Yikes!

Crisis management is a fundamental part of public relations. Some professionals specialize in this area however, no public relations practitioner wants their client to be stuck in this predicament. Unfortunately, entertainment public relations agents often find themselves having to deal with the mistakes their clients make. Take Lindsey Lohan for example. She has had to hire a team of crisis management specialists in order to deal with all the negative publicity she’s faced in the past few months.

While going through my classmates blogs, I came across Lisa Perez’s blog. In it, she attaches a link to the "Lohan Rollercoaster" . This describes Lohan’s ups and downs over the past year. It’s almost a humorous link…well humorous to the mass public, not humorous if she is your client. No entertainment public relations practitioner wants their client to be the subject of such negativity.

Since Lohan has had the need for so much crisis management, Ashley’s blog deals with crisis management . In it, she attaches links and articles to help one learning the basics of crisis management and the best ways to deal with certain situations. Ashley blog assists those in need of the proper guidance of what to do, when a crisis hits.

All entertainment public relations professionals must know how to deal with crisis management. Lisa and Ashley both give prime examples of a client undergoing scrutiny, and then how it should be handled.

If You've Got It, I want It.

If You’ve Got It, I Want It.

It’s no secret that we all look up to celebrities. We follow the trends they make popular. We want to dress like them, drive the cars they drive, and vacation at the same destinations as them. With this, so many companies have started to depend on paying celebrities to endorse their products. They know that the public seeks to be like them and if they can get a celebrity to endorse their product, they know the return will be large.

New products are especially ones which come out featuring various celebrities. When they are in the experimental phase, companies often pay celebrities to be photographed with them. Thus, the public sees them, and then wants it. Whether it is through a tabloid or a professional ad, all of us are suckers.

I found this article, to be extremely interesting with celebrities and endorsements. It breaks down advertisements and explains how companies know they take a risk when hiring a celebrity, but it is risk they are willing to take. Even when celebrities receive bad publicity, the products they endorse, still sell.

 Entertainment public relations professionals are usually the bridge between a company and their client. They are the hookup, getting their client’s face in the news as well as getting a product out into the publics mind. One of the main jobs an entertainment public relations practitioner does is to get the experimental products sold, by combining the company with the celebrity. Once the public sees the product with their favorite socialite, they have to have it.

The Naked Truth

The past few weeks in my international public relations class we have been discussing the importance of culture. Every nation has a culture specific to them. They have values and morals which they follow. Some countries may have opposite ones to others. Conflicting values occur often. This has allowed me to realize how important conducting research is.

Research is such a vital tool in the industry. We need to be able to understand the culture of the people in which we are pitching too. It is important to not offend anyone. In order to reach our goals and objectives, a public relations practitioner practicing in another country, should conduct as much research as possible.

This is where surveys can come in handy. After some prior research on the core values of a certain society, a survey can be distributed to groups of people in the area to find out their particular views on a subject. These ideas they give us can then further hone our researching skills, thus making our campaigns more of a success.

If you haven’t heard, Pamela Anderson is being slammed for donating her profits from her most recent Playboy Cover shoot to the disaster funds set up for the Tsunami in Indonesia. This is because the vast culture of Indonesia believe the nudity to be a form of defamation. They don’t agree with the way the money was earned, therefore they don’t want it. (http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2010/11/01/pam-andersons-playboy-donation-slammed-muslim-group-immoral/)

First of all, her public relations person should have looked into this. A culture which does not have a high tolerance for feminist rights to begin with, should have understood that the money would not be appreciated. Some simple research could have been conducted and easily avoided this catastrophe. Playboy isn’t necessarily frowned upon here, but that doesn’t mean all countries accept naked women and their charities.

For some thorough researching, a public relations agent could have gotten in contact with some people of the Indonesian society and distributed a simple survey asking on their views on general topics. I think that it would have been simple to gather this information with a survey, rather than go through the stresses Pam, Playboy and their public relations teams are dealing with now.

In Collaboration With...

The past few weeks have been an overload with qualitative research. It has been discussed everywhere! Not only have I been learning about it in Public Relations Research with Professor Laskin, but also my Consumer Behavior (Marketing) class has had a few lectures on it. Until now, I was unaware of how many different fields qualitative research was necessary in. Through reading my classmates blogs, I have found it interesting how much the fashion and design industry utilizes qualitative research.

 

Sam Greitzer talks about how much designer Tommy Hilfiger depends on qualitative research. (http://mediacloset-samgreitzer.blogspot.com/2010/10/qualitative-research.html)%20It Hilfiger looks around and finds inspiration from, "movies, music celebrities and art and uses them to thread together different signature looks." It is important for him to design clothing that the average person wants to wear.

 

Paige Weiners also discusses how important qualitative research is to designers. (http://paigequpr.blogspot.com/2010/10/qualitative-research.html). "When thinking of what new styles to create for the season, designers need to think of if their target market is actually going to wear the new trends." Focusing on the correct target market is vital for the success of any public relations campaign. The agent needs to make sure that all of their efforts are being segmented in the right place.

 

With all the celebrity clients I may have as an entertainment public relations agent, I can help out with the designers in creating their looks. I can help a designer team up with my client to design a line, "in collaboration with." It's a positive way to get my clients name out for media impressions but also good for the designer to team up. I would definitely have to use qualitative research to make sure that I team up the correct client with an appropriate designer.

What do YOU want?

  I’m not going to lie, this has been one of the more difficult blogs to write. I understand what Qualitative Research is, but how can I explain it? How can I relate it back to Entertainment Public Relations? I’ve been sitting here thinking about it for a good amount of time and realize how important focus groups can be for an Entertainment Public Relations specialist.

    A focus group is a way to reach out to consumers and customers in order to get feedback. (http://www.cse.lehigh.edu/~glennb/mm/FocusGroups.htm). In the entertainment world, feedback is necessary. It helps the industry in seeing trends and uncovering what it is audiences enjoy. Studio heads with their public relations agents, can sit down with groups of people and ask them questions about the latest television shows and other entertainment areas. They can then draw conclusions on how to market and who the best target market segments would be.

    I also found this YouTube video on tips for conducting a focus group to be helpful. Business Tips for Conducting Focus Groups explained in less than 3 minutes some good ideas for a focus group.  It explains how important it is to get the consent from all the participants, whether it is verbal or written documentation, you need to make sure everyone has a general understanding of what it is they are getting themselves into.

     Another tip the video stressed was the need for a game plan. It is important when conducting a focus group that you have the questions you want answered and not to stray away from them. Otherwise, it could be considered a waste of time and money if we don’t uncover what we were set out to do.

    Focus groups are definitely necessary in the world of Public Relations when conducting research. We learn the likes and dislikes of our most valuable audiences. Entertainment professionals need to know what their consumers want to see. The in class presentations we have had over the past few weeks have clarified this and the different type of research methods.

Social Media's Importance

     Social media is a phenomenon which has become part of our everyday lives. It’s unbelievable how rapidly it has taken over. Our day to day activities include updating our twitters and checking our Facebooks. It’s a trend which looks like it’s going to stick. With social media, it becomes easy for researchers to participate in unobtrusive research. They can see the likes and interests of the various demographics it is researching.

     I never realized how much of an asset social media could be to researchers until reading Katie Warner’s blog (http://katiewarnersblogforprresearch.blogspot.com/2010/10/non-profits-facebook-and-unobtrusive.html?spref=bl) and Katerina Torres’s blog (http://socialmediaforpr.blogspot.com/2010/10/social-media-great-outlet-for.html), both regarding social media, unobtrusive research and the benefits to the public relations world.

       Katie focuses on social media in relation to non-profit organizations. Using unobtrusive research is beneficial for a non-profit because it is not very costly. Non-profits strive to donate as much money as they can to their various charities so the fact that they use social media to target their specific audiences I find beneficial.

     I enjoyed how Katerina gave positives and negatives of social media in public relations. It made it more comprehensible to see where social media techniques flourish and where they are lacking. Katerina explains how research can be biased when she says, “Because of the influence society has on us, sometimes unobtrusive research could be the best way to retrieve real raw information without it being biased by an outside influence.” This is how I began to realize how vital unobtrusive research can be to researchers.

    Specializing in entertainment public relations, I have realized that tracking my clients through social media is important. I can see what consumers believe and want to know about my clients. I can also see what fans like and their interests. I can then set up the appropriate campaign for my clients. I found it interesting realizing how much social media would affect my clients and their well-being.  

Um Thank UM You?

Today, I was responsible for presenting to the class, unobtrusive research methods, with a focus on content analysis. This meant, I had to do my own form of research in order to be able to speak about it for at least a half hour. What I learned was very interesting. Since I already presented, I will simply summarize my findings, clear and concisely.

    Unobtrusive research is when we don’t interfere with the day to day life of the subject we are studying. It helps the researcher to reduce bias and leads to more accurate results. Unobtrusive research is also extremely economical. When discussing unobtrusive research content analysis, I spoke to the class about how content analysis is analyzing the different forms of content that are presented before you. Word count is the most often used technique of content analysis. We can understand what the author stresses as the most important part of the work, through the use or words.

     After my presentation, Professor Laskin mentioned to the class a study that was done in which the Thank You Speeches of a prior Academy Award Ceremony were analyzed. The jist of the study explained how the use of parasite words, such as um and like, take away from the actual speech itself.

    Now, onto the Entertainment Public Relations part….

     Having good expression through oral communication is an intricate part of any person in the entertainment world. As a Entertainment Public Relations professional, it becomes essential that I work with my clients and set them up with the appropriate speech coaches. A client that can’t express themselves in a well mannered way, without the use of distracting words, is a harmful one. They are making themselves look bad in the public light. People lose sight of the fact that someone has just won an award, and zero in on them sounding ignorant.

    A study (http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=97983&page=1 ) done by psychologist, published by ABC news, puts it simply as the uhs and the ums in a speech, “These phrases mean 'I need to make sure you realize I'm delaying because I'm having trouble.'" I find this very interesting.

    I would never want my client to look like they were having trouble when in the spotlight. That is why I think it is important for all in the entertainment business to practice public speaking. The way one delivers themselves can make or break their image. In this world, image is everything.