Federal election (day 2)

Two pieces of news:

• There'll be four debates. Two in English and two in French. One of each before and after the holidays (Dec. 15-16 and Jan. 9-10). Contrary to the last debates, this time they will be using closed mikes, reducing the cross-talk from the last ones. Something tells me that the first one will have been forgotten by the time we vote.
• CBC reports that "Skeptical public makes polling tougher." Seems people don't answer pollsters as much as they used to. They are now sometimes getting less than 10% answer rates which obviously screws up their demographics. Another thing that they'll have to start taking into account is the fact that more and more younger Canadians don't have a land-line telephone (they use only their cell phone) and the phone book is where pollsters take their raw data.

I'll try to point out a couple of things like this daily until January 23. Wish me luck.

Anonymous Lawyer est un des pires trous du...

Anonymous Lawyer est un avocat anonyme (duh!) basé à New York.

Aujourd'hui, il écrit:

I ran over a cat on the way into the office this morning. People should control their pets better.

Même moi qui n'aime pas beaucoup les chats je trouve ça un peu exagéré ;-)

Michael Brown, consultant en gestion de crise?

Je trouve ceci très drôle. Tiré du fil de presse Scripp Howard:

'Brownie' seeks fresh start as consultant in Colorado

WASHINGTON -- He learned his lessons, and now they're for sale.
Ousted FEMA director Michael Brown, who was vilified over his handling of the Hurricane Katrina disaster, plans to make a fresh start in Colorado, selling his expertise about how emergency planning can go right or so very wrong.
"You have to do it with candor. To do it otherwise gives you no credibility," Brown said Wednesday.

Considérant ce que j'écrivais sur la crédibilité et la virginité il y a une couple de messages, on ne peut pas dire qu'il n'a pas du front ;-)

Le quasi-blogue de Michel Vastel pour L'actualité

Commençons en disant que j'aime bien le journaliste et chroniqueur politique Michel Vastel. Dans le domaine, il faut reconnaître qu'il est très bien branché. (À titre de biographe de Nathalie Simard, je n'en sais rien...)

Alors même si je vais critiquer son blogue dans les prochaines lignes , j'espère qu'il ne m'en tiendra pas rigueur ;-)

C'est que je suis en train d'écrire un texte pour un client où je propose une définition d'un blogue et celui de Michel Vastel ne passe pas le test.

Un blogue, c’est un site web. Maintenu par une ou des personnes. Facilement et relativement souvent mis à jour. Dont les mises à jour se font de façon anti-chronologique et dont les archives sont publiques. Un site auquel on peut s’abonner par le biais d’un fil RSS. Et enfin, un site sur lequel on peut laisser des messages et où une interaction se développe entre l’auteur et les lecteurs, ainsi qu’entre les lecteurs.

C'est ma définition. Vous avez le droit de ne pas être d'accord.

Si on reprend la définition, point par point, on s'apperçoit que c'est au niveau des deux derniers que le bât blesse.

Allez Michel, faites le message aux gens de TI de L'actualité. Ils sont capables de faire mieux.

Les porte-parole (politiques) et la crédibilité

Ceux qui me connaissent savent que j'ai fait pas mal de politique dans ma vie. J'ai notamment agi à titre de d'attaché de presse, d'organisateur, etc. J'ai aussi agi comme porte-parole. La chose la plus importante quand on est dans cette fonction, c'est la crédibilité.

Scott McClellan est le porte-parole de la Maison Blanche. C'est pas mal le summum dans le domaine.

Il y a deux ans il avait affirmé, du haut de son podium, que Lewis "Scooter" Libby et Karl Rove lui avaient confirmé qu'ils n'avaient ni l'un ni l'autre trempé dans l'affaire du coulage (sic) du nom de Valerie Plame, une agente de la CIA.

On sait maintenant que c'était faux. Le 1er novembre, les journalistes ont questionné McLellan de façon corsée.

Q. But don't you end up -- don't you end up with a credibility problem?

Le 14 novembre, PR Week a publié un papier sur le fait que plusieurs se questionnaient sur la crédibilité qu'il reste à McLellan et les impacts que cela a sur sa sécurité d'emploi.

Aujourd'hui, le 29 novembre, ça fait 20 jours qu'il n'a pas donné un seul vrai briefing; le dernier date du 9 novembre.

Hmmmm. La crédibilité, c'est comme la virginité. Une fois que tu l'as perdue...

Le ministre de l'Intérieur français commente un blogue

Mathieu Kassovitz, le réalisateur de La Haine, un film sorti en 1995 dans lequel on raconte l'histoire de jeunes maghrébains dans les cités de Paris, a un blogue.

Dans son plus récent message, il s'en prend au ministre de l'Intérieur de la France, Nicolas Sarkozy (c'est lui qui utilisé le mot "racaille" pour décrire les émeutiers).

Il écrit notamment:

Le ministre de l’intérieur, futur présidentiable, tient des propos qui non seulement démontrent son inexpérience de la politique et des rapports humains (intimement liés), mais qui aussi mettent en lumière l’aspect purement démagogique et égocentrique d’un petit Napoléon en devenir.

Il explique que selon lui:

Si les banlieues explosent une nouvelle fois aujourd’hui, ce n’est pas dû à un raz le bol général des conditions de vies face auxquelles des générations entières « d’immigrés » doivent se battre quotidiennement. (...) Ces voitures qui brûlent sont des réactions cutanées face au manque de respect du ministre de l’intérieur envers leur communauté.

En clair, c'est de la faute à Sarkozy.

Jusque là, il n'y a pas d'histoire. Sauf que le ministre a décidé de répondre en laissant un commentaire sur le blogue lui-même.

Monsieur,

J'ai pris connaissance de vos propos développés sur votre blog relatifs à la crise qui a traversé plusieurs de nos banlieues. Au-delà de vos flèches caricaturales et provocantes dont je suis la cible, j'ai tenu à vous répondre personnellement car je crois aux vertus du débat et de l'échange, notamment avec celles et ceux qui ne souscrivent pas à mes idées ou mes actes.

Le premier point qui m'a frappé à la lecture de votre blog, c'est qu'il laisse fortement entendre que la crise actuelle a surgi soudainement, comme par un malheureux hasard. Vous l'attachez de façon réductrice et manichéenne à ma personne et à quelques mots prononcés par moi-même… (...)

Vous connaissez, semble-t-il, suffisamment "les quartiers" pour savoir, au fond de vous-même, que la situation est tendue depuis de longues années et que le malaise est profond. Votre film, "La haine", qui date de 1995, évoquait déjà ce malaise que des gouvernements, de droite comme de gauche, ont dû gérer avec plus ou moins de réussites. Limiter cette crise aux faits et gestes du Ministre de l'Intérieur, c'est, d'une certaine façon et une fois encore, passer à côté des vrais problèmes. Je mets cela sur le compte d'un coup de cœur mal placé.

Le second point qui m'a heurté, c'est que vous paraissez vous faire, sans nuance, le porte-parole d'une minorité de casseurs plutôt que l'interprète d'une majorité de familles et de jeunes qui vit, elle aussi, dans les cités et qui en a assez de constater que la culture de la violence et des rapports de forces s'est imposée sur celle de l'Etat de droit. Pourquoi n'avoir aucun mot pour ceux dont la voiture a brûlé, les privant ainsi d'un outil de liberté et de travail durement acquis ? (...)

Voilà les quelques réflexions que m'inspire la lecture de votre blog. Je sais que vous êtes, avec votre style et vos convictions, à la recherche d'une prise de conscience des pouvoirs publics vis à vis des banlieues. Depuis tant d'années, beaucoup d'argent a été engagé, beaucoup d'efforts ont été entrepris par les services de l'Etat comme par les acteurs de terrain. Les résultats ne sont pas à la hauteur des attentes. Nous y avons tous notre part de responsabilité. Comment faire mieux et autrement ? Cette question, il faut maintenant la résoudre.

Demeurant disponible pour poursuivre, si vous le jugez utile, notre échange de vive voix, je vous prie de croire, Monsieur, à l'assurance de mes sentiments les meilleurs.

Nicolas Sarkozy

Ma question: je me demande bien quand un politicien québécois ou canadien va en faire de même? Comme le dit Paul Wells qui m'a pointé vers l'article dans Le Figaro: Cool.

Why Corporate Blogs Are Boring (and How to Fix Them)

Publish.com has an article titled Why Corporate Blogs Are Boring (and How to Fix Them) where Shel Israel, co-author with Robert Scoble of 'Naked Conversations' (to be published in January) is interviewed.

Many interesting things in there including:

I would say that (our book) is the first to focus on the how and why of why business people should blog(...)

PR practitioners are in a change or die situation. Many of them—like Neville Hobson, Richard Edelman and Steve Rubel—are poster children for a new PR where the practice is to facilitate rather than keep secure the gate. Many others remain clueless, and I see a future for them in the restaurant service industry.

And above all:

Our book actually ends by saying that blogs are just a tool...

I don't know about the promo part. I'm really not sure about all of the examples of PR practionners. But I'm absolutely certain that last quote is right on the money.

Les voleurs d'enfance

La première médiatique de Les voleurs d'enfance (la sortie en salles, c'est demain) a remis d'actualité mon billet du mois dernier. Paul Arcand a été interviewé partout.

J'ai l'impression que quand la porte-parole de la DPJ disait qu'il n'y avait pas de plan de gestion de crise, elle était un petit peu cachotière. À voir la réaction rapide (et relativement bien structurée) des intervenants, je suis presque certain que 1) il y avait un plan et 2) il y a des gens qui ont eu de la formation média.

Maintenant, on va voir ce qui va se passer une fois que les gens auront vu le film de Paul Arcand. Attendons-nous à des émissions (radio et télé) avec des lignes ouvertes remplies de gens qui auront été choqués. Attendons-nous à des courriers des lecteurs remplis de lettre de gens scandalisés. Et surtout, regardons comment vont réagir les divers lobbies dans le domaine.

Résultats du sondage Edelman/Technorati

J'ai reçu un courriel de Richard Edelman hier qui m'annonce que les résultats du sondage en-ligne organisé par la maison de relations publiques Edelman et par Technorati auquel Guy Therrien a fait référence ont été rendus publics.

On peut visiter le blogue de Richard Edelman pour de plus amples commentaires.

La citation qui compte:

What does this mean for PR? (...) We need to help companies enter the conversation, but they can only do that with respect, humility and honesty.

Svend Robinson veut retrouver son siège

Quand je regarde cette nouvelles en comparaison avec André Boisclair... Hmmmmm.

L'utilisation d'Internet en situation de crise

La chaire de recherche en relations publiques de l'UQAM a mis en ligne une section de son site pour discuter de gestion de crise et de l'utilisation d'Internet en ces matières. Je ne l'ai pas encore lu avec attention, mais ça semble intéressant.

On mentionne que "ce site est en constante évolution. Nous serions heureux de recevoir votre avis ou vos suggestions pour en améliorer le contenu." Mais on ne mentionne pas comment commenter. Il me semble que s'ils avaient un blogue, on pourrait commenter en direct.

La direction du projet est assumée par Pierre Bérubé et la recherche et la rédaction par Jonathan Martel et Sophie Perreault.

Crise à venir à la DPJ

Paul Arcand signe un premier documentaire intitulé Les Voleurs d'enfance. Celui-ci sort en salle le 7 octobre. Selon le Journal de Montréal du 31 août, "À la manière du cinéaste américain Michael Moore, le réalisateur Paul Arcand veut exposer son point de vue sur le sujet des enfants maltraités, négligés et abusés."

Deux informations importantes de l'article:

• "Les Centres jeunesse de Montréal, qui travaillent étroitement avec la DPJ (ndlr. Direction de la portection de la jeunesse), reconnaissent avoir formulé la demande, "par curiosité et intérêt professionnel". (...)"On se sent très concerné par le film", fait valoir la porte-parole des Centres jeunesse de Montréal, Jocelyne Boudreault.
• "Nous n'avons pas établi de plan de communication, soutient-elle. On va attendre de voir le documentaire."

Euh, Mme Boudreault... vous allez avoir des problèmes. Beaucoup, beaucoup de problèmes.

Partons du fait que le film est produit par la boîte de Denise Robert. Oui, la même Denise Robert de Aurore et des Invasions Barbares.
Sachons aussi que le film sera distribué par Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm, une boîte qui a connu pas mal de succès récemment: Guy Gagnon, le PDG, a été sacré Personnalité de la semaine par La Presse cette semaine.
N'oublions pas le fait que Paul Arcand est au micro de l'émission ayant la deuxième meilleure cote d'écoute à Montréal (ou est-ce troisième?, peu importe) et ce, tous les matins de la semaine.
Peux-t-on rajouter que Nathalie Simard, victime d'abus elle-même, participera à l'émission Star Académie le 25 septembre et chantera la chanson-thème du film?
Et je gagerais un p'tit 2$ que Paul sera invité par Guy A. quelque part autour du 2 octobre.

Pouvez-vous imaginer, mesdames et messieurs de la DPJ, des Centres-jeunesse, du gouvernement du Québec, l'ouragan médiatique et critique par lequel vous allez passer?

Et vous n'aurez pas de plan de communication!?! De deux choses l'une, soit c'est faux, soit c'est proprement irresponsable. Dans les deux cas, êtes-vous tombés sur la tête?

Communiqué de presse; Pour diffusion immédiate

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

President Bush Declares "War on Weather"

Washington, DC - Sept. 2, 2005 - President Bush today declared war on Weather, which will be waged alongside other attention-diverting war efforts, including the War on Terror and the War on Drugs, to protect Americans from an enemy with unlimited resources that have recently been targeted against the south and southeastern United States.

"Make no mistake about it," President Bush said Friday, "This will be a long war, a difficult war, but it is a war we will win. Not today. Not tomorrow. But we will come out ahead by making America a safer place for our children and grandchildren."

Without another country to blame for the chaos in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, President Bush dedicated the full capacity of the U.S. military to defeating dangerous atmospheric pressure changes.

"Look, you're either with us or against us," President Bush said. "The weather has the potential to affect every American, and it is only through a direct, targeted effort that we can contain this enemy and overwhelm it. And we will do so."

When pointing out that another war effort could divert much-needed resources from the hundreds of thousands of refugees from the Southern United states now homeless and stateless -- and from recovering the tens of thousands of bodies that pose severe health risk to the entire region -- President Bush promised an organized, centralized effort.

"Make no mistake about it, I can wage 4-6 wars at one time without a problem," he said "In fact, there are other wars that need to be waged in order for me to continue my Presidency in way that lets me blame others for my ineptness. But I can get on planes. You see? I can get on choppers and I can see things from those choppers. I can see out the windows. You understand that? I'm flying in those choppers today to see the destruction first hand, well maybe not first-hand but from high above, well maybe down on the ground in Mississippi or Alabama where there aren't angry colored folks waiting for me, well not as many anyway, you see? That's why we have to wage this war."

Congress today approved an additional $55i33x5lf Billion for the War on Weather, which will be spent on more effective weapons, deployment of troops, and an assessment of the infrastructure of vulnerable American cities, regardless of the fact that such assessments were completed in 2001.

Public School Bus Drivers on their way to help move refugees from the Weather's most recent assault (because Greyhound was busy) to an undetermined location in an undetermined state or states hoped that the President's declaration means bullet-proof vests will arrive in time for them to join the front lines.

This is the President's second term in office. He declared a War on Terror during his first term, during which he held office illegally.

# # #

Thanks Jeneane.

An american tsunami? Come on!

Partons de la prémisse suivante : je suis l’une des personnes que je connaisse qui est le moins anti-américain. Les réalisations américaines dans les domaines politiques, économiques, scientifiques et culturelles (oui, oui, culturelles) sont innombrables.

Mais comparer les dégâts de l’ouragan Katrina au tsunami de l’année dernière, comme l’a fait le maire de Biloxi (Mississippi), c’est de la folie.

• Le tsunami a ravagé les côtes de plusieurs pays (comparé à une couple de centaines de kilomètres).


• Plus de 250 000 personnes y sont décédées (comparé à une couple de centaines).


• Dans le cas victimes asiatiques, c’était totalement imprévu (dans le cas des victimes américaines, on le savait des jours à l’avance).

Cela étant dit, je sympathise avec les gens du sud des Etats-Unis. Les images dont on nous abreuve sont désolantes. Si vous voulez donner un coup de main, Glenn Reynolds a mis en place une page spéciale pour l’occasion.

Blog Day 2005

Je ne sais pas si vous connaissez le concept de Blog Day? C'est Nir Ofir qui a initié l'idée, laissons-lui le loisir de nous expliquer:

BlogDay was initiated with the belief that bloggers should have one day which will be dedicated to know other bloggers, from other countries or areas of interests. In that day Bloggers will recommend about them to their Blog visitors. (...) I am suggesting this kind of activity because in the last months I felt that the more blogs there are, the less time I’m spending on new web logs. Because of the overload of information, I’m just visiting my favorite Blog and therefore, I’m sure that I miss a lot of good blogs.

Nir nous propose de recommander cing blogues. J'en présenterai dix: cinq que je suis pour des raisons professionnelles et cinq pour des raisons personnelles.

Professionnel:

LexBlog: Law Blog Design for Lawyer, Attorney and Law Firm Internet Marketing, Legal Blogs. Une démonstration que les blogues corporatifs, ce n'est pas que pour les entreprises technologiques ou pour le commerce de détail.
PR Opinions: C'est écrit par Tom Murphy, un relationniste irlandais. Notamment parce que je trouve que je suis presque toujours d'accord avec lui.
Guerrilla Marketing for Consultants: Écrit par Mike McLaughlin.
Online Public Relations Thoughts: Un des premiers et un des meilleurs: Jim Horton.
Speak Up: écrit par Richard Edelman, le PDG de l'entreprise du même nom. Toujours songé. N'a jamais peur de se mouiller, ce qui quand même surprenant de la part de quelqu'un dans sa position.

Personnel/divertissement:

Le vélo sans petite culotte: Écrit par Hugo Bergeron, un pote d'il y a presque trente ans (ça ne nous rajeunit pas, d'ailleurs), que je respecte beaucoup. Toujours drôle, très souvent songé.
YGRECK: le blogue du caricaturiste du Journal de Québec.
Nadia chez les internautes: Nadia Seraiocco, une ex-relationniste super-intéressante.
Clublife: c'est écrit par un "bouncer" new-yorkais anonyme. À pisser de rire.
Inkless Wells: le blogue du chroniqueur politique de la revue Macleans.

Tag: BlogDay2005

Launch of meïdia

Congratulations to m-c turgeon who just launched meïda, Montreal's first (as far as I know) "creative studio specializing in new web technologies, such as blogs and social web applications."

The French version is here.

Félicitations Marie-Chantal et bonne chance.

Nouvelle ère de l'Internet ou nouvelle bulle?

Voici un document pdf intitulé En direct du globe: les blogs; Nouvelle ère de l'Internet ou nouvelle bulle? produit par Aquitaine Europe Communication.

Merci à b-spirit pour le lien.

To podcast or not to podcast?

Commme Michael Carpentier, j'ai mes doutes au sujet des podcasts (ou la baladiffusion, selon l'Office de la langue française).

Mais la sortie de iTunes 4.9 me donne à réfléchir. Apple a annoncé jeudi que plus de 1 000 000 de podcasts avaient fait l'objet d'un abonnement dans les 48 heures suivant le lancement de iTunes 4.9 comprenant la fonction "abonnement aux podcasts".

Howard N. Karesh, vice-président de Ketchum Midwest explique les critères pour décider de podcast-er ou pas.

Le bungee comme outil de relations publiques?

Un blogue corporatif comme outil de relations de presse?

Il semblerait que c'est de plus en plus une bonne idée.

Une nouvelle étude publiée par Euro RSCG et l'université Columbia nous apprend que 51% des journalistes utilisent (lisent?) des blogues régulièrement et que 28% d'entre eux les utilisent pour pour leur travail.

Les raisons les plus souvent invoquées par les journalistes pour justifier leur utilisation des blogues :

• trouver des idées de reportages, 53%;
• effectuer de la recherche et de la valisation de faits, 43%;
• trouver des sources, 36%;
• rechercher des infos sur les "breaking news", 33%.

La conclusion: une entreprise, un candidat, une association... tous ont de bonnes raisons de partir un blogue.

L'article de ClickZ News est ici.

Michael Jackson: non coupable II

Suite à mon message au sujet de Michael Jackson, j'ai lu que Don Crowthers a écrit quelque chose de similaire sur son blogue.

Une différence majeure: il propose que MJ écrive un livre. Très bonne idée.

Michael Jackson: non coupable

Maintenant que Michael Jackson a été déclaré non coupable, que l'on soit d'accord ou non avec le verdict, qu'est-ce qu'il peut faire pour retrouver la faveur populaire?

• Adopter une attitude très humble. Quelque chose comme je suis heureux du verdict et je remercie le jury. Surtout pas de vantardise. Quelque chose comme j'ai toujours dit que j'avais raison est à proscrire.
• Faire une entrevue pour pouvoir passer à autre chose. Une seule. Je lui proposerais probablement Jay Leno ou Oprah.
• Annoncer que plus jamais un enfant ne dormira dans son lit. Même si dans sa tête, ça peut être acceptable (c'est incompréhensible pour moi, mais bon), il doit faire un "statement".
  
• Disparaître pendant un temps. Moins qu'on le voit pour les prochains mois, mieux ce sera pour lui.
  
• Surtout, faire un nouvel album. Un album qui est un succès tant critique que commercial.

D'autres suggestions?

Comment rebâtir la confiance dans les organisation canadiennes (Rebuilding Trust in Canadian Organizations)

C'est en train de devenir le thème du jour :)

Le Conference Board du Canada a publié un rapport intitulé Rebuilding Trust in Canadian Organizations.

La version courte:

Public opinion surveys have warned of a decline in levels of public trust. Although the extent of the decline is open to debate, such skepticism is troubling.

This report examines the reasons for low levels of public trust. It concludes that organizations can best rebuild public trust by enhancing their own trustworthiness, and provides concrete suggestions on how this can be done.

This approach alone, however, is not sufficient. Trust intermediaries, such as journalists, auditors, editors, financial analysts and others, play a critical role in enabling trust in our society. The public has also lost confidence in these traditional sources of information and verification, and this will need to be addressed if a more general strengthening of public trust in organizations is to be brought about.

Il faut s'enregistrer (gratuitement) pour avoir accès au texte complet, un PDF de 43 pages.

La perception de Wal-Mart au sud de la frontière

AdAge publie un sondage au sujet de la confiance qu'ont les américains au sujet des entreprises.

Au sujet de Wal-Mart:

Consumers are deeply divided over the behemoth from Bentonville, sending Wal-Mart to the top of the charts as both the best and the worst.

When consumers were asked to name the “most trustworthy company in America,” Wal-Mart tied for second (with General Electric Co.), behind Ford Motor Co. But more people picked Wal-Mart in a separate question as the “least-trustworthy” company, putting it second on the rogue’s list.

L'entreprise est donc à la fois détestée et admirée. Je me demande si les résultats au Québec (dans le contexte de la syndicalisation du Wal-Mart de Jonquière) seraient bien différents.

Plusieurs autres statistiques dans l'article complet que l'ont retrouve ici.

Le sondage, en ligne, réalisé par le American Demographics Perception Study, comptait 1,133 répondants adultes.

Un blogue québécois mis en nomination au MarketingSherpa 2005 Readers' Choice Blog Awards

C'est dans la catégorie Blogs in other languages. En effet, mon blogue est mis en nomination en compagnie de Media Culpa et MarketingFacts.

Bonne chance à mes co-nominés (mais n'hésitez pas à voter pour moi ;-) C'est à la question 9 en bas de page.

Je prends la pôle

C'est Michael Carpentier qui me le passe.

Alors...

Combien?

• 259 pièces, 16,7 heures et 990,3 Mb.
  

Plus récent achat?

• Nucléaire de Yann Perreau
  

Plus populaires?

• 911, Wyclef Jean
• Take Me Out, Franz Ferdinand
• American Idiot, Green Day
• Libérez-Nous des Libéraux, Loco Locass
• Yahweh, U2

Ce qui joue en ce moment?

• Repo Man, Planet Smashers
  

Et je passe le bâton à?

• Guy Therrien
  
• Josée Blanchette
• Michel Dumais
• Christian Aubry
• Pier-André Bouchard

Un expert en communication passe par ici! (En fait, là)

Dans Un expert en communication passe par içi !, l'ancien président de la FEUQ, Pier-André Bouchard, répond à un commentaire que j'avais laissé sur son blogue. Allez lire le tout.

Voici son message initial et mon commentaire, puis sa réponse et ses questions.

Vous êtes revenu? Alors prenons ça morceau par morceau.

Primo, je ne suis pas tombé sur ton blogue par hasard: je suis abonné à ton fil RSS depuis quelque temps déjà.

Deuzio, je suis la politique étudiante depuis plusieurs années: j'ai été le vice-président fondateur de la FECQ, responsable des affaires externes.

Tercio, tu peux arrêter de me vouvoyer.

Maintenant, tes questions.

Mais peut-être devrions-nous lui demander s'il aimé la stratégie de communication avant et pendant la grève ?

Oui. Beaucoup. En tout cas, celle de la FECQ et de la FEUQ. :)

Vos messages étaient les bons. La seule place où vous avez failli dérailler, c'est quand tu as démontré une ouverture à la négociation. D'abord, si c'est une question de principes, on ne peut négocier. Ensuite, c'est l'ouverture qu'attendait les gens de la CASSÉE pour tenter de saper ton autorité au sein de tes troupes.

Remarquez que j'ai hésité à lui demander. Il pourrait me (sur) facturer !

J'ai une copine qui travaille pour le Groupe Rozon. Tu veux que je lui refile ton nom? :)

Nous verrons si le paradigme Snyder tient après les négociations des conventions collectives dans le secteur public.

Paradigme Snyder. J'aime ça. On rappelle que ce que Pier-André appelle le paradigme Snyder, c'est mon affirmation que le gouvernement, ayant cédé devant un lobby (les étudiants) se retrouve plus faible encore qu'avant. Les autres lobbies se disant comme le gouvernement a cédé pour les étudiants, pourquoi pas nous?

Sérieusement, ma théorie ne s'applique pas aux syndicats de la fonction publique. Les préjugés anti-syndicaux (dans une certaine catégorie de Québécois) et les préjugés anti-bureaucratie sont trop fort. En fait, regarde ton propre message au sujet de ta visite à la S.A.A.Q. N'exprimes-tu pas un préjugé?

Maintenant, que va faire le gouvernement Charest dans le dossier des négociations des conventions collectives dans le secteur public? À droite, on vote une loi spéciale? À gauche, on achète la paix pour préparer notre réélection?

Alors P.A., je prédis que le gouvernement va acheter la paix, mais n'en retirera pas de bénéfices. Si tu veux savoir pourquoi, ça va me faire plaisir de pontifier sur le sujet.

Martha Stewart

A couple days ago, Romenesko reminded his readers of something the Wall Street Journal had written a year ago:

Lawyers: Sending Stewart to prison will hurt her company

Full text is here (subscription required.)

What's the punchline, you ask?

Martha Stewart Living Omnimed's stock price over the last year.

Heh.

Les communicateurs québécois dans la blogosphère

J'aimerais bien qu'on m'avise des blogues tenus par les communicateurs québécois. J'entends ici les gens du côté des industries du marketing, de la publicité, des relations publiques, etc.

Je mettrai à jour ce message au fur et à mesure que j'en connais des nouveaux.

• AD HOC: not suitable for little children and big babies, écrit par Nika Vee, une publicitaire (je pense) d'une agence qu'elle ne nomme pas.
• Ami Calmant: le blogue personnel du conseiller en communication et webmestre du RISQ, Christian Aubry.
  
• Creative Generalist: inspiration drawn from - and relevant to - the larger creative world, Steve Hardy.
• CYBERcodeur.net - Weblog v4.0: les enjeux sociopolitiques, technologiques et stratégiques entourant la normalisation et l'accessibilisation du Web de Denis Boudreau.
• Je suis Alex Lauzon: Réflexions et liens à propos de bouffe, Apple, communication, société, technologie, une ou deux niaiseries, et cetera... par producteur web associé au studio de communication interactive Mecano.
• Marc Snyder (emm-ess consultants): Nouvelles et commentaires sur les communications et les relations publiques par le conseiller principal d'Axiome communications.
• Michael Carpentier: qui vient de se partir à son compte après l'achat de Neomedia, division par le Groupe LGS.
  
• Nadia chez les internautes: Nadia, nom de famille inconnu.
  
• Remolino: le carnet de Clément Laberge, cofondateur d'Opposum.
• Tactiques: une conversation sur les communications et la collecte de fonds, signé Guy Therrien.
• 3 Rivières- 2 Gars- 1 Blogue (321blogue!): Karl-Philip et Jean-Pierre sont nouvellement gradués du baccalauréat en communication sociale de l'UQTR et des rescapés du mouvement étudiant.
• Vu d'ici (Seen from here): le blogue de la directrice artistique web, Marie-Chantale Turgeon.
  
• ZERO SECONDE: le carnet de note ouvert de Martin Lessard de BBDO-Montréal.

Trois mises à jour ont été faites.

Happy birthday

It was Dave Winer's birthday yesterday. It seems that he wants to keep climbing the Technorati list.

Happy birthday Dave.

There's a fine line between marketing and hating

Or, so says Dilbert...

Trust MEdia

"Trust MEdia" est LE white paper que j'aurais voulu écrire. Heureusement, il n'est disponible quen anglais et je vais pouvoir m'en inspirer lorsque je trouverai le temps d'e;n écrire un.

Il faut noter que l'agence de relations publiques Edelman (dont le PDG a un blog très intéressant ici) et la firme d'intelligence marketing Intelliseek (propriétaire de BlogPulse) qui en ont la paternité.

A newly published white paper on blogs from Edelman (...) and Intelliseek (...) explores the importance of the blogging phenomenon for public relations and marketers.

“We’ve entered the era of mass personalization where people expect far greater participation in their favorite brands and companies. For companies, bloggers represent an immediate source of information and feedback, but also an opportunity to engage a rapidly expanding global network of influential, credible, passionate and involved group of real people who communicate constantly,” said Pam Talbot, President & CEO, Edelman U.S. . “The white paper is to help companies better understand how to engage bloggers through authentic dialogue in ways that are appropriate and respectful.”

Vous trouverez le document (en pdf) ici et le communiqué de presse qui l'accompagnait ici.

Le blogue américain qui parle de la Commission Gomery

La Commission Gomery n'a pas vraiment juridiction sur les blogues américains qui révèlent des information supposées être secrètes en vertu de la décision ordonnant la non-publication des témoignages de Jean Brault, Paul Coffin et Charles "Chuck" Guité.

C'est pourquoi Captain's Quarter (qui a même mis en ligne une section spéciale), Instapundit et plusieurs autres en parlent abondamment.

Bonne lecture.

Mise à jour:
On m'a convaincu de d'enlever le lien vers le blogue en question.
Vous connaissez Google. Vous savez que le blog porte sur le Gomery scandal. Vous savez quoi faire.

Mise à jour #2
J'ai remis les liens.

Qui est-ce qui lit les blogues? (version 2.0)

Le résultat du sondage BlogAds auquel j'ai fait référence la semaine dernière sont en ligne.

Michael Jackson is a blogger

Check it out.

Well... he is wearing pajamas.

UPDATE: A better pic.

Madrid Summit on Democracy, Terrorism and Security

There's an interesting sounding summit starting tomorrow, in Madrid, on democracy, terrorism and security. I noticed it a while back.

Dave Weinberger, Rebecca MacKinnon, Dan Gillmor and Joi Ito will all be there and, I presume, will blog about it.

Qui est-ce qui lit les blogues?

Blogads a mis en ligne ce sondage pour identifier les caractéristiques démographiques des lecteurs de blogues.

Ça ne prends que deux-trois minutes pour y répondre. N'oubliez pas de répondre emm-ess.blogspot.com à la question #16.

The A-B-C of the Press Release

Inc.com's take on The Art of the Press Release, including an almost cute quiz.

Des membres du Congrès américain qui bloguent

Mike Pence (Indiana), Mark Steven Kirk (Illinois) qui blogue d'ailleurs sur un sujet d'actualité pour le Québec, l'amiante et Katherine Harris (Floride).

Ça vient d'un article dans le New York Times.

À quand les politiciens québécois?

How does the NHL tie in with communications?

Here's how.

NHL SEASON CANCELLATION COSTS $400 MILLION IN AD REVENUE
By Rich Thomaselli

DETROIT (AdAge.com) -- Faced with a half-billion dollar loss from advertising revenue and TV contracts after canceling its season last week, the National Hockey League must now grapple with an erosion of confidence from fans and sponsors that threaten its future.

NHL must convince corporate sponsors and TV networks that it can be a viable entity again. (...)

"To say that future revenue streams have been compromised is an understatement," said sports marketing expert David Carter, a principal at Los Angeles-based Sports Business Group and a professor at the University of Southern California.(...)

Now if that isn't the destruction of a reputation, I don't know what is. You've got both short-term costs (advertising revenue that'll never come back) AND what is called here "an erosion of confidence" (quite the understatement).

Analysis Paralysis

Fred Wilson, a blogger and partner at Flatiron Partners, quotes Teddy Roosevelt in this post:

In any moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.

Not only is that one of my prefered quotes but it also made me think of Malcom Gladwell's "Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking."

Congratulations to Mike Manuel

Mike Manuel tells us that Media Guerrilla was voted "Best PR Blog" in the 2005 Business Blog Awards.

Congrats!

Radio-Canada offre des fils RSS

Plusieurs fils différents couvrant les nouvelles générales, les nouvelles du sport et les nouvelles régionales. Félicitations à Rad-Can.

Eason Jordan quits

Jeff Jarvis rounds up a lot of stuff. The money quote:

News people, who are used by PR people, are the worst at figuring out their own PR.

Robert Scoble in The Economist

A while back, Canadian PR blogger Colin McKay wrote a post titled "When is corporate blogging going to break through to the mainstream?" He answered his question by saying:

When BusinessWeek runs a story on corporate blogging, give me a call.

I answered here when blogging was covered in BusinessWeek.

That said, we've now gone one step further since Robert Scoble is profiled in The Economist!

Is that mainstream enough for you?

A Robert Byrne Quote

Getting caught is the mother of invention.

Payola scandal continues

Two items today:

USA Today reports that PR spending doubled from Clinton's second term to Bush's first term.

Key parts of the article:

The Bush administration has more than doubled its spending on outside contracts with public relations firms during the past four years, according to an analysis of federal procurement data by congressional Democrats.

The administration spent at least $88 million in fiscal 2004 on contracts with major public relations firms, the analysis found, compared with $37 million in 2001, Bush's first year in office. In all, the administration spent $250 million on public relations contracts during its first term, compared with $128 million spent for President Clinton between 1997 and 2000. The analysis did not examine what the Clinton administration spent during its first term.

Now we already knew that Armstrong Williams was shilling to promote the No Child Left Behind program and that syndicated columnist Maggie Gallagher accepted payments while writing several columns in support of the president's marriage initiative.

Also, thanks to Salon, we learn (free Site Pass necessary) that Michael McManus, author of the syndicated column "Ethics & Religion," received $10,000 to promote a marriage initiative.

Salon has confirmed that Michael McManus, a marriage advocate whose syndicated column, "Ethics & Religion," appears in 50 newspapers, was hired as a subcontractor by the Department of Health and Human Services to foster a Bush-approved marriage initiative. McManus championed the plan in his columns without disclosing to readers he was being paid to help it succeed.

This whole thing is sullying both the PR and media industries. We have to keep looking into this.

Les Bloggies 2005

Les nominations pour les Bloggies 2005 ont été rendues publiques hier.

Bacon and Eh's, photojunkie, marmalade.ca, The Adventures of Accorion Guy in the 21st Century et chromewaves.net sont les nominés dans la catégorie Best Canadian Blogs.

Loïc Le Meur blogs and wikis (!) about Davos

SixApart's Loïc Le Meur set up a wiki listing bloggers blogging both from Davos and Porto Allegre.

The Davos official blog is here. Porto Alegre's site is here.

The Internet as a tool for terrorism and/or democracy

Octavio Isaac Rojas Orduña tells us about a conference covering Terrorism, Democracy and the Internet in his latest post (translated to English by Google's translation tool here)

Sounds interesting.

Randy's Blog

Open letter to Randy Baseler, VP of Marketing for Boeing Commercial Airplanes, who has started something called Randy's Blog

Randy,

That thing you're publishing isn't a blog. In addition to what Matt Rosenberg (and his commentors) write, may I mention RSS?

You see Randy, I won't be getting to read your prose since I won't be checking out your site every day. I need a way to subscribe to your thing.

If you had comments on your site, I'd have left my suggestion there. If you put up your email address, I could have contacted you that way. Even a phone number would have worked.

Anyways, if you want to add to this discussion, go to my comments or call me at (514) 244-5228 (that's my cell) or email me at msnyder@total.net.

Regards.

Thanks to Steve Rubel writing for WebProNews.

Jay Rosen versus PR Bloggers

NYU's Jay Rosen accuses "PR bloggers" for what he calls "missing in action" in the Armstrong Williams/Ketchum/Department of Education (DoE) scandal.

Julia Hood, editor in chief of PR Week, a trade journal that exploded with Ketchum news this week, wrote on Monday that the Ketchum case "reinforces many of the worst perceptions of the industry and has potential to permanently link the specter of propaganda with the communications profession in the minds of the public." She added, "This is an extraordinarily dismal situation."

Dismal, yes--also incredible--but somehow nearly invisible to PR bloggers, who, aside from a few mentions here and there, have neglected this juicy and far-reaching story. The one exception was Jeremy Pepper's blog, with three posts that counted. He showed up, along with one blogger who is also a player in the industry.

In that last sentence, Rosen is refering to Richard Edelman, who did condemn the whole situation, twice.

Here's my take on it: Rosen should have called out our associations, not the bloggers.

Here's why:

• Colin McKay had blogged about it
• David Murray had blogged about it
• Tom Murphy had blogged about it
• Shel Holtz had blogged about it
• Jim Horton had blogged about it
• Octavio Rojas had blogged about it (in Spanish)
  
• Alice Marshall had blogged about it (and takes Mr. Rosen to task in his comments section)
  
• Shel and Neville Hobson also podcasted about it

And there may be others.

So. What's the takeaway for PR bloggers?

1. Some of us should have reacted to this issue. Myself included.
2. Our associations have been silent/obtuse on this issue.
   

What's the takeaway for Mr. Rosen?

1. A Technorati search is not sufficient research.
2. Maybe an update/correction to that first post is in order?
   

Update: I also missed News Blog / iPressroom. Sorry, no permalinks. Check the January 17th story.

Update 2: I also missed Mediopolis's post on this subject.

Some tips from B.L. Ochman

B.L. sometimes gets on my nerves. Her post yesterday on How to Write Killer Blog Posts and More Compelling Comments is right on the money.

Congrats.

The "Dave Winer/Yahoo problem"

Dave Winer proposes a "single way to subscribe to (RSS) feeds that's vendor-neutral." He doesn't like the multiple "subscribe to this" buttons and the fact that Yahoo! is taking the lead on this.

In his answer to Susan Mernit's comment, Dave says:

Yahoo is trying to be that (the central feed vendor), and if successful, (will) lock all other vendors out.

Dave, since when could anyone "lock all other vendors out" on the Net?

Dave's proposal is here. You can imagine that Jeremy Zawodny, Yahoo's blogging evangelist, doesn't agree.

Nortel Finally Files Updated Financial Statements

I wrote about this in November: Nortel hadn't refiled their financials statements but were launching a "branding initiative."

Well, that situation has finally been updated by this morning filing of their 2003 financial statements.

One interesting tidbit:

twelve senior executives of Nortel’s core executive leadership team have voluntarily undertaken to pay to the Company over a three year period the amount of their Return to Profitability bonuses awarded in 2003 (net of tax withheld at source)

The webcast is here as well a whole bunch of other info.

How to carry a press conference?

The Washington Post writes about writes about the press conference GWB held yesterday.

Quotes from the article:

The President's Grand Elusion
By Dana Milbank
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 21, 2004; Page A05

President Bush, an old F-102 pilot, showed at yesterday's news conference that he has not forgotten his evasive maneuvers.

As he fielded questions on everything from Iranian nukes to presidential personnel, the often blunt and plainspoken president employed the full range of artful dodges.

(snip)

For all the bobbing and weaving, yesterday's news conference hinted at an emerging new style for Bush. In his first 45 months in office, he had 15 full-fledged news conferences, fewer than any other postwar president. Bush, a stickler for discipline, didn't want to make unintended news, or to be embarrassed by an unexpected question, as when he was asked what his biggest mistake had been. But since his reelection, Bush has had two news conferences in as many months.

Bush is finding that, with some careful deflection of questions, he can hold a nearly hour-long news conference without serious gaffes or unintentionally making news.

(snip)

When the inevitable question came about the doomed nomination of Bernard B. Kerik to be homeland security secretary, Bush deftly avoided any mention of Kerik's various personal problems and any hint that the White House's vetting process had failed.

"And so the lessons learned is: Continue to vet, and ask good questions," he said. Only the chuckle and shrug of the shoulders accompanying those words suggested there might be more to the story.

Worth a full read.

Sentence de Guy Cloutier

C'est ce matin qu'est tombée la sentence de Guy Cloutier: trois ans et demi de prison. Ce sera bien sûr la "une" de tous les quotidiens demain matin.

Est-ce que la couverture des médias a eu un effet sur la sentence? Pas vraiment.

Extrait du jugement:

Une personne publique qui commet une infraction, de quelque nature qu'elle soit, assume nécessairement le risque de faire l'objet d'une couverture médiatique plus intense qu'une personne qui ne l'est pas.

Lorsque la nature et la gravité de l'infraction sont sérieuses, comme c'est le cas, il devient en quelque sorte normal que celle-ci attire davantage l'intérêt et l'attention des médias.

Vous vous souviendrez que Gilbert Rozon avait eu une absolution inconditionnelle suite à un plaidoyer de culpabilité à une accusation d'agression sexuelle. Yves Boisvert, à l'époque chroniqueur juridique à La Presse, avait signé un texte pour la FPJQ.

J'avais aussi écrit quelque chose sur le sujet en mars dernier.

GWB and "the" message

Here's a funny pic about staying on-message.

More Roadsworth

I spoke with Helen Fotopulos earlier today and just got off the phone with someone on her staff.

The feeling I'm getting is that she is very concerned about the whole Roadsworth issue and is looking into ways of fixing the situation.

I told her how my feeling was that these accusations make no sense. That being said, my conversation with her did make me think about some of the constraints that the City has to manage that I hadn't thought about.

• What do you accept and what can you not accept? Can you write rules to manage these issues? (Think about it, can you really?)
  
• How do you differientiate between graffiti and art? Or, when do graffitis besome art? (I know it's pretty clear in this instance.)
  
• If there are issues with safety, what do you do?
• Can the city intervene in police affairs? If so, when and how?
  

Bottom line, I'm not sure what the City is going to do about this but I do know that Helen is preoccupied and understands the difference between Roadsworth's art and someone "scratching his name into storefront windows." My understanding is that she (as well as the mayor) will be reacting to the questions sooner rather than later.

I'll keep you up to date if I Learn anything else.

Un blog pour le recrutement de la main d'oeuvre

Un article sur workforce.com nous raconte que des compagnies utilisent des blogs pour aider au recrutement.

Une citation :

(Jason) Butler (senior product development manager for BostonWorks's blog) predicts that as the market picks up, employees will start job-hopping and turn to blogs to seek out "organizations that have a more human voice." Blogs serve as a means for recruiters to say, "We’re real people; here’s what we’re looking for," Butler says, although he admits there is "some risk in having people talk directly to the audience."

Ce serait intéressant de voir si des entreprises québécoises suivent leurs traces.

L'impact des blogs pour les relations de presse

Cet article publié dans Le Devoir portant sur l'arrestation de Roadsworth, l'artiste de la rue, est une des premières occasions où des blogueurs québécois (à l'initiative de Zeke) contribuent à ce qu'un article soit écrit sur un sujet donné (à ma connaissance).

Se pourrait-il que Michel Dumais ait eu un mot à dire là-dessus?

Mentionnons que The Mirror avait déjà écrit un article auparavant.

PR and leaks

That wasn't long.

Horaire annoncé pour NorthernVoice.ca

Northern Voice, une conférence sur les blogs qui se tiendra le 19 février prochain à Vancouver vient de rendre publique sa programmation.

Très impressionnant. Tim Bray, Robert Scoble, Jeremy Wright, Roland Tanglao sont tous du nombre.

Merci à Darren Barefoot pour l'info.

Libération gets into blogging. Wonder when La Presse will follow?

Interesting series of articles about blogging in the most recent edition of Libération. Included is an interview with Florence Le Cam, a professor (?) at Université Laval who calls blogs "open-source journalism."

Update: Like the comment says, Florence Le Cam is a student, not a professor.

Another Code of Blogging Ethics

This one coms from Allen Jenkins' blog Desirable Roasted Coffee.

B is for blog

The New York Times Magazine (free subscription required) alphabetically lists what it calls the ideas of the year 2004. And obviously, blogs are mentionned:

From a marketing perspective, blogs make perfect sense. They are cheap to produce, immersive and interactive. It's easy to measure their readership and response rates. For small companies, blogs are a quick and dirty promotional tool that cuts out the middleman; for big companies, blogs are a tool of humanization -- an informal, chatty, down-to-earth voice amid the din of bland corporate-speak.

Flickr

Have been playing around with Flickr. Found this one pic that was taken a couple hundred feet away from my office. Funny.

Fountain

Originally uploaded by lui.

6 décembre 1989

Quatorze victimes

Geneviève Bergeron, 21 ans
Anne-Marie Edward, 21 ans
Michelle Rich ard 21 ans
Annie Turcotte, 21 ans,
Barbara Daigneault, 22 ans
Anne-Marie Lemay, 22 ans
Hélène Colgan, 23 ans
Nathalie Croteau, 23 ans
Maryse Leclair 23 ans
Annie St-Arneault, 23 ans
Maryse Laganière, 25 ans
Sonia Pelletier, 28 ans,
Maud Haviernick, 29 ans
Barbara Maria Klucznik, 31 ans

J'ai contribué à l'organisation des commémorations du 10ème anniversaire de la tragédie de Polytechnique où ces 14 jeunes femmes ont été assassinées.

Je ne l'oublierai jamais.

Congrès de la FPJQ

Martine Pagé était au congrès de la FPJQ, tout comme Clément Laberge.

Lisez ce qu'ils ont à dire. J'ai laissé des commentaires sur leurs blogues respectifs. J'en aurai d'autres si le projet de blogue collectif voit le jour.

P.-S. En passant, j'aurais bien aimé participer, je suis passé par le Hilton ce même jour. :(

MàJ: Jean-Pierre Cloutier ajoute ses commentaires.

American Freemasons put faith in PR

Where is the world going to if the Freemasons get into PR?

Blog Tops Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary Lookup List in 2004

No word has been looked up more often this year in Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary.

Incumbent, electoral, insurgent, hurricane, cicada, peloton, partisan, sovereignty and defenestration (!) are numbers 2 through 10.

George Bush visits Ottawa

This is a minuscule story in the US but a huge one up here. 24-hours news channels are covering this intensely.

Anyways, since Canadians are generally anti-Bush (the same way most countries around the world are) they're preparing a pretty important protest in front of the federal Parliament.

The Hill Cam shows the real time gathering. Heh.

This is a picture that was saved a couple of hours ago.

The CIBC screws up (IMHO)

The Globe and Mail tells us this morning that a whole bunch of PR/crisis counselors agree with me that the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (commonly known as CIBC) is screwing up it their treatment Wade Peer, the scrap dealer in West Virginia that received all that confidential information.

At least the headline is amusing.

Un Blog Talk montréalais?

L'idée de Marie-Chantal est presque devenue un Tout le monde en parle des carnetistes montréalais branchés (incluant Sébastien Paquet, Michel Dumais (qui s'offre comme organisateur en chef), Sylvain Carle, Martine Pagé et plusieurs autres). Un wiki et un blog (avec un fil RSS) sont déjà en place.

Pessimistic Canadians

Do you think you are at risk of losing your job in the next year? 28% of Canadians say yes.

Out of the 18 countries Right Management Consultants surveyed, we're 16th on the optimism scale (only Hong Kong and Germany fare worse).

Mmmm.

How about them apologies?

They are in.

The UK edition of PRWeek writes about it, so do Robert Scoble and Shel Holtz.

BUSINESS WIRE: The Global Leader in News Distribution

Earlier this week, I blogged about Nortel. In said post, I wondered if Nortel would file its numerous late fillings on time in mid-November as promised.

Well, now we know: no, they can't. It'll be sometime in the next 30 to 60 days, or so they say. Like I'm going to believe anything they say.

Shame on you Nortel.

Rupert Goodwins and promotional t-shirts

Tell us what you really think there Rupert.

Let me start over. Rupert Goodwins is a columnist at ZDNet UK. In his latest comment, he skewers a PR agency for sending out a media release printed on a t-shirt. Yes that's right, printed on, not accompanied by.

We' ve had some daft things through the post here.

(Note: that means the mail.)

A couple of years ago around this time, we got a set of loose fireworks as part of a PR campaign. We're not sure how legal that is -- oh, who are we kidding, we know exactly how illegal that is. But the office is festooned with cuddly chameleons, stuffed penguins, comedy hats, half-empty bottles (they don't stay that way for long), novelty mouse mats, novelty mice, half-full USB key drives (this year's toy of choice) and many other PR gizmos ranging from useful to tasteless.

T-shirts are a perennial favourite. The best ones are big, black and have discrete logos -- which is why most of them are small, white, festooned with ugly designs and useful only as underwear. However, I have in front of me what must be the least good idea in promotional T-shirts. Ever.

The least good idea? (How about the worst idea?) Anyways, does anyone know any worse idea in promotional t-shirts?

If so, email me or leave a comment.

IBM Press Room Uses RSS

The IBM Press Room now offers its content via RSS feeds.

That's nice.

"This is the Way. This is Nortel."

By way of Business Wire, we learn this morning that Nortel has:

• launched a global branding initiative
• focusing on the uture
• that kicks off with an ad campaign.

If I can be very clear about what I think of this initiative, this is stupid.

Couldn't you guys start by getting your financial act together? You still haven't restated your 2001 results! To say nothing, obviously, about every other result since. Just last month, you had to announce, with significant egg on your face, that you would "not be in a position to file financial statements by the end of October 2004 as previously announced."

"The Company now expects that it and NNL will file, in mid November 2004, financial statements for the year 2003 and the first and second quarters of 2004, and related periodic reports."

We'll see next week what comes of it.

Credits for the campaign go to The Richards Group out of Dallas.

Post-electoral quotes

From Doc Searls in The New Florida:

(To) the heartland, Bush is Reagan. The vast red states are more than metaphor. They're the country. The intellectuals — including, I would guess, most of us here in the blogosphere — are the fringe. We're a minority that did about the best it could do, considering. We tried to "take back" the country. But it wasn't there for the taking.

From Zogby:

“We feel strongly that our pre-election polls were accurate on virtually every state. Our predictions on many of the key battleground states like Ohio and Florida were within the margin of error. I thought we captured a trend, but apparently that result didn’t materialize.

“We always saw a close race, and a close race is what we’ve got. I’ve called this the Armageddon Election for some time—a closely-divided electorate with high partisan intensity on each side."

And that, my friends, is spin.

Anything to learn about the election

The New York Times writes that Advertisers Learn From Candidates.

The takeaway (also applies to PR):

Act now - right now

Blogs are big

Stand by your brand

Loyalty is royalty

Forget the box

Let me see if I got this right...

Frontline, PBS's flagship public affairs show is presenting "an in-depth look at the multibillion-dollar "persuasion industries" of advertising and public relations and how marketers have developed new ways of integrating their messages deeper into the fabric of our lives" and not one PR executive accepts to go on the program!

Kevin Roberts, CEO of Saatchi and Saatchi Advertising, Doug Atkin, of Merkley + Partners, and Naomi Klein are all part of the piece that'll be aired November 9th. News release is here.

Thanks to Jeremy Pepper who got it from O'Dwyers.

The growing impact of consumers' web publishing

Read what AdAge's Rance Crain thinks about consumers calling the shots. Excerpt:

So marketers want consumers to be in control, do they? "Truly the consumer wants to be in control, and we want to put them in control," General Motors marketing executive Roger Adams told the Association of National Advertisers' annual meeting.

Be careful what you wish for. What most marketers haven't come to grips with is just how much consumers are now calling the shots. They have the ability to change the way ad messages are being received -- and even come out with their own counter-messages.

Well, he is right. Most marketers haven't come to grips with how much consumers are calling the shots. Maybe it's time they wake up and smell the coffee.

Burger King Restaurants Have Tomatoes

Okay, this is a funny news release.

Seems that the Florida storms, the California rains and the Mexican pest oubreak have conspired to raise the price for fresh tomatoes so much so that some people out there think there might be a shortage some time soon.

Whopper and tomato lovers can sleep better now :-)

La publicité des élections américaines

On prévoit que plus de 600 M $US (plus de 700 M $CDN) auront été "investis" en publicité (radio et télé) dans la campagne électorale fédérale américaine. Considérant que ce montant a été dépensé dans un relativement petit nombre d'États (les swing states), c'est un montant incroyablement élevé, et le triple de ce qui a été dépensé en 2000.

La surprise, c'est que c'est le parti démocrate et la campagne de Kerry qui a le plus dépensé (250 M $ vs. 240 M $) ainsi que les groupes de gauche plus que les groupes conservateurs (70 M $ vs. 40 M $).

Dan Gillmor's criticism of a PR pitch...

So Dan Gillmor offers his criticism of a PR pitch. Rightfully so, by the way. Why would someone pitch a blogger on an anti-blogging tool?

What happens? Everyone else in the world links to it!!!

Get it now nameless PR agency?

Campaigners Take Messages to Streaming AIM Video

This is very cool.

Steve Flanagan's blog

Everyone, give a warm welcome to Steve Flanagan, one of my competitors :-)

Steve is well known in the Quebec PR market for the crisis management of a huge blackout we had up here a few years back. Steve was the spokesperson for Hydro-Quebec, our electricity utility.

Bienvenue à bord Steve.

Institute for Crisis Management releases most recent report

I've been following the ICM's reports for a few years now. Their most recent report can be found here.

Main crisis in 2003: the blackout in the northeastern United States and SARS in Canada and elsewhere.

There are many different stats in there that are very interesting.

Donovan Bailey makes me blog for the first time in months

In fact, it's this story this story on Yahoo! that made me do it.

TORONTO (CP) - Donovan Bailey (news - web sites), former world's fastest human, is taking a run at corporate networking, public relations and business development as vice-president of Sparrowtech Multimedia Corp.

Now the fact that Donovan Bailey "has a keen interest in corporate relations" is fine with me. I'm sure it's maybe even true. But when Sparrowtech Multimedia head honcho Cornelia Volino says that his new vice-president "is well respected in the national and international business community" I really feel like gaging.

What a way to undermine the value of my chosen profession.

Edit #1: Just found Sparrowtech's release and it isn't much better:

Sparrowtech is currently in the design and development stage of a premier national and international servicing vehicle with effective cross media platforms featuring leading edge hospitality networking, products and resources.

And no, I'm not exactly sure what it means either.

PR and business sense

I've long been a proponent of adding some business sense to the PR business. A lot of what, historically, PR professionals have been doing has been fueled by intuition.

More and more, I've been pushing clients to do a lot of research, both before and after major campaigns, as well as on an ongoing basis (with the implication that that has on their budgets). I've also had numerous arguments with colleagues and bosses about the fact that PR has to become more rationale-based, rather than only emotion-based.

Well, an article published in the April edition of The Gauge, published by Delahaye Medialink Worldwide vindicates my point.

In the article, William C. Heyman, President and CEO, Heyman Associates (one of the US leading senior-level communications executive search firms), argues that "mong the items often singled out as absolutely essential for success in today’s environment, especially in public relations, was a strong sense of the business of business (and) the need to be 'measurement oriented.'"

Mr. Heyman also writes:

And that’s where intellect— knowledge and judgment—directly come into play: understanding business, knowing how communications fits into corporate objectives, and determining and measuring how communications can help advance the organization.(...)

Given the corporate environment in recent years, hiring managers and human resources executives are as interested in “what” a candidate knows, as “who” the candidate knows in the media, the investment community, government, community organizations and other audiences. (...)

Communicators today must be able to show how the communications groups, across disciplines and across the corporation, are working together to provide the company with a return on investment (ROI). They need to be cost-effective and efficient in delivering on goals and objectives.(...)

While the idea of having solid research to support communications objectives or the need to find better ways to deliver on objectives, are not new, management emphasis on these needs is increasingly being underscored. Senior management more frequently looks at communications budgets and asks the same type of ROI questions they put to the rest of the company.

Further, the more resource-intensive and important the communications project or strategy, the more a senior executive must show the research and justification behind the decision to support that project. Or not to support the project. (...)

It’s the real-world business understanding, experience, and hard-evidence, case-study research, that hiring managers and others involved in the hiring process—from the executive recruiter to the client—want to see and hear about when they are seeking the top communicator.

Students, in particular, should go read the whole thing.

Two new blogs added to my list

They are Micro Persuasion (Steve Rubel on how weblogs are changing the practice of public relations) and Media Culpa (Incoherent opinions about media and public relations).

Do the 9/11 Commission members comment too much?

Incredible but true, that's what some critics are saying to The New York Times (free registration required).

Quotes from proponents of this new-found openness include:

Thomas H. Kean, the former New Jersey governor who is the commission's chairman, said he and his colleagues were so determined to be credible with Americans that they decided early on to conduct themselves in a very public manner.

"We made a conscious decision, and part of it was under strong pressure from the families, to make this commission as transparent and as visible as possible," Mr. Kean said.

For his part, Mr. (Richard) Ben-Veniste said, "Our chairman has encouraged us to discuss the open work of the commission, because a large part of our function is to inform the public."

Mr. (Bob) Kerrey said the tough questioning and the television and print appearances had helped shake loose information from the White House that would not have otherwise been released.

Mr. Kean said even if he wanted to avoid the news media, it would be next to impossible in the age of the major 24-hour news networks. "People are going to be talking about us anyway," he said. "We would rather have the commission talking about us rather than talking heads."

The major quotes about or from critics include:

Democrats and Republicans alike have raised concerns about the degree to which commission members are discussing their deliberations on television and, even, in newspaper columns.

The accessibility of the commissioners to the news media, not to mention the openness of their views, is a departure from similar independent commissions of the past. Its members' openness troubles some officials here (Washington).

Former President Gerald R. Ford (says) "I think they could do a better job if they were less public-relations related."

Tucker Carlson, cited on "Crossfire" on Wednesday what he said were Mr. Ben-Veniste's appearances on at least six programs over the course of the last five days and said, "He's destroying the credibility of these proceedings."

Ivo H. Daalder, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who was on President Bill Clinton's national security staff, said that since this is an election year, "the commission ought to be well aware that too much public exposure will feed suspicion by those who are already so inclined of the commission's political motivation."

Which do you prefer?

Green Media Toolshed Blog

Another blog to add to my list. The Green Media Toolshed Blog (Opening the door to successful communications campaigns for the environnemental movement) has a lot of interesting posts. Check it out.

Two new blogs; both about writing online

The people at Bloglines are going to think I'm crazy. With these two, I now subscribe to 85 RSS feeds.

The first feed I subscribed to today is Writing for the Web, published by Crawford Kilian who says his blog is about "comments and links about the fast-changing genres of Webwriting."

The second one is Contentious Weblog written by Amy Gahran and covers "News and musings on how we communicate in the online age."

Is your e-mail getting through?

Lets say you or your client use e-mail marketing. Let's say it's permission based marketing, and not just spam. You'd think that your emails are reaching your targets, right?

Think again. And it could be your ISP's fault.

emarketer.com writes that Return Path, an e-mail service provider, has studied 18 different ISPs and has found that some ISPs see as much as 37,7% of their emails are blocked (Netzero is the worst). The winner is Earthlink that sees only (!) 7% of their permission-based emails blocked.

The most common reason for non-delivery is that the target's ISPs identify the e-mail as spam (even though it's not) and either block the mail or send it to a junk mail folder.

Various stuff

From Marcus Zillman, a white paper on searching the Internet

From David Sifry, Technocrati's founder and CEO:Technorati Tracks Two Million Blogs: also 12,000 new blogs and 150,000 blog updates every day!

From Easterblog, a funny spoof of an AP story:

BUSH ADMITS MISLEADING NATION

WASHINGTON, APRIL 1 2004. (ASSOCIATED PRESS.) President George W. Bush admitted today that he misled the American people on the reasons for the Iraq war. "No matter what your motives, it can never be right to be dishonest to the public," Bush told a hushed crowd at a news conference. "I am deeply sorry, and will never fail to tell the truth on any subject again."

Yes it is April Fool's Day.

Spin

Some people start really young.

For all internal communicators

Corporate training and coaching firm Franklin Covey released a study (PDF, 27 Kb) last December that covers the disconnect between management and employees.

It looks at employee buy-in from the viewpoints of clarity, commitment, action, enabling, synergy, and accountability.

Some stats include:

Only 48% of workers say their organization has a clear strategic direction
Only 37% say they understand the reason for that strategic direction
Only 15% of workers say upper management actively supports the goals of their work team

Read the whole thing.