TOUCHDOWN: G-G’S GOT HEART

Veritas Team Huddle Compiled By Whitney Shanfield
The relevance of the role of the Governor-General has long been debated by Canadians. But in this week’s controversial Huddle we are looking beyond Michaelle Jean’s job description and focusing on the communications behind her decision to take part in an Inuit seal-eating ceremony, an act with a message that wasn’t spoken, but heard loud and clear. On the first day of a week-long visit to the Arctic, Jean tasted a piece of seal heart in a traditional gesture of solidarity with the community. Now, amidst predictable criticism from animal activists and accusations of having “blood lust,” Jean has maintained her support for a unique Canadian community and their way of life, to the point of subsequently announcing her intention to take part in a traditional seal hunt. In an interview with the Canadian Press, Jean stood by her actions, making clear that she was fully aware of the context at play, and she reinforced her support for the Inuit tradition with strong, savvy sound bites that took up the better part of the article. During a time when a serious battle is being waged over the slaughter of seals for retail purposes, the Veritas team says a Touchdown goes to the Governor-General for standing true to her message and breaking through with gutsy yet sincere words and actions. As a National Post editor put it, “this is the kind of rare act of a public figure that goes down in history as an example of being able to reach out and touch the pulse of the nation … Ms. Jean showed solidarity with her people, cementing the foundation that she has Canada’s best interests ‘at heart’.”

TOUCHDOWN: FRENCH OFFER FISSION FRIENDSHIP

Last week Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL) earned a First Down in this space. This week another nuclear energy organization earns a Touchdown. The global shortage of medical isotopes will be adversely affected by the shut down of the National Research Universal reactor in Chalk River. Not surprisingly there has been considerable finger-pointing and confusion as to what to do with the aging facility. However, very little has been said about what is actually going to be done about securing alternate supplies of medical isotopes. In a move that demonstrated clever communications, France’s Areva Group submitted an offer of assistance to the Canadian government. Areva is, as it turns out, a competitor of AECL and is, in fact, bidding against AECL and U.S. based Westinghouse to build two nuclear reactors in Ontario. But the offer from Areva didn’t have to do with that. Their offer was simply to assist the federal government in finding alternate sources of medical isotopes from other European facilities. What bolstered the offer was that when asked about the bidding competition Armand Laferrere, president of Areva Canada, simply said “I’d like not to link the two stories. This one, it’s not about competition, it’s about doing whatever everyone can to mitigate a health crisis.” As we so often remind clients in Media Coaching, don’t comment on topics that will take you away from your primary communications focus. We refer to that as sticking to you ‘islands of safety’ and keeping out of the swamp. By sticking to their message Areva presented itself as a concerned party that is looking for solutions. It wouldn’t be surprising, of course, if that was remembered and even considered when the bids for the new reactors are being judged. Good communications can have lasting effects.

TOUCHDOWN: SUGAR SUGAR

When is the last time you gave a passing thought to Archie Comics? If you’re like most folks the answer would likely be ‘a long time ago.’ While the comic has had an incredible longevity—more than 65 years—things haven’t really changed much in Riverdale over the years. But what just happened? Everywhere you turned this past week the media was covering Archie Andrews’ proposal to – GASP! - Veronica Lodge … and Betty Cooper’s heartbreak! The publisher, Archie Comics, revealed that Archie will propose in issue #600. The news has created more than a stir amongst fans and casual observers alike. Just like that fans have been drawn back in to the world of Archie and quite likely a bevy of new fans have had their interest piqued. What makes this a nice piece of marketing communications is that only enough information has been released. All we know is that Archie proposes to Veronica in the first installment of a six-part series that hits newsstands in September. The early announcement allows considerable discussion to create hype and interest — numerous ‘Betty or Veronica’ polls have already sprung up online. Knowing that there are several parts to this story will drive speculation and discussion about the details of the story. There certainly will be plenty of traffic at Betty’s blog on the comics Web site. This will give the publisher all kinds of information and insight into readers’ thoughts and preferences. It also provides time to monitor fan sentiment — engaging fans directly in the case of the blog — in order to make any last minute alterations to the story line if need be. Jeepers, that’s a Touchdown!

TOUCHDOWN: DRESS MESS WORTH ITS WEIGHT IN PUBLICITY GOLD

I think Shakespeare said it originally: some aspire to Touchdowns, some achieve Touchdowns, while others have Touchdowns thrust upon them. This is definitely a case of the latter – it wasn’t planned this way, but it sure turned out well in the end. The story is that of a little red cocktail dress, bought last month from a Parkdale boutique called “Champagne and Cupcakes” owened by designed Caroline Lim. The dress was purchased by a socialite named Deena Panatalone, who wore it to last week’s “Butterfly Ball” where she and the dress turned heads and caught the attention of Toronto Life magazine’s Courtney Shea, who pronounced Panatalone the best-dressed woman at the ball. But when asked who designed it, for some reason, Pantalone said “Well, me, sort of. It’s a really old vintage dress I’ve had lying around the house for years.” Lim was outraged by being denied the credit, and the controversy promptly took off online in Toronto Life’s blog comments section. It ultimately ended up on the front page of today’s Toronto Star, which tells the story of how Pantalone and her mother actually ended up driving to Lim’s shop to tearfully apologize for the fib. Reportedly, Pantalone felt the need to “elevate the story” when caught off-guard by the Toronto Life enquiry, and it escalated from there. But despite this unplanned chain of events and the initial injustice done to Lim, as a result of all the blogosphere and media attention, apparently her phone is now ringing off the hook. Gotta love a happy ending …

FUMBLE: "WAR ON THE CAR” GETS EXTRA MILEAGE FROM THE ACCUSED

You gotta love a colourful phrase like “war on the car.” It has quite a ring to it and, like most such lines, it’s starting to stick. Opponents of Toronto city councilors and of Mayor David Miller, who have supported a number of initiatives aimed at restricting traffic flow in the city, have been using the phrase at every opportunity to characterize Miller and company’s pro-cycling and pro-pedestrian agenda as pointedly anti-car. Miller, and his allies on council Kyle Rae and Adrian Heaps, set out to refute that notion, but fell victim to one of TD&F’s most written about pitfalls when, in one single National Post article, all three of them were quoted using the phrase “war on the car.” In doing so, they gave their critics exactly what they wanted – yet more repetitions of those words in media coverage, directly connected to Miller, Rae and Heaps. “I’m not involved in a ‘war on the car,’” Rae said. Once again, the lesson here is to leave the negatively-charged language alone as you refute it – otherwise, you’re just keeping it alive and further entrenching its connection to you and your brand. Fumble!

TOUCHDOWN: BROADCAST STANDARDS COUNCIL SIDES WITH DION

This is a tough call, but I have to give it to the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council for siding with former federal Liberal leader Stephane Dion, for the infamous CTV interview during last fall’s election campaign in which several false starts and re-asks were deliberately sent to air. As a general rule, we often tell people in our Veritas Media Coaching sessions that, if you don’t understand a question or find yourself a little tongue-tied in an answer, it’s fair game to ask for the question again or to re-start your answer IF the piece is being taped for later broadcast. That’s not to say you can get a “do-over” and fundamentally CHANGE your answer, but rather, if you feel you’re phrasing it awkwardly or could make the same point more clearly, it’s OK to ask the interviewer “can I give you that again?” They might say no, and that’s the reporter’s prerogative. But in most circumstances, they should be fine with letting you offer them a cleaner clip. Now, the rules change when it comes to highly confrontational investigative interview situations, i.e. W-FIVE or The Fifth Estate. And the same holds true, quite often, in political interviews. The stakes are higher, and smoothness of one’s performance is, in fact, a modern-day point of judgment for voters, and media need to make editorial – and editing – decisions accordingly. But all of that said, the interview by Halifax CTV news anchor Steve Murphy and Stephane Dion was a dog’s breakfast. Murphy’s opening question was less than clear, and when Dion broke off an initial response and asked – more than once – for clarification, Murphy’s re-phrased questions were inconsistent and equally muddy. So I think the CBSC is right for calling CTV out on this one. Had the question been clear and consistent and Dion still didn’t get it, then fair game – but that’s not the way most analysts saw it, and worse, when Dion asked for a re-start and agreement was given that the false takes would no be aired, they still ended up hitting the transmitter.

FUMBLE: SPITFIRE SALE CRASHES AND BURNS

Veritas Team Huddle Compiled By Jack Wojcicki
Here’s the story: a group of volunteers at the air force museum in Comox, B.C. have spent thousands of hours and thousands of dollars (a lot of it their own money, the rest coming from grants and donations from government, groups and individuals) on trying to restore a vintage World War II Spitfire fighter to flying shape. But the air force, which owns the plane, decided to up and sell it to a private organization called Vintage Wings of Canada (which has restored numerous old planes to air-worthiness), for the token price of a dollar. The volunteers are, predictably, outraged. The military said in an e-mail that “after eight years of work … the project to restore and maintain the aircraft in the long term was not feasible,” and noted that they sold the aircraft “in order to see the project actually come to fruition.” The Vintage Wings folks are defensive: “There have been a few people who have been relentless their negative spin on this,” said vice-president Tim Leslie. The volunteers say they were blindsided: “We would like to know just what went on,” said Tom Quibell, a 79 year-old aircraft engineer who has been working on the Spitfire for the past seven years. “Every time we asked, we were told it had nothing to do with us. It was like the work we did means nothing.” The Veritas team feels his pain, and agrees that this was a major fumble by both the military and by Vintage Wings, for not managing communications with the volunteers from the get-go. Both should have made careful and concerted efforts to ensure that the key stakeholder group was well-informed as to what was happening and why – and, they should also have made the effort in their public communication to pay tribute to the dedicated folks who had put so much time and effort into their labour of love. Ultimately, they all share the same goal of getting the bird back in the air again – too bad their communications weren’t as air-worthy as well.

FUMBLE: MORE THAN JUST MISSING A LINK

Science has long suffered from ‘communications anxiety.’ I know … I used to be a scientist. When opportunities come along for science to jump in front of the media and get some attention, it’s usually a good thing. The most common problem is over-use of jargon. Big announcements tend to gain momentum via the scientific literature as theories are tested and discussed by peers to corroborate findings. Once everyone (or most everyone) is on board, then the story is ‘de-jargonized’ for public consumption. If it’s really a thought-altering story, then there’s so much you could do to raise awareness. You could get Atlantic Productions to create film for a TV show and a High Definition movie; enlist celebrated science narrator David Attenborough to speak on implied significance; use a verbally charged phrase like Missing Link when talking about a fossil to really catch attention; host an event at the American Museum of Natural History; have New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg do the unveiling; create a full-fledged media circus. Fabulous things in their own right and coup for a science story to pull off, and that’s just what the The University of Oslo and The Senckenberg Institute did. “We found Missing Link” headlines screamed. Photos of ‘Ida,’ a 47 million year-old primate fossil hit the press and flew across the Internet. Except … remember that part about peer review, testing theories and such? Science can be as competitive as business and the race to be the first to announce something — and the requisite secrecy — is very compelling. But that doesn’t mean you can ‘market your product’ without being sure it is tested. Turns out that Ida isn’t that special, and had those making the announcement checked with their peers they would have known that. “Frankly I’ve got 10 more in my basement,” said Chris Beard, a curator at the Carnegie Museum or Natural History. Headlines quickly became “Fossil hype went too far.” A harsh reminder that even the greatest communications efforts can come undone if a key linchpin isn’t secured early on in the process. Or as I like to put it … ‘If it’s not fully baked, it’ll come out runny.’

FIRST DOWN: LEARNING FROM PAST MISTAKES

When the National Research Universal reactor in Chalk River was shut down in late 2007 there was a significant impact to medical procedures internationally. The reactor provides about half the global supply of isotopes used in medical imaging. The shutdown lead to a barrage of finger-pointing involving its operator Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL) and a variety of government officials. Through all of that, little attention was paid to some of the more immediate concerns — safety, repairs, impact on the people needing the isotopes, next steps and what solutions would be put in place. So when a leak was discovered at the reactor recently, AECL was quick to issue statements about worker safety and the impact on patients (in Canada and globally). Further, AECL along with Industry Minister Tony Clement quickly outlined a contingency plan specific to the use and acquisition of medical isotopes. A lesson learned ensured that at least some of the critical questions were addressed early on, a key factor in crisis communications. Another key part of it is about making good on promises to fix things, and to let people know when any milestones are reached. Now with comments surfacing that the reactor may have to be shut down for good, I say AECL fell short by not presenting any indication that longer term solutions — both pertaining to the reactor itself and longer-term plans for isotope supplies — were being investigated.

TOUCHDOWN: “TEEN BIRTH” VIDEO PACKS POWERFUL MESSAGE

We often write about the power of an innovative, provocative way of delivering your message. Every communicator dreams of coming up with an online video that goes truly viral, racking up huge numbers of views and creating massive buzz – all in the name of reaching your audience in a powerful, impactful way that breaks through all the other noise out there. Case in point: an amazing clip posted by the Leicester Teenage Pregnancy and Parenthood Partnership at www.hey-babe.co.uk. Only about 30 seconds long and shot in herky-jerky POV cell-phone style, it opens with a herd of boys running across a schoolyard sports field toward a circle of teens gathered around some kind of commotion. At first it sounds like there’s a fight going on, but we quickly find a screaming teen girl, surrounded by her peers, in the throes of giving birth. The screen goes black and transitions to two brief lines of copy: “Not what you expected? Being a teenage parent might not be either.” Leicester, 160 kilometres north of London, has a teen pregnancy rate eight times higher than the UK’s national average. It’s gritty, edgy, shocking and brilliant – and it has clocked more than a quarter of a million views so far. That, friends, is a Touchdown.

TOUCHDOWN: PLASTICS INDUSTRY BAGS A WINNER

“Plastics” – the “one word” of advice a young Dustin Hoffman was offered in The Graduate. And plastics – and plastic bags in particular – are the focus of this particular Touchdown, awarded to the Canadian Plastics Industry Association. The plastic grocery bag is the latest target of environmental organizations, and various jurisdictions and retailers have been getting lots of media coverage for announcing measures to curtail their use (through new per-bag charges or banning them altogether). So what’s the industry to do, when one of its major products is being demonized as a major problem for the environment? The answer, it seems, is to identify a new problem – specifically, one linked to the purported environmental solution to plastic bags, namely re-useable cloth bags. The Canadian Plastics Industry Association had two different labs run tests on a couple of dozen cloth grocery bags, and what they found was a frightening mix of nasty stuff including mould, yeast and “intestinal fecal bacteria.” The industry’s message was that plastic bags are much more sanitary than cloth. Critics were quick to label the communications initiative as a “desperate attempt to scare people from reusable bags,” but whatever: the industry succeeded in getting its message heard with a clever strategy anchored in scientific evidence in the form of the independent lab tests.

TOUCHDOWNS: OBAMA AND CHENEY DUKE IT OUT

Gotta love a good political slug-fest – it’s strategic communications in action. Watching Dick Cheney rise from the ashes of the Bush administration to take on the role of practically its sole remaining defender is fascinating, as is watching Barack Obama become more pointed and more partisan as he grapples with the challenges of following through on his campaign commitments. At issue this week is the planned closure of the Guantanamo Bay facility where hundreds of terror suspects are detained. Obama committed to shuttering Gitmo while campaigning for the White House, and he minced no words about it in a high-profile speech yesterday when he tried to downplay fears of bringing suspected terrorists into American prisons. “I am not going to release individuals who endanger the American people,” he said. “Al-qaeda terrorists and their affiliates are at war with the United States, and those that we capture – like other prisoners of war – must be prevented from attacking us again.” He also took shots at the previous administration: “The problem of what to do with Guantanamo detainees was not caused by my decision to close the facility; the problem exists because of the decision to open Guantanamo in the first place,” he said. “We are cleaning up something that is – quite simply – a mess; a misguided experiment that has left in its wake a flood of legal challenges that my administration is forced to deal with on a constant basis, and that consumes the time of government officials whose time should be spent on better protecting our country.” Cheney pulled no punches either, in a counterpoint speech: “Critics of our policies are given to lecturing on the theme of being consistent with American values. But no moral value held dear by the American people obliges public servants ever to sacrifice innocent lives to spare a captured terrorist from unpleasant things. And when an entire population is targeted by a terror network, nothing is more consistent with American values than to stop them … If fine speech-making, appeals to reason, or pleas for compassion had the power to move them, the terrorists would long ago have abandoned the field. And when they see the American government caught up in arguments about interrogations, or whether foreign terrorists have constitutional rights, they don’t stand back in awe of our legal system and wonder whether they had misjudged us all along. Instead the terrorists see just what they were hoping for – our unity gone, our resolve shaken, our leaders distracted. In short, they see weakness and opportunity. What is equally certain is this: The broad-based strategy set in motion by President Bush obviously had nothing to do with causing the events of 9/11. But the serious way we dealt with terrorists from then on, and all the intelligence we gathered in that time, had everything to do with preventing another 9/11 on our watch.” Point and counter-point; punch and counter-punch; Touchdowns to both.

TOUCHDOWN: PERFECT PITCH FOR PIZZA PIZZA

Veritas Team Huddle Compiled By Matthew Naftolin
Good PR comes with following through on a promise. Great PR comes with great communication while delivering on that promise. Pizza Pizza did just that in their latest promotion with the Toronto Blue Jays. In 2006, the company made a deal with Jays’ ticketholders stating that whenever the team’s pitcher threw at least seven strikeouts, the fans could redeem their tickets for a free slice of pizza. During the past three years, most pies remained on the bench, but with the Jays’ great start to this year’s season, it’s looking like a few more slices will be needed on deck. For layering several different aspects of marketing communications into their message, Pizza Pizza earned a Veritas Touchdown. Let’s switch sports and do a base-to-base analysis on Pizza Pizza’s marketing vice-president, Pat Finelli’s statements. At First Base, Pizza Pizza followed through with a promise. In doing so, Pizza Pizza demonstrated that they’re willing to go the extra innings, gaining the respect of their customers. Stealing Second, Finelli reassured shareholders that the cost to the business was less than 1 percent and that this promotion was obtaining recognition for the brand. Around to Third, Finelli positioned Pizza Pizza to completely support the Blue Jays team. “[The freebies] just keeps the team momentum going. We want them to do well.” And sliding into home, Finelli stated that this promotion was all about the ticketholders. “For us it’s good. And in these tough times, it’s like a little Lotto for the fans.” This is a great example of how a short set of statements can send your message across the field to both your shareholders and consumers. It doesn’t get better than that.

TOUCHDOWN: CFL FANS KICK OFF THE SEASON

We’ve seen a common theme in recent editions of TD&F (and even in today’s Huddle item – scroll down the page) where organizations are scoring by paying attention to their customers and/or honouring promises. The Canadian Football League had asked its fans to weigh in on how the Canadian game is played, by offering some rule change suggestions. More than 2000 submissions were received and considered by the CFL’s rules committee. Sure enough, four new rule changes will come into play for the 2009 season and all of them were at least partly—if not wholly—influenced by fan suggestions. The CFL’s rules committee acknowledged that it is important to take into account how the fan sees the game and how it is played. This is a reminder that, as always, it’s never a bad thing to engage customers and focus on their needs or thoughts. By doing so you are allowing them to have a stake in the product. By letting the fans know that they are important to the development of the game, the League was true to its brand and mandate, and it gave some ownership of the game to the fans themselves. As CFL Commissioner Mark Cohon said, “It’s exciting to know that some of our fans will see their ideas in action when our season kicks off on Canada Day, July 1.” Sometimes, with some solid marketing communications, the customer really does come first.

TOUCHDOWN: RCMP APOLOGY

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have had numerous issues to deal with surrounding the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski. We coach our clients that when dealing with crisis issues, two key things need to be addressed: the human element and an indication of progress or improvement. Mr. Dziekanski’s death is still being investigated, but rather than wait until that concludes, the RCMP addressed both of these issues. William Sweeny, the RCMP’s second in command, issued a direct and formal apology for the ‘tragic death’. Though the apology stopped short of offering consolation to the family, the second aspect — lessons learned and moving forward — added to the apology and was really what the RCMP needed to address from a communications standpoint. With concern over whether or not the RCMP was doing anything significant to prevent a similar occurrence Sweeny told a Senate committee that the Mounties need to re-learn how to talk to people. “We are committed to learning as much as possible from this terrible event.” An admission of this sort bares the soul, but just saying you will do something is easy. People want to know what you ARE doing about things. Where Sweeny did well was to provide not only information from the perspective of RCMP officers in general, but also to give recommendations as to what the force needs to do by way of adjusting their course of action is similar cases. He focused on the need to spend more time on training to return to more ‘traditional’ policing methods to handle potentially violent situations. Sweeny’s comments are an indication that the Mounties are indeed looking to make good on the lessons learned. Come what may of the investigation, his comments have set the groundwork for improvement.

TOUCHDOWN: BARENAKED WITH BEN & JERRY

A lighter note upon which to roll into the long weekend: kudos to the now four-man incarnation of Barenaked Ladies, for finding something other than the departure of Stephen Page to put in the public window. The group fronted a CN Tower newser this week, to promote the launch of a new Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavour concocted in their honour – “If I Had A Million Flavours.” The Ladies are the first Canadian musos to join the ranks of “Cherry (Jerry) Garcia” and many other musical luminaries who have been immortalized by the Vermont-based ice cream kings. It’s a fun little story with some CanCon celebrity factor – but more importantly for the band, it’s a new milestone to help them break with the past and move forward, such that they even made a point of noting that they were stealing some time away from work on a new album to be there, in explaining their tardy arrival at the launch event.

TOUCHDOWN: CAESAR HAILED AS CANADA'S NATIONAL COCKTAIL

Full disclosure: this is a Veritas Communications initiative. But we have heaped praise on many efforts by a wide variety of communications players – even some of our competitors! – here in TD&F over the years, and truth be told, we generally shy away from blatantly highlighting our own work in this space. But this one’s a winner, we’re proud of it and, in our humble opinion, it offers some useful lessons. Mott’s Clamato recognized the opportunity in the 40th anniversary of the creation of the Caesar – of which the tomato-clam blend is an essential ingredient – but they needed a strategy and plan to ensure it was fully harnessed. We proposed a campaign to capitalize on the intrinsic Canadian-ness of the Caesar. Seriously, have you ever tried to order one in the States? Things formally kicked off this week with an event at the Westin Calgary hotel, the Caesar’s birthplace, where 40 years ago a skilled bartender named Walter Chell first mixed one up. That kind of Canadian pop-culture milestone should be honoured – and leveraged, for communications purposes - so we mounted a celebration, Calgary Mayor Dave Bronconnier invited, and a plaque marking the spot unveiled amid great pomp, circumstance and cocktails. There’s a full social media campaign running, as well as an online petition all gathering support for an official resolution headed for the House of Commons to have the Caesar officially hailed as Canada’s National Cocktail. Perhaps you saw the feature report on CBC’s The National on Wednesday night, or caught Seamus, Bev & Jeff talking it up on Canada AM? Cheers!

FUMBLE: TAMILS' TACTICS TRUMP MESSAGE

Set aside any feelings you may have about the situation in Sri Lanka or any other specific of the issues BEHIND last Sunday’s protest by Tamil-Canadians which saw the Gardiner Expressway shut down for hours and traffic snarled throughout downtown Toronto. In true TD&F style, let’s look at this purely from a communications standpoint. We often talk about the need to be innovative, edgy and downright bold when it comes to finding ways to get your message on the front burner of this busy, noisy world of information overload in which we live. But there is always a balance to be struck, between getting the attention you seek and going too far. Last Sunday, the Tamils went too far, because they violated a fundamental rule of communications strategy: they let their tactics trump their message. The story was no longer about the human tragedy in Sri Lanka and their call for action from the federal government. Instead, it shifted to one of illegal occupation of a critical transportation link and the ethics of placing children and elderly on the front lines of a confrontation with police – let alone the wisdom of placing them on the asphalt surface of a busy highway. When the tactic overwhelms the message, the opportunity is lost. And the manner in which the Tamil protesters went about it, they ultimately squandered any goodwill which they may have built up through their previous, well-organized tactics like the human chains which encircled the downtown core yet still let the rest of us go about our business.

TOUCHDOWN: SURE SERENA BOASTS, BUT AT LEAST SHE'S CONSISTENT

Veritas Team Huddle Compiled By Ed Lee
Her image and reputation is based on being confident, brash and different from the establishment. She is not your typical “country club, white skirt and pig tails” tennis player. But is she the best? This week, Serena Williams declared herself to be the world’s number one female tennis player. Her current world ranking? A relatively lowly second. It’s always risky to declare yourself as the leader in anything, especially something as carefully measured as professional sports. In doing this, Serena has put a bull’s-eye on her back. Clearly she is confident that she can regain that number one spot, but what if she can’t? The women’s tour is extremely competitive and Serena has been plagued with injuries the last few years. She may be the only woman to have every held all four Grand Slam titles simultaneously. She may have won 20 Grand Slams in her career. She may have won more prize money than any other female athlete but is she number one NOW? The rankings have been constructed to reward exceptional form over two years, so if she isn’t ranked as number one, it’s because she ISN’T number one. Now, from a pure communications standpoint, it’s the view of the Veritas team that boasting large is Serena’s standard M.O., and she has been saying this her whole career. Her personal brand and her confidence is based on the firm belief that she is the best in the world. She is driven and she is capable. While your specific messaging needs to be flexible throughout a campaign, the brand values you are using the messages to communicate should never change. Serena has stayed true to her personal brand throughout her career and for this demonstration, we give her a Touchdown.

FUMBLE: NO SEAL OF APPROVAL

Marketing communications can be thought of as a dance. One has to consider timing, position, partners, other dancers, etc. A motion put forward by Bloc Québécois member Raynald Blais, and unanimously supported in Parliament, to use the Olympic Games as a venue to promote products from the seal hunt—in specific the idea of including some seal skin on the Canadian Olympic uniforms – was a demonstration of how not to dance. Timing. Firstly, the uniforms have not only already been designed, they are already in production, which effectively marooned the idea. And because this was said to be a ‘symbolic suggestion’, it didn’t have to be done on the heels of both the seal hunt and the European Union’s ban of Canadian seal products. Doing so only put the Canadian Parliament on the defensive. Position. The desire was to express support for the sealing industry and to inform people that this industry goes far beyond the graphic images that are seen. However, this got lost because the key external parties were not fully considered. Partners. The Canadian Olympic Committee quickly shot down the proposal saying that the use of seal products on Olympians’ gear would politicize the games. “It’s our intent for our athletes to remain free of the politics that arise in and around the Olympic Games,” said COC president Mike Chambers. A clear demonstration of the importance of having your partners on board before mentioning them… you don’t start dancing with someone without asking them first. While the COC’s statements demonstrated their understanding of the situation, the same can’t be said for comments from some of the MPs. Other Dancers. When dealing with a contentious issue it is always important to use diplomacy and tact. Asked about how Canadian Olympians might feel about being forced to wear animal pelts, Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe pointed to his shoes and responded, “They’re not made out of plastic. They’re not made of straw. They come from an animal.” This wasn’t a well choreographed marketing dance. Rather, it was a fall of Olympian proportions down the stairs.

TOUCHDOWN: BEAM US UP SCOTTIE!

In our Marketing PR practice we work with our clients to find ways to use their customers whenever possible to be a part of the message that we’re trying to forward. We help them to recognize that sometimes it is more significant to use real people and their own stories than created messaging. Engaging consumers and using them as focal points for a message can have tremendous impact on creating legitimacy and ultimately supports transmission of the message via word of mouth. Many months back Paramount Pictures could have simply laughed off a quaint request from the little town of Vulcan, Alberta to play host to the premiere of the new Star Trek movie. Let’s face it, there’s no way that a movie that cost US$150 million was going to launch in a small prairie town that doesn’t have a theatre big enough to accommodate such an event! However, Paramount not only understood the importance of creating good fan relations, they saw an opportunity to let the fans themselves be the spokespeople. So they held a lottery for 300 townspeople to attend an advance screening of the movie. Accompanied by Canadian Bruce Greenwood, one of the films actors, the winners were bussed to nearby Calgary (birthplace of Canada’s national cocktail, the Caesar) as guests of honour. Come they did, and like good Trekkies they showed up in full costume regardless of age. They became the spokespeople, the photo opps and the focus of the event. Coverage of the event showed not the usual stars and Hollywood hoi-polloi, but rather, real people having a good time. And that led to quotes that you just can’t make up: “To see so many Vulcans…just having their chance to be in the spotlight is just so special…”; “A Klingon would never be named Pansy.” Stellar. This kind of interaction with a client base is a tremendous means of building solid relationships—ones that will live long, and prosper.

TOUCHDOWN: THE RIGHT THIRD-PARTY ENDORSER CAN DRIVE A MESSAGE LIKE NOTHING ELSE

"Third-party endorsers” is how we in the communications business describe those credible-yet-not-directly-connected-to-you voices who help to tell your story. Sometimes they are experts in their field, like a medical doctor singing the praises of a new medication or device. Or they can be people with the right degree of gravitas on the issue at hand. Case in point: Don Cherry, Mr. “Rock ‘Em, Sock ‘Em Hockey” himself, lending his support to a new Ontario Minor Hockey Association initiative designed to cut down on illegal hockey hits that can result in serious injury. Not only is Cherry the undisputed hockey guru of this country – so any involvement by him in a hockey-related initiative will help drive the story – but it’s also somewhat counterintuitive (and therefore, even MORE newsworthy) to have a long-time defender of violence in hockey drawing the line at illegal, dangerous conduct. The program – actually funded with personal help from Cherry himself – will see red stop sign stickers put on the backs of helmets of all players in the league. “If you could only read the letters I get from families who had their son paralyzed,” Cherry told the Toronto Sun’s Joe Warmington, “Believe me, you don’t want to read those letters.” The guy who has tirelessly defended fighting and hard physical play in hockey is championing an effort to save players from getting hit from behind or driven into the boards. I know it’s a football motif in this space, but really – he shoots, he scores!

FUMBLES: ROOKIE & VETERAN SLIP ON NEGATIVE POSITIONING

Two very different men, with infinitely different levels of media experience, ended up committing the same communications Fumble this week – and providing the rest of us with a valuable reminder. It usually happens when confronted with a negative notion, often coming in the form of reporters’ questions. The respondent tries so hard to shoot down the negative positioning that they end up helping it reverberate in the process. To wit: two high school students in Keswick get into a fight, and there are allegations that one of them used a racial slur against the other at the outset. The father of the boy is very upset by the suggestion, and tells a Toronto Sun reporter: “He’s not racist at all, and he’s not a bully.” Headline: “Boy ‘not racist bully’: Dad.” Sure, the word “not” is in there, but it can’t help but be swamped by the much more powerful, negatively charged other words uttered in the same breath – “racist” and “bully.” Later on, Dad does well, saying that his son “doesn’t even think in terms of race” and noting that his boy’s best friend is Filipino – but the damage is done. Now, that man is far from an experienced communicator, and made one of the most common mistakes in the business. But also this week, there was Prime Minister Stephen Harper – obviously a veteran in front of the microphones – commenting on increasing tensions between Canada and Russia over expulsion of diplomats. “I don’t want to say this is the Cold War … but it’s certainly not an ideal situation,” Harper told reporters. But ya see, if you don’t want to say it’s the Cold War, you probably shouldn’t include the phrase “this is the Cold War” in your comments. The lesson here is to fight the natural temptation to refute negative positioning by using the same words you’re trying to shoot down. Better to keep your language generic (“on the contrary” or “not at all”) or, better still, describe the matter at hand in the actual – positively-positioned – language that you would like to see reported. In other words, talk about what it is – not what it isn’t.

TOUCHDOWN: BANKS' STRESS TEST EASES TENSION

A double tip of the TD&F cap to the exercise just completed in the U.S. banking sector. The “Stress Test” as it was dubbed, was undertaken by the Obama administration and essentially assessed how big a future hit the top American banks could take and still stay in business. It was a risky move, given that it could have uncovered major problems which, in turn, might have prompted a run by depositors on banks found to be shaky. But purely from a communications standpoint, it has turned out to be a winning move in two key areas. First, it put a clear and responsive process in place in a time of crisis. This is a key fundamental in any ongoing crisis situation: the more you can point to a process designed to get to the bottom of the problem and help chart a way out, the better. It shows action and creates a space to point to in response to the key question of “what are you doing about the situation?” And second, the results seem a little brighter than some had expected, and indicate that to the best estimations, the system can take another sizeable shock without coming unglued altogether. “The results released today should provide considerable comfort to investors and the public,” Federal Reserve Board chairman Ben Bernanke said. That should ease tensions and further help put the shaky American economy back on a more stable footing.

FUMBLE: ALBERTA IS THE PICTURE OF … ENGLAND?!

Veritas Team Huddle Compiled By Beverley Hammond

The Province of Alberta recently launched a $25 million re-brand and promotional campaign featuring the image of children frolicking on the beach accompanied by the tag line “Alberta: Freedom to Create. Spirit to Achieve." The image appears in print advertisements and in a YouTube video. The only problem is that the photo was taken near the English village of Bamburgh in Northumberland and not in Alberta at all. Dumb? Yes. But alas everyone makes mistakes. It is in how you manage those mistakes that your communications savvy is determined. It’s called “issue management” in our world, and this case study was far from textbook. When word of the photo’s origin first leaked, the Premier’s office defended the image suggesting, “there's no attempt to mislead here. The picture used just fit the mood and tone of what we were trying to do." The response from Alberta NDP Leader Brian Mason reflects the general consensus to that response when he called it "the most lame spin ever”. Beyond that, the use of the loaded and negative word “mislead” is also a Fumble. Presumably, in selecting that language, the spokesperson was repeating the language used in the journalist’s question, and in so doing fell into that trap that loyal TD&F readers know to be “parroting the negative”. This situation was only exacerbated when Olga Guthrie, head of the government agency overseeing the campaign, suggested “[the campaign] represents Albertans' concern for the future of the world. There's no attempt to make people think that the place pictured is Alberta." That is just false and offensive. Lying is an obvious fumble and never recommended. Later, the Premier’s office apologized for the “error,” but by then the damage had been done and all credibility lost. In government or the private sector, when an issue arises it is important to select one spokesperson, take responsibility for your mistakes and give honest and believable responses. All of these points were missed. As one of my Veritas colleagues suggested, this one was simply “fumble-icious”.

FUMBLE: PRESIDENTIAL TUNE OUT

A few weeks ago we talked about the potential for communications over-exposure for President Barack Obama with his seemingly daily photo-ops and media events, from his primetime press conferences to his NCAA Sweet Sixteen basketball picks, to the planting of a garden on the White House lawn. Now I supposed we can add several reports about the new family dog and even one story that showed pictures of the Obamas in the White House screening room watching something with 3-D glasses on. The danger, we suggested then, was that without some kind of pause, people could begin to tune the President out, which is dangerous when there is an important message to deliver to America and the world. Well, it happened this week when Fox TV declined to broadcast live the President’s Wednesday primetime news conference to mark his 100th day in office. Read into it what you will about the fact that Fox will broadcast a regularly scheduled program called “Lie To Me” instead of Obama. The fact is that every time the President pre-empts primetime programming it costs the networks about $10 million (U.S.) in lost advertising revenue according to the Associated Press – and in the current U.S. economy the networks are in enough pain as it is. Several of them have complained to the White House about how often Obama seeks to take to the airwaves. As AP reported: “An executive at one of the three other broadcasters, who asked for anonymity because the conversations were private, said that network’s executives had expressed concern to the White House about the frequency of prime-time news conferences and the financial sacrifice they were making in carrying the event.” We all, as communicators, have to balance our need to frequently be in the media with the public’s reasonable patience for hearing about us repeatedly, given the thousands of commercial and news messages the average citizen is hit with daily. To have maximum impact, we need to pick our spots.

FUMBLE: AIR FORCE DUMB

“Air heads in D.C. terrorize city” screamed the New York Post headline. “Scare Force One” said the ABC News headline. As CBS News anchor Katie Couric wrote in her online notebook, “As it turns out, swine flu isn’t the only airborne problem the Obama administration is addressing today.” “Create your own NYC Air Force One flyover photo… we did,” said the New York Daily News headline. As idiotic as some events or decisions are, at TD&F we only pass judgment on the communications play. And U.S. federal aviations officials who notified Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s office and the NYPD – yet swore them to absolutely secrecy – clearly blew this communications play. Thousands of New Yorkers thought it was another 9/11 attack and many fled from their office high rises when the Air Force One jumbo jet banked sharply over Manhattan trailed by a fighter jet that appeared to be pursuing it. All for an Air Force One photo-op with the New York skyline in the background? Forget Photoshop (although New York Daily News readers came up with many great examples of how this could have been done without scaring people), why did the federal aviation officials insist on such secrecy? Air Force One has some of the most sophisticated defense systems of any aircraft in the world, it was tailed by a fighter jet, and the President was not on board. So what was the risk of New Yorkers knowing the plane was doing a fly-by and maybe even getting their own pictures from the ground? Was some communications “expert” trying to save potential embarrassment about the fact that this was a photo-op? If so, it was a communications miscalculation of epic proportions compared to the embarrassment this has now caused the White House and the President, who promptly apologized and pledged it will “never happen again.” Trying to hide something that is in plain sight is never a wise communications strategy. Better to be up front about it, particularly if you insist on buzzing Manhattan skyscrapers with a jumbo jet.

TOUCHDOWN: OBAMA'S FIRST 100 DAYS

Of course, it’s no surprise that I’m giving U.S. President Barack Obama a Touchdown for communications over the first 100 days of his presidency. As I have noted countless times, the guy’s a rock star when it comes to his communications prowess. MSNBC.com has a nice round-up of headlines and lead paragraphs from different major American newspapers’ coverage of his 100 days news conference this week. Not surprisingly, many of them focus on different specific issues, some dealing with the economic crisis, others with Iraq and U.S. torture policy, and others with Obama’s proactive agenda items. At the end of the day, it strikes me that en masse, he has successfully positioned himself as a president who is active on two crucial fronts: dealing with the stuff he has either inherited from his predecessor or been confronted with since taking office, and also making progress on advancing his own agenda. He had a nice moment at his 100 days town hall meeting in Missouri, when he laughed at those who were surprised with all he has been doing, noting that most of it was exactly what he promised in the course of a two-year campaign for the White House. I’m sure we are in store for many hundreds of more days of fine communications examples from this president.

FUMBLE: BIDEN ACCUSED OF “FEAR MONGERING”

South of the border, things didn’t go so well for U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden on the flu file this week. In a live interview on NBC’s Today Show, he was asked what advice he might have, if a member of his family said they planned on traveling to Mexico and back in the next week. Regular readers of TD&F will know our standing policy on entertaining hypotheticals, which can be summed up as follows: “DON’T!” So, how did the veep handle it? “I would tell members of my family, and I have, I wouldn’t go anywhere in confined places now. It’s not that it’s going to Mexico, it’s you’re in a confined aircraft, when one person sneezes, it goes all the way through the aircraft. That’s me. I would not be at this point, if they had another way of transportation, suggesting they ride the subway,” he added. “From my perspective, it relates to is mitigation. If you’re out in the middle of a field and someone sneezes that’s one thing. If you’re in a closed aircraft, a closed container, closed car, a closed classroom, it’s a different thing.” Ouch. Biden was promptly assailed by many, including key players in the U.S. travel industry, for whipping up fears about traveling anywhere by any means. “To suggest that people not fly at this stage of things is a broad brush stroke bordering on fear mongering,” American Airlines spokesman Tim Smith said. “The facts of the situation at this stage anyway certainly don’t support that.” Prompt “clarifications” were issued by his office and gamely attempted by White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, who tried to suggest that “what he meant to say” was that anyone who was feeling sick should take the proper precautions. That wasn’t good enough for ABC’s Jake Tapper, who shot back “With all due respect, and I sympathize with you trying to explain the vice president’s comments, that’s not even remotely close to what he said.” Gibbs tried again, responding “I understand what he said, and I’m telling you what he meant to say,” which prompted guffaws from the press corps. What does this show? First, the danger in entertaining a hypothetical scenario – which prompted Biden to launch into a diatribe of his own construct: not about the potential dangers of traveling to Mexico, but about what he considers the dangers of being out in public anywhere other than a large, open field. Second, it shows the need for multiple spokespeople to be on the same page. President Obama has been urging calm, telling people not to over-react, and to be sure to wash their hands. Biden essentially said the sky is falling, and suddenly the entire administration had to scramble and try to back-pedal on his behalf. And finally, it shows (as Bill Walker noted in a different TD&F item last week) the problem with trying to express a “personal” viewpoint when you speak as one of the official voices of a separate entity. When Biden speaks, he speaks for the Obama administration, regardless of what his personal views on the flu situation might be. Fumble!

TOUCHDOWN: HEALTH AUTHORITIES WON'T GET SARSed AGAIN

Boy, they were ready for this one, weren’t they? I’m talking about the myriad of Canadian health authorities who, by and large, were all quick to the microphones when this whole Swine Flu (er, H1N1) thing started to blow up in Mexico. What we have witnessed since the outbreak was identified is a succession of crisis communications plans coming into effect, driven in no small part to be sure by the less than stellar comms handling of the SARS situation in 2003. This time, led by their respective medical officers, all levels of government have quickly established themselves as fully engaged on the situation, providing media with a steady stream of updates and daily briefings. There are always a few bumps in the road, but overall this is a blanket Touchdown for all of them, and a lesson for every other organization: Crisis planning is one of the smartest investments you can make in the future of your brand. If you’ve already done the fire drills as to who needs to do what and who faces the cameras when it all hits the fan, you stand a much better chance of weathering the storm when it comes. And if you need help with crisis communications planning, call us – we’re good at it.