Perception Drivers Blog

There is an axiom in the public-relations profession that products and issues—political and nonprofit causes or social-impact initiatives, specifically—do not truly “arrive” until they have a celebrity name attached to them.

Everyone knew the news was coming—albeit not precisely when. Yet, the “digital wildfire” that accompanied Caitlyn Jenner’s public debut on June 1 via tweet of her upcoming Vanity Fair cover story and pictorial took even the most Internet savvy by surprise.

One of our staff members is a docent at the Skirball Museum and Cultural Center in Los Angeles, which hosted the exhibition “Houdini: Art and Magic” As a result of her participation, we learned that Harry Houdini was an early, and very effective, practitioner of marketing.  He was so successful, in fact, that he remains an American icon – as famed as Babe Ruth or Charles Lindbergh-- 85 years after his death on Halloween, 1926. 

Today’s trend toward political correctness can be a bonanza for public relations experts when corporations or their spokespersons take actions that blossom into PR disasters. Witness the dust-up over the president of Chick-fil-A’s anti-gay marriage statements. A trip back in time to the accompanying ads of the 1950s and 60s provides a reality check on how much times have changed, certainly for the better with respect to religious, racial, gender and sexual-preference inclusion (a certain chicken sandwich purveyor's remarks notwithstanding).

Never underestimate the ability of a powerful message to influence public opinion and to achieve specific goals. Time Magazine piece on Downtown L.A.’s renaissance illustrates the benefits of staying “on message”—in this case for more than a decade.  

The article discusses Downtown’s progress in becoming an entertainment, sports, dining and housing hub, in addition to its traditional role as a financial center. Cut to the year 1999, when the Los Angeles Downtown Center Business Improvement District (BID) retained FolFry to implement destination and economic-development marketing for the 65-square-block central city.

Seemingly forgotten are the days when the words “Cola Wars” implied Coca-Cola and Pepsi taste tests and new-fangled formulations. (Who can forget the New Coke marketing “train wreck?”) These days, however, the hunters—mostly for each other’s market share to quench consumers’ collective thirst—have become the hunted. 

Oops! Anyone watching the live TV coverage of the Supreme Court ruling on the new healthcare law can understand the pressure on the media to quickly understand the ruling and report it correctly.

No matter how many reporters with law degrees are covering the case, or how prepared they are, it’s a race to broadcast the results first. Apparently, a couple of cable networks— Fox News and CNN—got it wrong, and even the Obama administration initially thought the law had been struck down.

We’re always on the watch for excellent communications programs. One of the best we've seen in a long time is the cause marketing and issue-education campaign in support of Autism Awareness Month (AAM), which kicked off with a commemorative day on April 2 and built momentum through the month. 

If you want to see what your house may look like in tomorrow’s energy-efficient world, head downtown to a parking lot in Los Angeles’s Arts District. 

That is where a team of students from the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) is designing and constructing its entry in the 2011 Solar Decathlon sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).