The deal sounded too good to be true for Amazon, maybe for the newly acquired Woot, but none the less I checked it out. The offer was not from Amazon, or its affiliates, but rather a company called the Golf Warehouse (TGW).  So I logged onto Amazon and placed my order.

Later in the day, we had some water cooler talk and found out that the pricing was an error and discussed scenarios that TGW might take to rectify the situation. While none would be satisfactory to everyone, as a PR guy, I figured they would avoid a public relations nightmare. In the morning, I received the following email alerting me that the order had been cancelled:

Greetings from Amazon.com,

We’re writing to inform you that your order 102-6266013-2851404 from The Golf Warehouse has been canceled.

Your credit card was not charged for this order.

If you’re still interested in this item, please search for it again on Amazon.com.

We’ve included your order details below for reference.

We value you as a customer and hope you will continue shopping on Amazon.com.

I was expecting more of an explanation or an apology, but since the email came from Amazon, not TGW, I went looking for more answers. With none on the TGW site, I followed the social media breadcrumbs and stumbled into a pile of poop that would make any PR person cringe.

On TGW’s Facebook page there were comments ranging from inquisitive to vulgar. Now, instead of replying in an official corporate capacity, the CEO of the company turned the PR headache into a social media nightmare.

How could the top executive from TGW make things worse you ask?

Instead of issuing a reply penned by his trusty team of flacks that was informative, Brad Wolansky, replied from his personal account complete with picture of him in front of a private jet. Now while this kind of response is great and transparent, his company was in the middle of a crisis and should have only issued statements from the company account as his replies opened him up for personal attacks and insults. Now while I am all for transparency from companies, the CEO is not the person who should be frank and commenting to customers, especially if there is no history of engagement from him.

On top of these snafus, the team monitoring the Facebook page was also deleting commentary and posts not only from angry customers, but also from their employees including this one from Wolansky:

Folks,

We work in partnership with Amazon. We send them a product feed. Their system digests it then displays the products on their site. The TGW feed was received at Amazon, their system inadvertently changed the set price to the same price as the single club price causing the issue. You guys can spin this anyway you want, but those are the facts. Nothing beyond that.

This morning some of you brought to our attention some correctly priced single price clubs that had product descriptions which included references to sets. These were not incorrectly priced as the previous problem, but were confusing in presentation. We’ve corrected those or are in process. We’ve tried to be open and transparent here. Profanity, inappropriate personal information/attacks or spam-like info is deleted by the moderator. As I said this am, we’re working with Amazon to have further communications this afternoon. Please be patient to watch for that.

Brad.

I admire the passion and want to do right for the customer, but talk about dropping the ball and throwing someone under the bus.

Looking at this situation with my PR and SM hat on, there are a number of things that I would have done differently. The first would have been to change the listing on Amazon, alerting people to the error immediately as well as making a note on their site and social pages. While I understand complications with partner sites, staying silent and leaving the offer up over the weekend would have alleviated some of the outrage.  These early postings also could have quelled the backlash with empty promises of giving answers and the wishy-washy answers that were posted on the Facebook page. I would have also avoided passing the buck to Amazon on multiple occasions.

Around 4:00 p.m. yesterday afternoon, the company took the traditional PR route and issued a concise statement on their site. If they had done this in the beginning, some of the backlash on their Facebook page could have been avoided. Instead, we’re left with another example of a company engaging before thinking of the consequences. Hopefully Wolansky’s personal page didn’t get too many bad comments.

What would you have done if you were in the TGW PR team?

Image - Barstool Sports

The morning after, the national media and Jesse Jackson had a field day on Gilbert. And, to make matters worse, the passionate owner was fined $100,000 by the NBA – all things that spelled awesome days ahead for the Cavs PR team.

As a PR person, I saw both sides of Gilbert’s letter to the fans. On the media side, it would be something that should have been reconsidered as LeBron is still one of the league’s brightest stars. The media and league have vested interest in his performance, and they tend to side with players as opposed to owners. However, from a business perspective, the move was pure genius because the personal letter utilized the passion of the owner to empathize with the fan base. Every fan wants an owner who is passionate and feels pain like they do, but you have to wonder if there were lines crossed.

However, a funny thing happened after the fine was issued by David J. Stern. The fans of Gilbert’s Cavaliers made the rant and the fine worthwhile. You see the fans latched on to the passion of the owner and offered to pay the fine issued by the league.

Now with this newfound brand loyalty and a promise of greatness, Gilbert has a great opportunity in front of him if he can expand on the PR goodwill. Here are a few things that I think could help monetize and build upon that base who was willing to spend $100K on the fine.

The first and perhaps most engaging would be to set up a fan club with special benefits for fans, similar to Red Sox Nation or Yankees Universe. Since the team has a superstar void, this club would be granted special access to the team with events like “meet the new guys,” or Q&A’s with the coaching staff or player personnel or surveys on who the Cavs should target. While the results of the surveys wouldn’t be the end all be all, they could gauge interest in certain players in terms or marketability or jersey sales.

Perhaps a more fun and entertaining use of the hundred grand would be to encourage fans to launch an NBA version of the Dawg Pound. This group would be the official welcoming committee for opposing players coming into the Q. They could even help set up the ultimate homecoming for a certain player, hailing from Akron. Imagine the homecoming of that one – as T.O. says, “Get your popcorn ready.” The team can’t roll out the red carpet for him, but hey there are no rules about fans scorned.

The final recommendation is to put together a talented team that wins day in and day out, even if the names aren’t sexy.  It takes a team to win a championship.  Fans will come and spend money on a winner.

The next few months will be interesting to see play out. Will the Cavs build a winner? Will LeBron live up to the new-found hype? And what will his Cleveland homecoming be like?

While those are all instant-gratifications, I want to see the long-term picture. Will LeBron take the title from Art Modell as the most hated man in Cleveland or if Dan Gilbert’s guarantees come true? What do you think?

Now my whole fascination with this began after an innocent post last weekend about a license plate that I thought was perfect for a PR pro. However, I soon found out that many in the industry hated the word spin more than Republicans hate Democrats (and vice versus).

Now I don’t hold ill-will towards any of these folks even though there were some heated exchanges over Twitter. While I respect everyone’s opinions, I need to chime in and see if the industry as a whole has a grasp on what spin means. I think it may have gotten lost in translation somewhere.

Sure journalists, bloggers and the industry have banded together to try and eradicate some of our bad habits (blind pitching, spamming, etc.), but I would argue spin is something we all do. Show me a story, pitch or post that does not have a slant to it and I will gladly shower you with yawns or show you my unicorn. We all do it, let’s just get over ourselves, we aren’t that important.

According to Dictionary.com, Spin means (Slang) ”to cause to have a particular bias; influence in a certain direction: His assignment was to spin the reporters after the president’s speech.” Also some synonyms according to the same source are: develop, narrate, relate.

Now that definition validates my view of the word. As a PR pro, it is my job to get my company into publications with positive stories. Now this means that the story needs to appeal to a reporter or lead to a larger trend piece. Please notice that I did not say lie or fabricate facts in there. That is something that I do not agree with and feel that my colleagues mistakenly associate spinning with lying. Now I think a great description was given by my friend PRCog a while back. Spinning is something that we all do as our daily job functions; it is something that drives value. Now you can call it whatever you want fluffing, massaging, smithing or chatting with a reporter – to help you sleep at night.

One of my heroes in the PR field is Thomas Paine. Now I never met the wordsmith, he was dead long before my time; however his spin piece, Common Sense, helped spark the revolution that formed the United States.

With that said, how do you feel about spin? Is it something you do? Or is it something that you feel is an unnecessary evil? Do you disagree with my definition?

All opinions welcome, just be respectful of others.

When I ran down to grab something from my car this morning, I saw this beauty on a hotel guest’s car.

Tell me has there ever been a plate better suited for a flack? I really hope this guy is in the field and not a Maytag man.

So having a strong team structure is truly key for success. When looking for the perfect team to emulate, I channeled my inner Mike Schaffer and looked at the perfect team from 1980’s television – the A-Team. The foursome embodies everything that a team should be, even if you aren’t breaking out of a maximum security prison and living in the Los Angeles underground.

Hannibal Smith – Every team needs a bona fide leader that puts each team member in a position to succeed. This person is in charge of the overall execution of the plan and keeping the ship running smooth. Not sure if catch phrases or smoking cigars will go over well in a confined office, this team member definitely loves it when a plan comes together.

Templeton “Faceman” Peck – In the A-Team, Face was the master of soothsaying and always infiltrated the bad guy’s operations. In the case of a PR team, this person has a way of making thing happen. This can be anything from getting a foot in the door at a top-tiered publication or working a past connection to land the big placement. This person is also skilled at writing pitches and knows what reporters are looking for and may have some journalistic positions on their resume.

B.A. Baracus – Mr. T’s flight-fearing tough guy was a jack of all trades. In a team setting this person knows how to put their heads down and get things done, no matter how dirty they have to get. With social media becoming such a vital part of communications now, this person will more than likely be the team’s champion in the space as well.

Howling Mad Murdoch –Well Murdoch was the mad hatter of the team. Now while I am not going to say that your team should employ someone who is routinely in a military medical institution, you still need someone that is different. This person has the big ideas and thinks outside the proverbial box. Sometimes these oft-dubbed “crazy ideas” can pay off and land your team some great returns.

Together the group is a finely tuned machine. Everyone has their role, which one do you play?

Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of spending some time with Keith Trivitt, a founding member of the PR Breakfast Club and SVP at Sternberg Strategic Communications. Over lunch at Doyle’s in Jamaica Plain, Keith offered some insight into his new role with Sternberg and what he sees next for PR and social media. He also dives into more of his post from the other day on this topic.

In a nutshell – PR and advertising need to partner to create malleable content for users to keep up the integrity of the networks that are opening up ads.

Tweets emerge as a serious business tool – This article is a wrap-up on some of the companies in the Boston area using social media. I am quoted in the article and I wanted to plug it.

Stop the SPAM – This quick video from Gary Vaynerchuck is really something that I always wonder about while engaging in social media. Why do some companies think that it is kosher to just hit up peoples’ walls and accounts with useless junk?

The “problem” with authenticity: you’re still being watched – This article puts into words what I discussed with my boss a few weeks ago. No matter how much we want to say what we feel on social sites, the fact of the matter is that if you are engaging on behalf of a company, there is a good chance that no matter how unrelated a tweet or blog post is, it can be tied back to your company. So some self-editing is needed at times.

McDonald’s Names First Social-Media Chief – It is always good to see news like this. A large corporation acknowledging the need for a SM person not just someone who does it as an add-on to their daily job functions. So congratulations Rick Wion.

How to Write Under Pressure – We all face writer’s block every now and then. The question is how do we deal with it when it comes at a bad time when we need a release 20 minutes ago? Some great tips to peep out in case you missed it.

Bonus – Charities in general are near and dear to my heart, so it makes the new #America Wants campaign from the guys over at USA Today truly awesome. I love the fact that they are crowdsourcing an ad for a good cause. Have you stepped up to nominate someone?

What Should Be Increasing in 2010: Branding

As a recent Financial Times article noted, companies are looking to spend more money in terms of marketing over the next calendar year. While we would love to say that a large piece of the pie would be allocated towards branding and public relations, we are realists and know that the money—for the most part—will go towards ever more advertising efforts.

And that is a damn shame. While advertising may be the flashy cog that looks good in media forms, what does it all mean? Your company is much more than a singing fish, talking baby or another gimmick. Sure you can name what companies are associated with the previously mentioned gimmicks. The question is, do you know what these brands really stand for? Click here for more.

Mentoring 2.0

A couple weeks ago, Aurora wrote a follow up piece on the guest post she did for my blog that really resonated with me. Actually what really resonated was a single word in the comments field – mentor.

Now in the past, business folks really relied on their regional networks and a mentor was someone that they either worked with or connected with through a career services department from college or through a mutual friend. While these mentors shaped the career of many a pro, their reach and expertise (on some things) was limited. Click here for more.

Image - Lorianne DiSabato (Flickr)

Well the good thing is that the glowing orb in the sky – its called the sun if you forgot – will be coming out to play. Thankfully the arcs can get put in storage and hopefully so can the winter jackets. A guy can hope can’t he? Also kind of jacked that my day will end at 3:30 for a team-building bowling event, great lead in for a holiday weekend where I foresee a long drive to New Jersey to see the family, some great Tiger watching and after the equally long drive home watching the Sox take on the Yankees on opening day. So without further drivel, here are my five favorite articles from the week.

How Social Media Fools People – This post from ZAC is pretty on-point. How many times have you asked yourself out loud what am I doing? Or had to check your ego because you were focusing too much on social media? I love how he ties everything back at the end with SM being a support tool rather than something that should be priority number one.

How I Scored 20,000 Twitter Followers – Now don’t read this title as one of those scammy get rich quick blog posts. This is from my buddy Arik Hanson who goes over what Twitter is to him in this guest post. If you haven’t checked him out you should. The key take away from this post should be that it is better to give first.

Business Schools Respond to Demand for Use of Social Media – This is a really interesting article from the NYT. I like that colleges are starting to teach SM in their curriculum. My one question becomes who is teaching the classes? Is it guys like Brogan or is it stodgy intellectuals that will put their spin on it? Engagement or sales?

Cause Group Asks Ronald McDonald to Retire – While I agree that Ronald is out-dated and out-of-touch does this outreach spell the end of folks direct-marketing to kids? I also wonder who would win in a game of shuffleboard Joe Camel or Ronald?

Get Your Social Media Story Straight – This post is a perfect example of why companies should think before jumping into a space. Creating an empathy-driven ad is great for having fans want to come and see your sorry franchise, however when it doesn’t carry over it is just a big fail. A sports franchise should also dominate their trademark on social networking sites instead of sticking with the status no and just directing folks to inconsistently branded pages.

Good Friday Bonus – since today is Good Friday, it also a happy day as McDonalds will put their Filet o Fish commercials back on the shelf…oh happy day.

The Importance of Content in Social Media – This is a video post from my friend Bob Cargill. He stresses the importance of creating content and SM not being something that you can just set and forget. Definitely worth peeping out the work from Bob and his son.

IKEA wants you to miss the first train – IKEA may have out done themselves with this campaign. Not only is the ad timely and comfortable, but it is the perfect way to showcase their products. Many of the people living in a city are renting and what better way to get cheap furniture than by sitting on it? My only question to this is how often do they clean the upholstery?

Who Should “Control” Social Media Within a Company? – Anyone who knows me in any shape or form knows that this topic is one that I am passionate about. So needless to say check it out for all three sides of the equation as well as some interesting commentary. I didn’t comment because I don’t feel comments deem a 24-hour waiting period. I am not buying a gun.

Facebook blames for rise of syphilis in UK – The sky is falling, the sky is falling and its all the internet’s fault. Seriously it is headlines like these that just crack me up. Could the rise in STDs just be more people having unprotected sex? Wait that would be too easy, let’s just make an excuse so we feel better about ourselves. News at 11 – Twitter causes herpes and Myspace responsible for gonorrhea rise.

How to add analytics to your Facebook page – This is an interesting piece that I saw in my feeds on Wednesday on improving Facebook’s notoriously slow and restricting analytics. While I am in the process of working with my company’s SEO dudes to get this figured out, it looks pretty cool and is a major improvement over the 48-hour lull with FB’s info.

Bonus – Candidates’ kids help out on Twitter.

You can also follow all of them here.