PR on the Rise For "My Daisy Days"

What is a co-executive producer on the hit TV series “Lost” doing with a children’s DVD series starring a basset hound?

That is one intriguing question that revolves around "My Daisy Days," a terrific pre-school children's DVD series that Inside Edge PR has been working on behalf since May.

You can see the story about producer-director Mary Murphy's role at Triblocal.com. (That's Mary, pictured, above.)

Plus, there are a variety of tremendous resources on the "My Daisy Days" website.

Keeping Busy With Five Seasons Sports Club

Been busy of late working on publicity pieces for the Five Seasons Sports Clubs in Burr Ridge and Northbrook, including a recent series of media outreaches on the Tri-umph Youth Triathlon Clinic.

Pictured here is Kate Schnatterbeck, founder of Tri-umph, Inc., who organized the two-day session in Northbrook.

An essential element, as always, is to take photographs and, when possible, videotape. Along those lines, I set up a YouTube channel for the Burr Ridge Five Seasons on Tuesday evening.

LeBron: A Look Back at A Legend-in-the-Making

Between 2000 and 2004, I worked on about 85 assignments as a stringer for Time magazine. Easily, one of my favorites was reporting on LeBron James during his senior year at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio.

To see some of my first reporting on LeBron, while he was in high school, click here.

I also reported on him early in his rookie year with the Cleveland Cavaliers. You can see that writing here.

Three times during a formative 11-month span in this phenomenal talent’s life, I dropped in on LeBron’s World, interviewing him, his coaches, friends and a longtime support network of adults.

The first time, in December 2002, I met a reporter for the Akron Beacon-Journal, David Lee Morgan Jr. I could tell, within a few minutes, that Morgan was working on a book on LeBron. Though he coyly resisted confirming my suspicion, neither did he deny it.

So it was no surprise a short time later—I think it was during LeBron’s rookie year in the NBA—that I came across Morgan's “LeBron James: The Rise of a Star."

On my second trip to Akron, in January 2003, I met Kris Belman (pictured below, with James). He explained that what had begun as a film school class assignment had mushroomed into a documentary on LeBron and his teammates.

He took a few minutes to interview me (cutting-room floor material, I strongly suspect) at “The JAR”—the James A. Rhodes Arena where LeBron’s team played its home games.


Little did I know that it would be the better part of a decade—by which time LeBron has more than lived up to the rarefied billing with which he entered the pros—that the documentary would start appearing on screens across the country.

In October, at last, that documentary, "More Than a Game," will be aired in Chicago and other cities. You can see Chicago Tribune reporter K.C. Johnson’s story about it here.

PR Tips: How to Build Rapport With Reporters

Among many other topics during last week's workshop, "PR Secrets From a Media Insider," one was on how to develop rapport with members of the media.

In a nutshell, here are some basic steps:

1. Pay attention to the reporter's prior work.
2. Pay a (sincere) compliment.
3. Respectfully challenge a reporter's work.
4. Offer a story suggestion that does not benefit you in the least.

The brief video below, from the PR Secrets workshop at the Carleton Hotel in Oak Park, Ill., touches on these points:

Who is your audience? And other questions...

Just what is public relations?

It can mean different things to different people, but taking a look at a definition carved out at Wikipedia offers one version.

And focusing on various portions of that definition can spur on any number of questions. Here's one, when thinking about "exposure to your audience":

Who is your audience?

How do you reach them now?

Is there a more effective way of reaching them?

How can you expand your existing audience?

What does your audience need to know?

What will move them to take the action that you desire?

Do you need to create different messages for different segments of your audience?

Any business ought to be in the continual process of updating their answers to these questions. When's the last time you took a step back from your day-to-day work and did so?

Ribbon-Cutting Symbolizes Elmhurst Chamber's Commitment

It wasn't on my list of "100 Things To Do Before I Die," but the other day I had an opportunity to be at the center of a scene that I never suspected would happen: I wielded larger-than-life scissors as part of a ribbon-cutting ceremony.



The symbolic moment came inside the office of the Elmhurst Chamber of Commerce & Industry.

The organziation offers the ribbon-cutting moment to all new members, with the photograph appearing in a local newspaper and helping promote not only the new member, but the chamber itself.

And the moment was fun, to be sure--especially when I managed not to injure myself or anyone else.

But what most impressed me was the well-coordinated nature of the event.

The chamber has "Ambassadors" (you can see them in the video above) that accompany chamber director John Quigley (front row, far right) in sharing various pieces of information about the workings of the group as well as opportunities for newcomers to become more involved.

All in all, it was a thoroughly impressive gesture, and speaks volumes about the energy, enthusiasm and commitment of this ship that Quigley helms with humor and determination.

Beforehand, through my dealings with staff members like Betsy D'Onofrio and two networking events, I had been struck by the group's professionalism. Now I am motivated more than ever to meet and exceed its stellar standards.

Who's Vetting John Hughes's Pen Pal?

It is fascinating to learn that the late, great director John Hughes apparently had a teen-aged pen pal, Alison Byrne Fields, for a two-year period in the mid-1980s.

(To the left, that's his signature from one of his missives to Fields, according to her blog.)

But another intriguing element of this story is the blazing speed with which the media are hopping all over the story. And, of course, that raises this basic question: Who is fact-checking all of this?

Fields posted her wonderfully told journey on her blog, "We'll Know When We Get There," on Thursday, the same day that Hughes died.

According to the time stamp on her blog, she began writing her piece at 4:41 p.m., about 45 minutes after she Tweeted that she would do so. The first comment on her post came shortly after 9 p.m., meaning she produced it in about four hours.

So her swift turn-around suggests:

A. Fields had already crafted much of the story, including the scanned images of Hughes's letters to her, not to mention the fan club photos of actors like Molly Ringwald and Judd Nelson that she had received through her friendship with Hughes.

Was she simply waiting for an opportunity to share her experience, and Hughes's death opened the door?

Or...

B. In a flurry of creativity amid her grief over Hughes's death, Fields managed to whip up this moving blog post.

In either event, the timing of her blog, let alone the content, should spur on this question in any skeptically trained mind:

How do we know her account to be true? Has anyone independently verified Hughes's handwriting? Did he ever talk about this pen pal with any of his family or friends?

I'd be interested in reading that story. And Fields, as a media-savvy individual who understands the tenets of journalism (check out her bio here), may well welcome such scrutiny.

For what it's worth, if I had to bet a dollar, my gut instinct is this: I believe Fields is being truthful. Further, I believe she is a most insightful, gifted communicator. She is among a select group of people who would have the literary and technical ability to "write on deadline" in this manner.

But don't take my word for any of that. As I commented at the end of the Washington Post Celebritology Q & A in which Jen Chaney interviewed Fields:

"This all has an authentic air, but I wonder how various media types are confirming the accuracy/credibility of Alison? That, to me, is a story unto itself--the process of confirming her pen-pal relationship actually occurred. If your mother tells you she loves you...check it out!"

Gift & Home Channel Airs Inside Edge PR Q & A

From the workshop earlier this year at Marion Street Cheese Market in Oak Park, "Social Networking Sites: Are You Connected?" a video interview of me has surfaced with the Gift & Home Channel.

You can see the clip, "How To Harness Municipal Tools," here at Metacafe.com. By the way, pay no mind to the shiny substance in the corner of my mouth--it was overreaching lip balm on that blustery day.

Note to self: always look into the mirror before doing on-camera interviews.

Below, I have also embedded the Q & A, which focuses largely on the Shop the Village campaign that I coordinated for the local business community last winter:


Oak Park Village Highlights - Matt Baron, Inside Edge - The best home videos are here

Oak Park's Own: My Q & A With Stephen Green

Six weeks ago, in an Inside Edge PR blog post, I noted an interview that I did with Stephen Green, the Chicago Cubs' official photographer for more than 25 years.

Joe Kreml, of the village of Oak Park, recently wrapped up editing the Q & A and did did an outstanding job. I think the segment, "Oak Park's Own: Stephen Green," will be of interest not only to sports fans, but anyone interested in the artistic process.

To see the 10-minute video from my session with Green, click on the video below.

A Dose of Reality: Gloor's Real Estate Update

Real estate has been a focal part of the news for the past few years, and it only makes sense to confront head-on some of the concerns about its struggles. That's the wise strategy of Better Homes and Gardens Gloor Realty, an Oak Park, Ill.-based client since last November.

Around that time, the firm began alerting its clients, friends and colleagues to trends in the local real-estate market through a communication dubbed "Real Estate Reality Check."

I broadened the outreach into press release-form and the effort received solid media attention earlier this year, including pieces in the the Chicago Sun-Times and the print edition of the Chicago Tribune's Triblocal section.

This time around, conveying data through the first half of 2009, the Reality Check is off to a good start again. It began with prominent placement on Triblocal.com, the Chicago Tribune's citizen-journalism portal.

I recently created a YouTube channel for Better Homes and Gardens Gloor as well, and you can find it here.

How To Avoid Obama's `Stupid' Stumble

What is truth?

The phrase, spoken by Pontius Pilate as he tried to sidestep his role in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, is one of history’s most infamously cynical utterances.

Obviously, there are clear delineations of truth and falsehood. Right and wrong. Wisdom and foolishness.

But it’s the mark of a wise individual to know that the path to such clarity is not always a quick process. In fact, getting at “the truth” of an interaction can prove to be a never-ending journey.

All of which brings me to President Barack Obama’s surprisingly block-headed foray last week into a police investigation, when he said that police acted “stupidly” in arresting Henry Louis Gates Jr.

It all began with a report of a possible break-in at the Cambridge, Mass. home of Gates, a Harvard professor and friend of Obama.

The saga has been exhaustively chronicled by now. After a long trip, Gates did not have a key that he needed and was struggling to get into his own home. When police came to question him, Gates had an emotional explosion and got himself arrested for disorderly conduct (a charge later dropped).

Thereafter, the he said/cop said back-and-forth sprang forth.

Having written thousands of blurbs, briefs, stories and in-depth reports on incidents involving police in my journalism career, I learned long ago that what is written in reports and what actually happened can range from relatively faithful renderings of events to misleading, incomplete and even patently false accounts signed and approved by “officials” in authority.

Flawed as reports can be, the fact is that the President hadn’t even read the Cambridge Police report. So he wasn’t even close to a starting point of having an informed view of how the police department behaved–or at least claimed that it had behaved.

And he hadn’t spoken to Gates, nor had he conferred with the arresting officer, Sgt. James Crowley. And even if he had sat down the two in his Oval Office and asked for a recap, he would have received incomplete, self-serving accounts.

As I knew he would do the moment I heard his remark at the White House press conference, Obama has backpedaled from his criticism of Crowley.

But the egg on Obama’s face reveals this truth: it’s infinitely more prudent to acknowledge the limits of your knowledge than to confirm the lengths of your ill-informed, knee-jerk, know-it-all foolishness.

McAdam Landscaping At 30: Sowing & Reaping

For the last two years, I have had the pleasure of providing public relations service to McAdam Landscaping, a leading company that has accomplished much in its 30 years in business.

To take a look at some of its history, check out a news release I wrote and posted the other day on Triblocal.com, McAdam Landscaping: Sowing and Reaping for 30 Years.

I also posted a photo gallery on the Tribune site.

Bulldog Reporter Publishes Truth-in-PR Piece

It's true--I've been hammering hard lately on the fibbing front and the damage that lies can wreak on anyone's credibility, reputation and overall bottom-line in the marketplace.

And so it is that The Four Horsemen of the Apocryphal--the military, academic, athletic and business lies that I have observed in my career--were front and center in an essay I recently wrote.

It was published in the Barks & Bites section of today's Bulldog Reporter.

You can read the piece: "Let's Have More Truth in PR: Anticipate Journalist Questions—and Root Out Client Fibs in Four Key Areas."

The essay, which built off some recent Inside Edge PR blog posts, can also be found at my new Truth In PR blog.

If you have a Truth-in-PR issue you'd like to raise, just e-mail me at Matt@InsideEdgePR.com

Be Skeptical of Selective Statistics

We're all a star in our own life’s story, but merely a background character in others’ lives.

A humorous spin on this perspective is Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead. The two characters merit only passing mention in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, but playwright Tom Stoppard took that fragment and in 1967 expanded it to create an entirely different tale.

The same principle plays out with the stories we tell, whether in the media or at the dinner table.

In business, you can use the same data to hail a company’s growth or shine a light on its struggles. A classic example is when a business is said to have experienced a surge or decline in profits compared to a previous period of time.

So, for example, instead of raking in $80 million of profit, Company XYZ profits by “only” $40 million. Meanwhile, Company ABC-azon reduces the amount it loses from a jillion to merely $100 billion. What a success!

Of course, those are extreme examples, but you get the idea.

A few years ago, I recall reading a newspaper story on the murder rate in a major Midwestern city. It focused on persisting trends in which more people were killed during the hot summer months than other times of the year. Contained in the same story—buried, really—was brief mention that the number of homicides so far in that year were significantly lower than the same year-ago period.

The story very easily could have focused on that drop, with the unsurprising correlation of heat and violence relegated to background character status.

Keep Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in mind whenever you come across a story. Those “throw-away” remarks and minor mentions may contain the kernel of the less-known but more interesting tale to tell.

Another case in point: a Chicago television station once broadcast a segment on what they reported to be an upward trend in planned C-sections.

In the report, a source said that physicians and nurses comprise a large proportion of those who opt for planned C-sections (as opposed to the more common emergency C-sections). Instead of examining that intriguing angle—after all, these are the same medical personnel who are often caring for birthing mothers—the story simply moseyed along.

Here’s where the reporter could have asked some questions: What proportion of planned C-sections are done on doctors and nurses? And why is that?

Beyond that oversight, the story also failed to provide basic context, such as the percentage of births that are C-section (it’s about 25 percent) and the percentage of C-sections that are planned.

Those are dreadfully sloppy omissions, really, when you consider the entire thrust of the story was that they were on the rise.

On August 12: PR Secrets From a Media Insider

Where will you be four weeks from Wednesday, on the evening of August 12th?

If you are anywhere near Oak Park--and are in the market for immediately useful and practical tools to improve your public-relations efforts--then you should consider attending PR Secrets From a Media Insider.

Full disclosure: I am a biased source, since I am the one leading the session from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Carleton Hotel just south of downtown Oak Park.

Attendees will receive a workbook loaded with media-insider tips and principles that work time and again, largely because having been in the media for more than 20 years, I know just what reporters, editors, producers and other decision-makers need.

Hint: at the top of the list is a four-letter word that begins with "n," ends with "s," and has "ew" in the middle.

Of course, don't be so naive as to take some self-serving publicist's word for his purported ability to match individuals and organizations with an assortment of media outlets.

Instead, be sure to watch video clips of satisfied Inside Edge PR clients and read their testimonials to see if he has anything to back up all the talk.

Then--and only then--should you call me at 708-860-1380 or send an e-mail to reserve your space.

Story on Niches in July Issue of REALTOR

The July issue of REALTOR magazine is online, including my story on niches. "Own Your Niche." The story's subheadline: "Make a name for yourself by carving a real estate specialty that combines your interests with local market opportunities."

What is true in real estate is true in so many fields. The ability to distance yourself from the pack in a clear, compelling way is a huge asset. It's also one of the prerequisites for being truly newsworthy.

What skills and passions do you have in more ample supply than just about anyone else? Continually identifying those elements is a most worthwhile exercise because it leads to bottom-line sales and profitability.

The Re-Purpose of PR: Maximize News Value

As a reporter for 20-plus years, there were times when I just knew that I had my hands on a hot story.

What's more, I had tremendous influence--virtually total control, in fact--over whether the story saw the light of day. All I had to do was coordinate my efforts with an editor, perhaps weaving a photographer and a graphics artist in the mix.

As a publicist, it's a different story. I no longer have my hands "on" a hot scoop. Instead, I shepherd the story as best I can (largely through writing the news release in journalistic style) and then hand it off to various members of the media.

Sometimes, what comes next is a humbling, head-scratching experience. For whatever reason, reporters, editors and producers do not warm up to the idea quite as much as I thought they would, or think they should.

Fortunately, though, there are times when the media is in full agreement with my assessment, such as those outlined in the Inside Edge PR Success Stories section of my website.

While media placement is never guaranteed, I remind clients to think about ways in which they can recycle and re-use the content we develop for media outreach campaigns.

In that respect, the purpose of PR is to be not only purposeful, but re-purposeful---how can you maximize the value of your communications, even if the media never devote even an iota of coverage?

Therefore, any decent news release ought to contain elements that can be used in brochures, on websites and in other marketing materials that speak directly to the client's target audience.

For many organizations, particularly small businesses, viewing the media as the primary communication outlet is simply putting too many eggs into an unreliable basket.

The Four Hot Spots For Tall Tales

In my Inside Edge PR post on Monday, I touched on the perils of fibbing or embellishing--OK, let's call it like it is, lying--in the stories that we tell.

In this case, an ex-baseball player is trying to stretch a single (a few low-level minor-league baseball seasons) into a home run (Major Leagues) in his marketing materials as a financial adviser.

In my two decades as a journalist, I found some areas of people's lives were especially fertile ground for the creation of tall tales. Here are four categories:

1. Military service and/or decorations, such as these stories about a would-be Vietnam War hero, including my piece for the Chicago Tribune. The saga played out two years ago this week.

2. Academic background and credentials. See George O'Leary, the short-lived Notre Dame football coach as the poster child of this phenomenon. O'Leary also padded his athletic resume.

3. Athletic accomplishments. (See Monday's post and the story below.)

4. Business history/successes. (A year ago, while reporting for a national trade magazine for its "30 Under 30" feature, I detected one highly questionable candidate and steered the publication away from him.)

Because of my passion for playing and covering sports over the years, inflated accounts of sports careers are especially intriguing to me.

There was the time in 1998 when a Cook County Board candidate, Mike Olszewski, claimed to have played for the Pittsburgh Penguins. When I confronted him with my research turning up no such thing, he backpedaled like "Get Smart" secret-agent Maxwell Smart:

"Would you believe I played minor-league hockey in Decatur?"

When I tried confirming even that modest claim, the evidence was less than compelling. I dubbed the episode "Penguingate." Olszewski lost in his bid for public office.

This Much Is True: Place a PR Premium on Truth

Last week, I received a marketing letter from a financial adviser who listed "played for the Chicago Cubs" among his bulleted background points.

Hmm. I didn't recognize his name, so looked him up on the authoritative Retrosheet and Baseball Reference websites.

He wasn't on either site, though I did find some minor-league stats for him from nearly 40 years ago. He had a .228 batting average in two Class A (low-level minor league) seasons, one in the Cubs' organization and another in the Tigers'.

Of course, the word "organization" or "minor-league system" makes for an inconveniently cumbersome bulleted point, doesn't it?

Now, this fellow may well be a great guy. I bet his friends would describe him as bright and hard-working and trustworthy. If so, then it's a shame that exaggerating this one athletic exploit--and being naive enough to think that people won't check it out--could undermine those strengths.

Or maybe the inaccuracy is only the tip of the iceberg?

Either way, the simple point remains, and it's one that anyone must place foremost in any marketing or PR communication. Especially in an era where fact-checking zooms with a blink-of-the-eye Google search, when laying your story-telling's foundation, it's always best to start with the truth.

A Less-Is-More Creative Gem From Bill Daniel

Providing to your readers, in an economy of words that succinctly get to the single, distilled point or principle that you seek to convey, is infinitely more effective and engaging than droning on endlessly, even if you employ 15-cent words and $1.50 phrases and $15 paragraphs that have each and every punctuation mark—including the oft-used em-dash, which I rely on a bit too much myself—in their proper place.

Or, to put it another, much better way: less is more.

That’s why I want to take a moment to rave about this fantastic ad that my father-in-law, longtime advertising genius Bill Daniel, created a few months ago.

Before moving to Palm Springs four years ago with my wonderful mother-in-law, Pat, Bill was a force in the Chicago ad world for more than 35 years. After working for the likes of McCann-Erickson and Foote, Cone & Belding (FCB), for 20 years he co-owned an ad firm in Chicago (Equinox Advertising, which later became Washington Daniel).

Along the way, he was instrumental in numerous award-winning campaigns for the likes of Reebok, Allstate Insurance, IBM and Anheuser-Busch. At FCB, one of his brainchilds was The Silver Bullet, for the Adolph Coors Co.

As for this classic rabbit-foot ad, it is appearing regularly in Below the Line, a movie trade publication. It replaced a text-heavy ad that, while highly informational, was only slightly more digestible than the 70-word monstrosity that began this post.

Which Below the Line ad do you suppose will be remembered, and acted upon, more frequently?

I hope and trust that you will enjoy Bill’s creative masterstroke as much as I do. And if you want to try to lure him out of semi-retirement a bit more, just drop him an email at wjdaniel@mac.com.