditional media companies are now more willing to take more risks than in the past.” – Alix Baudin, SVP and GM, Digital Operations, Scripps Networks Interactive

o   Takeaway: Lifestyle content from the Scripps properties [HGTV, DIY Network, Food Network, etc.] transcends any sort of audience differences. A recipe or home design tip will be relatable to most consumers.

Let’s Hack Public Relations

By: Phil Gomes, Edelman Chicago

I recently had the great privilege of delivering a talk at the PRSA International Conference that reflected both a personal and professional passion of mine. It was entitled “Hacking Public Relations: How Understanding and Embracing Open-Source and Hacker Culture Is Critical to PR’s Future.”

For the purposes of the talk, “open source” was defined as a set of values and processes whereby a system is open to examination and any modifications are shared. “Hacker,” in the ethical and non-pejorative sense, referred to someone with a passion for learning how a system works as well as relentlessly improving it.

There are at least five imperatives that drive the need for the public relations community to adopt these important precepts, which I’ve outlined below:

1. Newsflash: Parts of PR’s “Source Code” Are Already Leaking Anyway

The “operating system” (OS) of PR exists in a semi-proprietary form across various companies, agencies and practitioners. For those outside of the trade and the media sphere in general, relatively few currently know how this OS really works, why it exists, why it’s important or what it is actually capable of doing.

That said, the source code for the PR operating system’s various “features” and “subsystems” has been leaking onto the Internet for some time. This hasn’t been due to a dramatic Wikileaks- or Edward-Snowden-style unveiling (which, make no mistake, is bound to happen eventually), but a slow reveal over time. For example, think about the many ways pitches—certainly a core feature in PR’s OS—have been examined in public and, when maladroit, mercilessly criticized. This is to say nothing of the subsystems for crisis management or Wikipedia engagement.

2. Open-Source Values and Practices the Same Things the PR Industry Ought To

Openness, transparency, accessibility… We frequently see calls from both within and outside the public relations industry to adopt these principles—principles that map very closely to what open-source communities and hackers value. While it’s presently naïve to think that more than a small number of companies will go so far as to, say, lay their product-design or engineering plans out there for the world (and competitors) to see, I do believe that there is still a lot of room for companies to make people participants in their processes, rather than simply the recipients of them. Opening, fostering and maintaining this necessary dialogue is PR’s mandate.

3. Open-Source Is a Proven Way to Deal with Complexity

Everyone can agree that the complexity involved in public relations and marketing has skyrocketed in the past decade. The question is “How do we address this?” and “What can we learn from communities who have done so?” I believe that looking to open-source and hacker communities gives us the answer.

The open-source Linux operating system comprises 15 million lines of code. It takes thousands of volunteers committing more than seven changes every hour to make it work. This is to say nothing of the volunteers who test, document, translate and evangelize the operating system. Sometimes these volunteers severely irritate the project’s founder, and some would maybe even hurt each other if they ever actually met. For all of that potential chaos, however, this operating system powers 476 of the top 500 best-performing supercomputers out there, as well as countless embedded devices.

Wikipedia is another topic about which I’m very fond. This massively collaborative online encyclopedia has 29 million articles in more than 240 languages, built by about 1.7 million volunteers (and bots) who have each made at least 10 edits. On one hand, it’s difficult to imagine how it hasn’t completely flown apart. On the other, only through an open-source ethos can something like Wikipedia even exist.

I don’t pretend to have all of the answers here, but looking at these examples is extremely instructive in terms of looking at how we address PR’s own complexity issues.

4. Open-Source and Hacker Mores Are Compatible With Increasingly Hierarchy-Averse Audiences

One aspect of the Edelman Trust Barometer that I’ve found interesting is that people (both the general publics that the Barometer now polls and the media-attentive elites it has always looked at) maintain a particularly strong aversion to hierarchy. Last year, CEOs and government officials rounded out the bottom of this annual trust study, whereas “a person like yourself” has continued to rise and is now among the top three most credible company spokespeople. The top two over the past two years: academics (or otherwise subject-matter experts) and technical experts within companies.

But aren’t even these people at the top of a “hierarchy” of sorts? Not necessarily. Just like in open-source and hacker communities, these are people who command respect and because 1) they have close-to-the-data knowledge, and 2) they are typically very open about sharing it. So, it’s not so much that they’re “at the top,” but that they earn respect through expertise and access.

5. PR Must Prove Its Value to Online Communities or It Will Be Treated as a Software Bug or Network Damage

Open-source projects come together and draw volunteers because groups of people find shared, mutual value in doing so. If you have an itch to scratch, someone else probably has that very same itch and is willing to help. In a recent post on my blog where I warn people to approach content marketing thoughtfully, I urge the public relations industry to seek that mutual value, lest it be viewed as a system “bug” to be fixed or ignored. “If PR inspires people to build something that does to PR what TiVo was supposed to do to television advertising, we'll know (perhaps too late) that we failed.” To survive as a discipline, we must remain thoughtful, transparent and valued members of communities, rather than just merely entities tasked with influencing them.

What to do in such an environment? My talk will offer several remedies for consideration. In the meantime, sound off with your comments.

Should Your CEO Be On Twitter?

By: Jennifer McClellan and David Rosen, New York

The CEOs who moved first onto Twitter have been hailed for their commitment to transparency and ability to adapt to the modern media landscape. It started with people like Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos [2007] and Richard Branson, CEO of Virgin Group [2007], with some big names in business recently joining. One hundred and forty characters at a time, these leaders have educated investors about their vision, inspired employees and personally proven their commitment to customers. But as we emerge from this early adopter phase, CEOs – and the communications leaders responsible for positioning them – need to think across three dimensions to bring these benefits to scale.

1. Strategy: The digital channel is but one of many forums that a CEO uses, along with town hall meetings, emails, earnings calls, in-person meetings, media relations, events, etc. Asking whether your CEO should tweet or blog is like asking whether s/he should do broadcast television. The answer is: it depends – what’s the strategy and what’s the goal? It’s best to use classic communications strategy, thinking through which message will resonate most in which medium.
2. Channel: Which community uses which network? While Twitter has become a mainstream tool, particularly among journalists and investors, it is not necessarily the network that employees, customers and partners prefer. Doing research to identify which targets use which networks will reveal both the networks that will be needed and the proportion in which they should be used. Later in the process, each network’s back-end analytics are applied to measure the degree to which the channel is achieving its goal.
3. Language and cultural nuance: Most CEOs using social networks communicate in just one language, likely omitting the majority of stakeholders out of the conversation. Real-time translation services should figure into any global online executive positioning program, as should local culture and customs of where your message will be communicated.

These new factors can at first appear overwhelming. Indeed, the more countries, languages, social networks and stakeholders there are, the exponentially more complex the upfront process becomes. That said, if approached one piece at a time, the puzzle can be assembled in short order. And given that the end result is both scalable and measurable, the returns will far outweigh the investment. 

Chemicals, Energy and Trust

By: Carolyn Mayo, General Manager, Houston

Each year, Edelman produces a Trust Barometer based on a trust and credibility survey conducted of the general population and informed publics. Over the past several weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to facilitate discussions based on Trust Barometer results with leaders in the chemical and energy space as they begin to formulate communication plans for the coming year. Edelman has heard from stakeholders that now, more than ever, energy and chemical leaders need to build—and in some cases, rebuild—trust. Easy to say; but it can be difficult to do. Let’s look at what the data tells us.

Trust in Institutions 
Trust in institutions like NGOs, government, business and media is increasing in the United States, but intensity is weak. Energy and chemical companies face unique challenges with respect to communicating and engaging with stakeholders and the general public—one of which being that they often must work with government officials who are even less trusted than they are to get things done. It’s hard to have good policy, constructive advocacy and proactive communications when those charged with moving the needle are starting out with a Trust deficit.

Trust in Industries 
The energy industry ranks low among other industries, but it increased slightly this year from 56 percent to 59 percent. This first year’s ranking of the chemicals energy places it even lower at 51 percent, just slightly above banking and financial services. The technology industry is still the darling—it has consistently ranked as the most trusted industry over more than a decade of Trust research, and that’s across every market globally as well.

Building Trust – What Matters for Energy and Chemicals
We are in the midst of a transformation and are operating in a profoundly different world: one of stakeholders rather than just shareholders. Communication channels and authority have gone from the few to the many. Leaders can no longer just dictate, but must now co-create. We’ve moved from fixed, standard tools to flexible ones. It’s no longer a monologue, but a dialogue. It’s a shift from control to empowerment.

It’s a brave new world for the energy and chemical industries – a time of innovation and growth. And it’s prompting a change in how we craft communication platforms and counsel leadership. While these are industries where authority figures like CEOs and government officials would like to continue to funnel their authority downward to the general population, there are new communities of social activists who pushing upwards to counter and engage in the conversation, showcasing peer-to-peer influence with groups like employees and action consumers.  

Election Day Blues (And Reds)

By: Helen Vollmer, President, Edelman Southwest

Whether you’re a red state or a blue state, I was reminded during the election cycle that came to fruition this week that exercising our right to vote in this country is in a pretty sad state of affairs.

According to The Center for the Study of the American Electorate, only 57.5 percent of eligible voters showed up to choose a new US president. And while 11.2 million Latinos (our fastest growing demographic) voted in the 2012 election, the Pew Research Center says that represented only 48 percent of eligible Hispanic voters.

So what’s up with this? Why can’t we make it to the polls? I know everyone out there has an opinion about what’s right and wrong with their neighborhood, city, state and country.

Certainly, there are some issues regarding state election laws that are viewed by some as placing significant restrictions on voter registration drives. But in what seems to be an increasingly partisan world we’re living in, the fact remains that voting means having a voice in the process, a responsibility not to be taken lightly. Voting is the only real way we have of indicating to politicos exactly what the electorate as a whole wants.

We’re a nation of freedom fighters and believers in a democratic system. While you may not like election outcomes all the time, if you don’t vote and encourage your children, neighbors and colleagues to do so, you really will have lost your voice. And there’s nothing worse than laryngitis in a political firestorm.