Miss Universe and Their Brand

Savvy, goal-oriented and aware is how any woman making her way in the business world can be described.  But when does too aware become an issue in mainstream America when you’re a woman?  Or when does too savvy become pushy and unattractive for a woman when the entire office or even the world is looking on?  Throwing women under the bus seems to be the trend when they become too outspoken or come across too strong.

In the case of Miss California and the national Miss Universe organization, the officials have taken an active approach in hiding behind their satin sash and dodging the bright lights of the big pageant stage when a contestant articulately expressed her views.  And by-the-way savvy, goal-oriented and aware are words taken directly from the organizations Web site.  When Miss California and first runner-up Carrie Prejean displayed those characteristics and answered her controversial question, her answer had nothing to do with same-sex marriage or her faith in God.  It did, however, have everything to do with a woman looking mainstream America in the face and refusing to relinquish her values.  And in spite of representing all that the Miss Universe organization proclaims  itself to be, Prejean still has newsrooms, cyberspace and the blogosphere on fire. 

The latest, “Pageant PR rep accuses Miss California of lying“, is the new headline circulating in every media outlet in the world.  The story claims that contest officials did not tell the reigning beauty queen to publicly apologize for her statement opposing same-sex marriage.

So how could this situation have been handled differently by the Miss Universe organization?  The answer is simple.  First, if your brand represents some of the most beautiful, educated and opinionated twenty-something women in America, stick by them.  Organizations should always stick by their brand, no matter what, because it builds loyalty among consumers.  Second, your brand should always remain consistent.  If the Miss Universe organization can stand by former queen, Tara Conner, who admitted to abusing drugs during her reign, then surely this organization can stand by an opinionated beauty queen with strong moral and religious convictions.

Amid this fiasco, PR misstep and brand identity crisis, there is one woman that has faded into the shadow that has been undoubtedly cast upon the pageant world without recognition, Kristin Dalton, a North Carolina native who is the reigning Miss USA. 

One answer, heard around the world, has sent an international organization into a PR crisis.  Next time let’s hope that they are prepared to protect their brand and perform on the big stage with opinionated beauty queens.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock the past two weeks, you have inevitably seen or heard about the YouTube video featuring two (ex-) Dominos employees making sandwiches in a blatantly un-hygienic manner. The video was pulled from YouTube and Dominos released statements via Twitter, blogs and Web sites – Patrick Doyle, Domino’s president, even made a response video for YouTube.

Despite their full-fledged effort to acknowledge and respond to the video, Dominos has faced tremendous backlash from the public relations world since the event. Their “wait-and-see” approach allowed the video to spread like wildfire through the masses for 48 hours, giving other outlets the opportunity to speak first.

In today’s Internet-driven world, all businesses are held to a tremendously high standard. With sites such as Twitter that have instant updates, the video was available to thousands of consumers within minutes. The public expected the company get word out right away, control the message and make the bad news go away, but instead the company waited almost two days before releasing an apology.

We’ve all ordered from Dominos, or some variation, which is why this video struck particularly close to the heart. Domino’s PR team should have recognized this and immediately reassured the public that they were taking this incident seriously by outlining their steps to correct it.

Dominos is now on top of the situation, the employees were fired, and thanks to Miss California’s interview at the Miss USA pageant this story has been able to creep under the radar. In his response video, Doyle stated that Dominos will be looking into their hiring practices. Not a bad idea.

UNC Rolls Out Crisis PR Response, But Is It Effective?

An incident this week at UNC-Chapel Hill has sparked outcry, and the school, still enjoying a glowing reputation in the wake of its NCAA basketball title,  has had to cut the honeymoon short with a crisis PR campaign.

Former Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo was scheduled to speak on UNC’s campus on Tuesday night, but things didn’t go as planned. (Or maybe they did, depending on who you ask.) Tancredo, an outspoken critic of immigration and in-state tuition benefits for unauthorized immigrants, was met by hundreds of angry protestors upon his arrival to Bingham Hall on the Chapel Hill campus.

As Tancredo tried to begin his lecture amid shouts of profanity and insults, two women stretched a 12-foot long banner across the room declaring: “No dialogue with hate.” The women were forcefully removed from the room by campus police officers and joined the overflow mob of protestors who stood in the hall. Police officers sprayed pepper spray into the air and also discharged a Taser, sending sparks into the air.

Police spokesman Randy Young said the pepper spray was “broadcast” to clear the hallway. He said officers’ use of force was under investigation by the department.

Meanwhile, Tancredo again tried to begin speaking, only to be silenced again by another large banner blocking his stage and angry shouts. As Tancredo engaged in a tug-of-war with the two women holding the banner, the sound of breaking glass interrupted the scene.

At that point, Tancredo was escorted by police out of the building.

A Proactive Response

In a crisis situation like this, the best asset an organization can have  on its side is a well-prepared communication team on their side — and UNC’s response has been effective thus far. Chancellor Holden Thorp released a prepared statement Tuesday evening that read: “We’re very sorry that former Congressman Tancredo wasn’t able to speak. We pride ourselves on being a place where all points of view can be expressed and heard, so I’m disappointed that didn’t happen tonight. I think our Public Safety officers appropriately handled a difficult situation.”

This statement was issued in a timely fashion and put support behind the University’s actions. While the situation is far from over, UNC made the first move, which is the best way to deal with crises. By issuing this statement immediately, speculation and spin were eliminated from the next day’s front page stories in local papers.

Thorp sent an e-mail out to the entire student body yesterday, using strong language to express his discontent with the actions of student protestors. His e-mail read: “There’s a way to protest that respects free speech and allows people with opposing views to be heard. Here, that’s often meant that groups protesting a speaker have displayed signs or banners, silently expressing their opinions while the speaker had his or her say. That didn’t happen last night.”

Thorpe continued, “On behalf of our University community, I called Mr. Tancredo today to apologize for how he was treated. In addition, our Department of Public Safety is investigating this incident. They will pursue criminal charges if any are warranted.”

Thorp, still in his first year as chancellor, is accruing a great deal of respect in properly handling the situation both internally and in the public realm. The last piece of the puzzle? Take a cue from the organizing group and invite Tancredo back on the University’s dime. (Expect protestors again, but facilitate a safer setup to show that controversial speakers shouldn’t be afraid to step foot on campus.)

UNC has a less-than-stellar history of speaker controversies. It’s time to take a proactive stance in repairing that perception.

Photo via Flickr

Something Is Technically Wrong. (Duh!)

Looking back through recent posts, I realize that many of them have discussed some aspect of Twitter.  This post is no different, except that I will be griping instead of singing Twitter’s praises.

I am tired of all the “fail whales” (#fail) and “Something is technically wrong” messages!  Everyone is thrilled with Twitter because of the interesting conversations and interactions that take place there.  To quote from, well, someone (I can’t find the video),  “Twitter as a platform sucks!  There are no options and it’s always breaking.  The value is in the conversations and relationships.”

So, Twitter administrators, I beg you to please be aware – you need to stabilize your platform!  We understand that you have grown by 1382% this year and that there are growing pains, but waiting two months for a response from customer service or not being able to upload a custom background for two weeks is unacceptable!  Please hire some more people or delete some of the spam accounts to return customer service and technical difficulties to an acceptable level.

As I re-read the last two paragraphs, I feel as though this post is shaping up to be one long rant, and I’m not sure that’s the intent here.  There are many good things happening on Twitter!  Money is being raised for charity, people are spreading the word about Amber Alerts and countless acts of kindness occur everyday due to Twitter.  Karma and paying it forward are a large part of the Twitter experience.  Ultimately, you can’t expect the company’s exponential growth to develop roadbump-free — to some degree, Twitter has been in a constant “startup” phase. When technical difficulties foil an otherwise excellent Twitter experience, everyone loses. When it happens often, people get frustrated.

P.S.  If you work for Twitter, please don’t delete our account (@MMIAssociates).  Thanks!

What do you think?  Please tell us with a comment.

Related articles by MMI and Zemanta

• Customer Service: Why a Twitter Presence is a Necessity | The Lost Jacket (tsurch.com)
• Twitter is currently down for unscheduled maintenance (chrisabraham.com)
• Twitter Gets A TV Commercial For Free As New Users Get Their First Taste Of Fail Whale (techcrunch.com)

What Do Online Newspapers Mean For The Newspaper Industry, Its Readers And PR Professionals?

Whether it’s because ad sales are crashing or readers want to save subscription fees by reading stories online, newspapers are in a state of panic and are turning to other forms of new media to publish their content.

Owners of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer decided to cut the budget for the 112 year old newspaper’s print editions and instead shift all published content to their online website. The Christian Science Monitor is planning to do the same sometime this April, and just recently, 174 year-old Ann Arbor News replaced its print editions with a “web-focused community news operation.” And The News and Observer? As of now they are still printing papers, but on their Web site, readers can subscribe to an “e-edition” and “view the N&O exactly how it appears in print every day” except online.

But what if the N&O did go completely “paperless” so to speak? If so, is it necessarily a bad thing? What does this mean for the newspaper industry? How will long-time print edition readers adjust to this new form of communication? And for public relations professionals, who depend on the symbiotic relationship between themselves and newspaper reporters, what does the lack of print media mean for public relations?

Photo via Flickr