Remain Relevant in Changing Times

Think your company's key messages

Think your company's key messages really sing? So what.

Over the past few weeks, since I joined Edelman, I've had the opportunity to conduct some key message development sessions. Essentially, these are information gathering meetings in which we attempt to uncover the most relevant messages about a company and its products/services so that we can create an appropriate PR campaign.

We always focus on three specific audiences: Influencers, Recommenders, and Decision Makers. Why? Because if you can identify the messages you want to communicate and which methods work for reaching these three groups, then developing everything from press releases to marketing collateral to case studies becomes a breeze.

It never ceases to amaze me how difficult it can be to get a group of people from the same company to agree on what the key messages are. Each person sees the company's strengths and weaknesses from a different perspective. They love to talk about what their area of the business does well.

What I like to do is ignite their passion (and sometimes ire) by responding with "so what." That's how you get the relevance of a message. "So what" requires the person making a declaration to back it up with facts and anecdotes, as well as consider - one more time - how what they're saying is relevant to the Influencer, Recommender or Decision Maker. Once the messages are defined, we get to start the fun part, brainstorming.

My friend and colleague, Sam Horn is absolutely masterful at brainstorming. Her upcoming book, POP! (How to Stand Out In Any Crowd) includes several valuable tactics and techniques that are guaranteed to yield results. (POP is an acronym for Purposeful, Original and Pithy.) Sam argues that to be one of of a kind instead of one of many, a message has to POP! I couldn't agree more. I also agree with her that brainstorming is a process that, when followed properly, brings a focus you may not get otherwise.

How about you? Are you absolutely certain your company has the right messages and that those messages are being delivered in the right way? If not, now is as good a time as any to POP! to it. Just remember, no matter what the answer, the response should be "So what" Let me know how you do.

How Coverage of the Olympic

How Coverage of the Olympic Games Serves as a Model for Staying Relevant in Business

I'm sitting in front of the TV watching the Olympics as I write this. Ordinarily, I'm not much of a sports fan. I love college (and some pro) football but will watch other sports only when there is a title on the line. Going to the movie theater to see "Glory Road" or "Remember the Titans" is usually about as involved in athletics as I am interested in undertaking. The Olympics are different, though. Thanks to great media coverage, the Olympic games feel much more relevant to me than most sporting events.

Why? For exactly the same reason movies appeal to me: I love great storytelling. And when the Olympics are on, we get to see storytelling at its best. In a matter of moments I can go from having no idea who an athlete is to really, really caring how well he or she does in competition. I watch sports I normally wouldn't think twice about just because I feel an emotional connection with the athlete, thanks to the wonderful heartwarming stories I see and read in the days leading up to specific events.

The Olympic games provide particularly fertile ground for those features known as "The Hero's Journey," stories about obstacles overcome, joys shared, deamons faced and surprises revealed. Combine this with the fact that American pride is at stake and suddenly I actually feel a physical reaction to what I'm watching. I get engaged and root for "my" competitor (you know, the one I wasn't even aware of yesterday!).

This kind of connection doesn't have to be limited to sports. Smart businesses understand the power of making their products relevant to their buyers/users. Remember, relevant companies are Strategic, Proactive, Universal, and Dynamic (the SPUD approach). It's true that people buy with their hearts and justify with their brains. Don't overlook the opportunity to use storytelling to educate and sell to your customers.

If you don't think you have a story or you don't know why it matters, get thee to a PR counselor. The best ones excel at storytelling in a meaningful way.
You may even find that in the process of uncovering the story you want to tell others, you and your employees will reconnect in new ways as well.

My Obligatory Comments on Superbowl

My Obligatory Comments on Superbowl Ads

If you're not already sick to death of hearing about the Superbowl ads, maybe this blog will do it for you. It's after 5:00 on Monday, so I must be one of the last people with a blog who's taking time to weigh in on the subject.

I loved the Dove commercial. It was a wonderful surprise and break from the typical "let's make 'em laugh" approach. If the point of spending millions on that one Sunday a year is to be memorable, Unilever certainly did it for me. As the mother of two daughters, I so appreciated the boldness of doing such a straightforward, thoughtful ad at a time when so many eyes were glued to the TV.

As for enjoyable ads, I loved the Bud Lite rooftop commercial. It was very clever and a great way to connect with women in the audience. We've always suspected you guys were "up to something." To take the phrase so literally (and metaphorically) was brilliant. I also laughed out loud at the Sprint ad in which the guy tells his friend his phone is a crime deterrent. I loved how unexpected and clever the ad was.

And, although I'm a loyal drinker of all things Coke-related (I am a huge, huge fan of Coke Zero in particular), I confess I thought the Pepsi ads were clever.

What all these ads had in common was they were relevant in some way to the vieweing audience unlike ads that seemed to be created for the sole purpose of showing us how clever the ad agency was. (The Burger King ad was one of the worst I've ever seen. FedEx made me smile, but I didn't connect with it in any way.)

The one thing that fascinated me most about this year's Super Bowl, though, was that the ads got as much media coverage as the game. Today people are downloading their favorite commercials and sharing them on their iPods. Wow. These would be the same people who bought Tivo to AVOID ads! Incredible. Even the Wall Street Journal carried a page online that let readers vote for their favorite ads at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113898059693064472.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace

Pay attention to this new trend toward ads becoming true entertainment. You'll see this continue, showing up on your cellphone, attached to movies you download from iTunes,you name it. As long as the advertisers can make the ads seem relevant (by making them very targeted) people won't mind, and in fact, may even begin to look forward to seeing ads. Wouldn't that just be a kick in the pants!

Sometimes Being Relevant Means Getting

Sometimes Being Relevant Means Getting Very Creative

I have a 16-year-old daughter who absolutely loves to sing. She's pretty good at it too. I'm not sure where she got the talent - certainly not from me (I can't even hum) - but it's gratifying to see her constantly searching for new ways to use her beautiful voice.

When she started her junior year of high school in August, she was especially excited about being selected to join the Chamber chorus at school. It's a group of extraordinarily talented singers who perform primarily classical pieces. I confess I wasn't as excited about this as she was. I'm more your Emmylou Harris, Lyle Lovett and Martina McBride sort of gal. I can't say I've ever found a lot of relevance in music that was popular with Kings and Gladiators. But she assured me I would learn to love the Chamber chorus.

Well, she was right. I have - not because my redneck ears have suddenly acquired more sophisticated tastes, but because the Chamber chorus has found a way to make the music more relevant. As a Chamber group, they perform in very elaborate costumes, which are custom made and quite impressive in their detail. (No, I didn't make hers, but I did personally craft the check that paid for it.)

For their annual Madrigal feast recently, the students performed a play they wrote themselves. It was an absolute hoot! They were told they could do whatever they liked, as long as the characters were the same as what one expects in a castle in the 1600s. The music each sang could be from any era. The scenario was that the King and Queen were holding a contest to find talented people in the kingdom. So, here's what they came up with:

The King - Elvis

The Queen - Latifa

The Prince - Prince

The Princess - Lisa Marie Presley

The Knight - her name was Gladys and yes, she had Pips

The Supremes - Taco Supreme, Burrito Supreme and Nacho Supreme (their lead apparently had been kidnapped by the Phantom, so they sang only the background with no melody - too funny!)

The Phantom - Michael Jackson

The Jackson 5 - (An obscure family from the kingdom of Pop) Michael had disappeared, so he was replaced by Randy Jackson from American Idol. Of course, MJ surprised everyone at the end when it was revealed that he was the man behind the mask.

As a result of this tossed-salad approach to a Madrigal feast, an event I was dreading actually became one I wanted everyone to see. It was hilarious! Moreover, it served as a wonderful lesson about how far a little imagination can go. I loved that the chorus teacher kept telling the kids, "Make it relevant... the idea is to show off your talent as singers, not to prove you understand the whole Chamber music concept. That's what our Masterworks concerts are for."

Wow! How often do we as adults remember that sometimes the best thing to do is step back and look at how we can make our skills relevant simply by applying them in a different way from what is expected?