PR in the thick of it

If there was any doubt about the value of public relations, or that PR is just as much a part of a company's or organization's DNA as, say, bookkeeping, a handful of stories today should further push those questions away.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are undergoing a major ownership change.  Fans are slowing coming back after the outgoing owner alienated a large sector of (former) ticket holders.  More needs to be done to "welcome" fans back and return the good feelings they once had about their home team and coming to the stadium.  Sure, a league-leading record is helping.  But as a Los Angeles Times sports reporter points out, the Dodger's in-house PR folks need to develop and implement more strategies and tactics to create better relationships between fans and team.

What's at stake?  Nothing less than the bottom line. 

It is through these professionally trained and experienced PR managers - and, we hope, with the blessing of executive management - that a series of well-planned and, possibly, well-researched steps will occur to build trust, creative positive impressions and rebuild the reputation of one of the more storied franchises in the country. 

These are carefully planned steps to build confidence and respect. This is not fluff.  These are not empty attempts to "spin" a story. 

(Note: Various PR pros, both in-house and with outside agencies, have worked with the Dodgers over the years.  The outgoing owner received some great advice, but many times chose to ignore it.  Given the legal and other issues that beset the former owner, it's hard to tell whether any amount of strategic PR counsel would have made a difference.  But, now, reputation building is front and center - and this is certainly a job best suited for professional public relations.)

The other stories involve battles between Southern California water agencies - and public relations strategies are part of the mix (for good or bad).  See stories and news releases here, here and here.

Similar to how political campaigns have recognized the advantages of social media and online news, a handful of water agencies have created websites and written letters to the editor to launch salvos at one another. 

Again, public relations strategies and tactics are considered an important component - because all seem focused on winning over the public to "their side." 




  

Media moves in LA

As reported by my friend Kevin at LAObserved, there is a new president of the LA Newspaper Group - which runs all LA-area papers owned by MediaNews Group (of the Dean Singleton fame).

Since Jack Klunder was raised from the circulation side of the newspaper business, don't expect any major changes in how the news side operates. Which, in this case, doesn't resemble the previous glory days when Jack Kent Cooke owned the LA Daily News and before newspapers began losing massive amounts of money as the free news on the internet caused circulation declines.

Many newspapers are still struggling financially, which in turn means the quality of journalism has suffered because there are fewer journalist and many of the good ones have left for other work (like public relations!)

It's easy to focus on the ownership blues of the LA Times, but no one should forget that MediaNews is no longer run by Singleton, but by a hedge fund. And a hedge fund is not about to spend dollars without any short-term return.

So, it will be interesting to see if Mr. Klunder is here merely to maintain cost-controls, or if he has any specific marching orders. Cost cutting at the Daily News has left it with a skeleton news crew, including forcing some veteran editors to go back into reporting duties. Similar downsizing has left other newspapers in the group with very small newsrooms.

And with AOL rumored to cut staff at money-losing Patch, it will be a few more turbulent years in the greater LA news media market.

Opportunity, not tragedy

Perhaps I continue to live up to that silly notation in my high school yearbook. My best quality? Being an optimist.

But in PR, we constant advise clients that there are ways to turn a potentially negative issue into a positive one, to take the energy that might be generated over a controversy and use that to bring attention to a solution that you can control and win admiration for your stance.

Here is the latest example.

PETA is (sorry) losing its fur over over a proposed bill in Kansas that would make Toto the state dog. PETA, as reported here, believes such a move will create puppy mills to meet the eventual demand for cairn terriers. PETA doesn't have a problem naming a state dog, they would rather see it as a mutt, since, presumably, that is all you will find in shelters.

Here is your chance, PETA. Rather than take the usual negative stance that has hurt your image over the year, look for the opportunity to final leverage legislation and the money needed for enforcement to put puppy mills out of business. We all know the source of our coffee beans - to make sure we're getting them from a sustainable operation - why not a similar effort for the sale of pets?

Why not make Toto the face of a dog urging future pet owners to do the right thing?

Start your campaign engines

California public relations and public affairs firms which have done well in the past with high-profile state issue campaigns shouldn't be worried in 2012, and beyond.

Today, Gov. Brown reaffirmed his support for both the state's very expensive high-speed rail project (that will be completed when my grandchildren have grandchildren), and a $12 billion bond measure to upgrade the state's aging water system.

For now, it seems the state water bond will make it to the November ballot, although the dollar amount may shrink. In previous state water bonds, several PR, PA and advertising firms have received handsome amounts to help convince voters to check "yes." Somehow, somewhere the forces come together to rustle up enough cash to pay for these expensive campaigns.

The gov's support for high-speed rail may prompt a renewed effort to seek outside help for outreach after the rail authority pulled back on an RFP and announced it would hire more staff to do the job in-house. We'll see. What do you think, Ogilvy?

More good news: The economy is definitely picking up. More RFPs are going out and companies are turning more to PR for help, primarily because PR has assumed a leadership position in social media. Anyone with transportation experience should look at the RFP issued by the folks who run Southern California's massive Metrolink system. (If the link doesn't work, sign up for "planetbids."