This first blogpost is inspired by one PR move by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
The context: Today is Friday, July 15th, 2016. The Republican convention is a week away. Both Republican and Democratic candidates, the frontrunners already identified as positioned to gain the nomination of their respective party, have been reluctant to public announce their VP candidate. And yes, both have known for some time that they are "in" - ample to time to select someone. There has just been a tragic terrorist act in Nice, France; at least 84 are dead, with two Americans from Austin, TX - a father and his 11-year-old son. This is coming one week after another Texas crisis management scenario - Five white Dallas police officers gunned down by an African-American male armed with an assault rifle, at a racial protest inspired in part by the killing of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, two African-Americans shot by white police officers in Baton Rouge and Minneapolis respectively.
I have already covered details of the racial protests in different blogposts that cover the Supreme Court and controversial legal issues.
The PR problem: there is a PR challenge here - we have to consider what has happened on Bastille Day the day before, along with the many victims - two of whom identified as Americans. Donald Trump had announced he was going to reveal his VP running-mate choice on Thursday in a press conference. What should he do?
How it was handled: Trump announced Thursday he would delay the press conference announcement of his choice one day. Then on Friday, he announces he would delay the press conference to Saturday. He proceeded to reveal Mike Pence as his running mate in a Twitter post Friday morning, and the media announce his selection/intention publicly.
Analysis of the Situation: Was this the right PR way to handle this situation? My assertion is NO, that he/his PR people proverbially "dropped the ball", failing to take full advantage of the "media hoopla" - free publicity and dedicated media coverage - of his announcement. Since already public, he let the proverbial "cat out of the bag" - it is no longer a "hot news" story that would demand more media attention. Not only that - he has allowed the Democrats a day to critically attack his choice online for a day, before he officially announces it tomorrow.
Why did the candidate take so long in the first place? You need to look back to Sarah Palin and the lack of "vetting" for that candidate in 2008 - a critical mistake on the part of John McCain - another PR blunder of arguably catastrophic proportion.
So what was the big deal of using Twitter? Twitter definitely has its place for the revelation of news information. But there are certain activities that PR practitioners host, called pseudo-events. It is design to attract attention - to get free publicity for a newsworthy event. Classic examples of PR pseudo-events include the ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new hospital, or even the hosting of a grand opening day (with signs) for a new restaurant. Since these activities provide news that might be valuable to readers/viewers alike, the media tend to cover them, devoting media time considered "free publicity". The more coverage, the better it is for the PR client.
This is not going to happen the way it could have, with Trump's press conference on Saturday.
As an aside to this when I teach students growing up as technologically dependent generation - I always stress to them that is inappropriate to end a relationship with a text message. Such a message has emotional overtones, and it should be done in an as-personal way (preferably in-person) as possible. The medium or channel often defines the message - choose your format wisely. As an afterthought if you haven't seen the movie Game Change, you should. PR educational value, at the very least.
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