The Intersection of Online and Offline

As reported in PR Week, the insurance (and shrinking) giant, AIG, has recently employed the services of one of the largest public relations agencies in the country.

According to the article, an AIG spokesperson,Peter Tulupman, responded:

“We have hired Burson-Marsteller to help us respond to the huge volume of requests for information we are receiving from customers, employees, and the media,” Tulupman said in an e-mail to PRWeek. “We have more than offset the cost by canceling advertising and sponsorships.”

I get the second part of the quote, that being in reference to the recent “scandal” that erupted a couple of weeks ago in which members on congress (small caps on purpose) responded with “outrage” that B/M had the stones to move forward with “…$440,000 on a posh California retreat for its executives, complete with spa treatments, banquets and golf outings.”

That’s sensationalistic crap.  If you dig below the surface, which few outlets have done during this nation’s financial crisis, you will discover that this was not just for executives, but was a pre-planned event that the top performers earned before the crisis. For any of you who know folks or have been in sales, you know that often, companies dangle a trip to Hawaii or something of the like as an incentive for performance.

My controversial ten cents?  The AIG top-performers should be left alone because they had already earned the reward.  Keep top performers motivated when company morale is likely at an all-time low is more important than ever.  What AIG could have done differently is gotten ahead of the story;  one would think that someone in public relations would have thought to get in front of this. Maybe they did, but got quashed.  Who knows.  But back to my main point.

AIG announcing that they have hired Burson Marsteller to handle “huge volume of requests for information we are receiving from customers, employees, and the media” is like saying that you have hired ten rabid German Shepherds to guard a lollipop that fell on the floor.  I competed against B/M for a long time, and I can tell you that their rep is for gloves-off, hand-to-hand combat for clients.  There will be the inevitable information that B/M is the agency of record for Philip Morris, USA, but that is irrelevant.  The point is that if you want someone to deal with the “huge volume of requests for information we are receiving from customers, employees, and the media,” hire a firm in India to answer the phones.

AIG suggesting that Burson is going to help them answer inquiries is disingenuous.  Hiring B/M to help them stem the flow of both negative publicity the the outflow of capital would be a more honest answer. I wonder who is calling the communications shots within the company.

Whoever it is should be smarter.

Mark

I am really going to make this post short, because most of it is contained in an article that I wrote today for Media Bullseye.

For those of you who have followed my trek through self-absorption (the Internet revolves around ME), to realization to a public apology, you may enjoy the article.

It also includes four tips (self-taught), focused on thinking carefully about the consequences of putting something in cyberspace before one hits the “publish” button.

Mark

I try to keep this blog and my “day job” separate, but my pal David Wescott of “It’s Not a Lecture” had some very kind words for me in a post yesterday that merit a big “thanks”:

Kudos to my old pal for being named Director of New Media for the Securities Exchange Commission. We don’t work together anymore but I’ve enjoyed keeping up with him on Twitter and his blog. I don’t typically say nice things about Republicans, but here goes:

Under Chairman Cox’s leadership, Mark Story has helped usher in a new chapter of communication and accountability to a government agency that is widely perceived to be as “old school” as it gets. Mark is creative and dynamic and I think he’s going to help companies make their financial information more clear and accessible.”

These words of praise are truly meaningful because, trust me:  David gets it.  He is one of the leading political, mommy blogger and social media experts out there.  And he learned it the same way I did:  by trying stuff and figuring it out.

Thanks, pal.  And go Sox!

Mark

Hi everyone,

Below are the slides that will guide our lecture for Week #6.

Mark

I have gained semi-notoriety this week because of my online-based apology tour, having said stupid things, apologized and my idiocy was well-documented and forgiven on CareerDiva.net, the New York Times, and I even did an interview yesterday with the Washington Business Journal (no link yet because it will be a couple of weeks, but you can count on my self-promotional side to pimp that too).

I have a semi-foul mouth, which has been curbed only through my parenthood, but for those of you who have read this blog, you’ll note that when I become particularly exasperated by something that I think is inane, my usual response is:

“Jesus.”

Well, now I have either an outlet for that, or an e-portal which may just ensure my eternal damnation.  Tech Crunch reported recently on the launch of Gospelr,

…a microblogging platform for people who want to share thoughts, ideas, words of encouragement, prayer requests, daily scripture readings, and oh so much more.”

I am honestly not here to praise or condemn this, but one of the questions that I get asked frequently and was asked yesterday during the interview was “What is the next BIG THING?”  Some people B.S. (there’s that foul mouth again), their way through this, but my answer was simple:  Anyone who tells you what the NEXT BIG THING is is lying.

An example of this is the fact that Gospelr is based upon the Twitter platform and represents a segmentation of the Twitter audience.  A year ago, who predicted that Twitter would launch, crash (literally), an then crawl back into our waiting arms?  And what about that stupid whale?

I think that Gospelr represents the fact that microblogging has now become so intertwined with our lives, we’ll begin to see more and more platforms that are targeted towards a particular segment of the of the  population who share common interests.  Now THAT’S interesting.

I’ll avoid all other commentary as to minimize the flaming comments that are undoubtedly headed my way.

Mark