Phenix Rising: Steven Phenix's OLD Blog

VoIP You and the Big Bad Book Blog

2006-04-12T00:59:00.000-05:00

Two new clients went live this week with their blogs:

Greenleaf Book Group, launches the Big Bad Book Blog today and it's really an amazing thing to behold. Their blog is basically a muscle car of a blog and they went to great lengths to fully load it before even being seen on the streets.

Check out "Think You’re Oprah Worthy? Take the Quiz!," by Meg LaBorde.

Earlier, we helped launchVoiP You, a new blog from my people. Their company provides residential VoIP services with all kinds of great features that they recently demo'd at Demo.

Kinky Experiment: Hey, it worked!

2005-10-13T02:56:00.000-05:00

Faithful readers of this blog will recall my Kinky Blog Experiment, where I tried to school the Kinky Friedman campaign on the inherent power of blogs and podcasts.

It took three posts, and some reaching out to fellow bloggers, but it worked. See "The Kinky Kronicles."

Laura Stromberg from the Committe to Elect the Kinkster emailed to say Kinky would do an interview with The Armadillo Podcast.

By now, it's accepted that a blogstorm can impact an election. It will be interesting to see if podcasting can also have an impact.

For my PR brethren and sistren outside of Texas, the '06 race for governor is currently a four-horse race between the incumbent, Rick Perry (R) and challenger Carole Keeton Strayhorn for the Republican nomination, with Chris Bell the Democratic front runner and Kinky Friedman as the dark horse independent.

While I was pinging the Kinky campaign to do the Armadillo Podcast interview, I came across a cool tool on BlogPulse that tracks interest in the blogosphere. See "Kinky Kampaign Krises."

In jest I blogged,

"On the 21st of September I asked Kinky Friedman's PR manager if the candidate would consent to be a guest on The Armadillo Podcast. On the BlogPulse
chart, notice that this date is the highest point of the Kinky
campaign. Since then, I've received no answer and Kinky's standings in
the blogosphere have fallen precipitously. (Even with a Dallas Morning News story yesterday.)

September 21st was actually the day Kinky released his Kinkytoon,
and apparently the blogs liked it. Since then, the attention has
fallen off. If this nontraditional ad was designed to spread virally
and attract the nontraditional voters, it seems to be puttering out.
There's also a pun in there about Kinky and viruses but I'm trying to
keep to the high road.

These stats come from BlogPulse and it's a great resource for
tracking a blog topic. For even more granular research, check out PubSub's analysis of Kinky's site--basically they're tanking since Sept. 21.

Today, for fun, I went back to BlogPulse and put all three (only three allowed) of the four candidates through their blog trend analyzer and this is what turned up:

Note to Ms. Strayhorn: Why don't your followers blog?

A Kinky Experiment with Blogging

2005-10-03T10:56:00.000-05:00

With your help, I'd like to school gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman on the inherent power of blogs and podcasts.

Kinky has a rather quixotic quest ahead of him. He will need 50,000 registered voters to sign a petition before he can be allowed on the ballot as an independent. Texas law requires that he obtain 50,000 signatures but ONLY between March 8 and May 11 and ONLY from people who do not cast a ballot in any party primary or runoff.

If you'd like to participate in my Kinky Blog Experiment, please click here and jump over to my real blog to see all the details.

Read more on the Kinkster:

"Kinky Friedman: Success against all odds," on Bankrate
"LONE STAR: Kinky Friedman on the campaign trail," The New Yorker
"Kinky Friedman Turns To Politics," CBS News

Announcing the Armadillo Podcast

2005-09-28T17:44:00.000-05:00

I've just launched a new show called The Armadillo Podcas t.

I'm sure you've heard, or at least I hope you've heard, the lyrics "I want go home with the armadillo," to quote the song by Gary P. Nunn, "to the friendliest people and prettiest women you've ever seen." The rest of the world knows this song as simply the "Home with the Armadillo" anthem, of PBS's Austin City Limits.

Most of Austin, at least I hope most of Austin, knows this song by its real title, "London Homesick Blues."

Like many a sad country tune, this song is set to a chipper beat. When you hear the first few strains that they play on Austin City Limits, it's easy to think this is an upbeat song. But this is truly a sad, sad song.

The forlorn and homesick Texan protagonist of the song complains that it's "cold over here and I wish they'd turn the heat on." The local Londoners complain that he's "from down South and when you open your mouth, you always seem to put you foot there."

In the spirit of this song I'm going to be putting my foot firmly in mouth with a weekly podcast of ostentatious interviews of Austinites famous and infamous, known and unknown. My sole intent is to convince my good friend Galia, an Israeli woman living way out in California, to move and live with us here in the land of the weird and the home of the armadillo. Or, to put it another way, I hope to make her homesick for a place she has only visited once.

If you have a friend you'd like to move here as well, or if you would like to send Galia an email with your own favorite story about Austin, send us an email and perhaps we'll interview you on our next podcast.

SaaS and End-Users

Moving to a new blog

2005-02-17T11:50:00.000-06:00

Pardon the disruption. However, from this point further I'll be posting over on my new blog on TypePad.

For all new posts, please go to: http://phenixrising.typepad.com.

Thanks.

Hurray for Hobson and Holtz

2005-02-16T16:34:00.000-06:00

My gadget envy knows no bounds. With the introduction of just about every new technology, I become covetous.

Website? Got to have one.

iPod? Where can I get one?

Blog? Sign me up.

Tablet PC? Here, just take my checkbook.

But I don't want to podcast and that's due to Shel Holz and Neville Hobson. For Immediate Release: The Hobson and Holtz Report--the dynamic duos' now bi-weekly podcasts, are so well produced that the barrier to entry is insurmountable.

I could never match the quality, so I won't even try. 8-)

Nice job, fellas. Keep up the good work.

PS--I do, however, (co-opting an old joke) have a face made for podcasting. So if you blokes are ever short of a guest to interview, you know where to find me!

Tags:
Public relations
PR

No. 3 in the series: John Wagner's Positive PR

2005-02-16T12:05:00.000-06:00

With so much negative publicity regarding public relations lately, I feel it's important to keep highlighting was is good, clean and just within our industry.

So here's a shout out to John Wagner, a fellow Texan and owner of Wagner Communications. John authors the On Message blog and two of his recent postings really gave me a lift.

Here, John ponders a novel way to change the image of PR.

And here, he writes about what he loves about his work and the importance of being the conscience of organization.

Contrary to what recent headlines might suggest, our industry is really filled with good people like John.

Tags:
PR
public relations

Public Relations Officially Dies on March 10

2005-02-14T02:38:00.000-06:00

If you thought the whole Ketchum scandal was bad for the reputation of the public relations industry, just wait till PoweR Girls begins airing on MTV, March 10th.

According to MTV's site, "The life of a PoweR Girl at Lizzie Grubman's New York City PR firm is sometimes glamorous, sometimes stressful but always exciting. Watch as Rachel, Kelly, Millie and Ali plan nightclub openings and album launches, hobnob with celebrities, wrangle the paparazzi, pitch Page Six and shop, all while fighting for a permanent spot on Lizzie's team. Don't miss the drama take over their lives as these four young ladies try to take over the celebrity party circuit all under the watchful eye of Lizzie on PoweR Girls."

I'll leave you to make up your own jokes about this show, a line of people outside of a disco and CSI New York.

Ouch: Spinning Frenzy: P.R.'s Bad Press

2005-02-13T11:56:00.000-06:00

Everyone in public relations will be talking about this this article in today's New York Times:

Spinning Frenzy: P.R.'s Bad Press

Unlike the recent story in The Economist about Robert Scoble, this article by Timothy O'Brien captures all the complexities of public relations. Unlike the bulk of the population, Mr. O'Brien knows what we do and how we do it.

This article is a fair and balanced and damning assessment of the whole Ketchum pundit payola scandal.

And O'Brien makes the point that we here in the PR blogging community have been making all along:

"Since Omnicom made this statement, it and Ketchum have remained silent, a risky tactic given that public relations wisdom traditionally holds that staying quiet during a crisis only prolongs media scrutiny and creates an appearance of culpability.

'They should have come clean right away and not tried to pin all of this on Williams,' said Paul A. Argenti, a professor of corporate communications at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. 'It's an example of the same kind of bad advice they give their clients every day.'"

Ouch.

Jack O'Dwyer, as well, gets in a good shot:

"Yet it is Ketchum's imbroglio with Mr. Williams and the Education Department that seems to have struck a particularly indignant nerve among some longtime public relations analysts. 'This is the Three Mile Island of the P.R. business,' said Jack O'Dwyer, a public relations gadfly in New York who heads a research firm and publishes a newsletter bearing his name. 'The industry began selling its soul when it sold out to these advertising companies because the public relations business should be about the truth, not about sales.'"

For me, the most enlightening part of this article was the discussion on the struggle for the soul of PR in almost Star Warsian terms of The Dark Side and The Force:

"In the 1920's, Edward Bernays, a relative of Sigmund Freud, led publicists into new waters by emphasizing psychological research and advocating the use of seemingly objective third-party authorities to sway public opinion. He professionalized the business while introducing other new forms of manipulation, like establishing bogus front groups to promote the benefits of smoking.

"Arthur Page, an in-house public relations adviser to ATandT from the 1920's through the 1940's, embraced the concept of good corporate citizenship and pushed ATandT to be open and honest in its press dealings. The tension between proponents of Bernays-like manipulation and Page-style transparency has existed in the business ever since."

May The Force be with us.

The Economist: Does Rise of Scoble Herald the Death of PR?

2005-02-10T15:48:00.000-06:00

"Does Robert Scoble, a celebrity blogger on Microsoft's payroll, herald the death of traditional public relations?" breathlessly asks The Economist.

That's an easy question. The answer is an unequivocal "no." Blogging is simply the newest, shiniest tool in the PR toolbox.

The panting continues, "His example might mark the beginning of the end of “corporate communications” as we know it." But in the last three paragraphs, Scoble concedes that there will always be a place for traditional PR. "The truth is, nobody yet knows how corporate blogging will evolve," is the eventual conclusion of the article.

Aargh!

I'm beginning to think we need to create an anti-defamation league for the public relations industry that will jump into mob blog action every time the media resorts to stereotypes, lazy generalizations or--in the case of this Economist article--a sloppy, wet lead that is written to pull readers in, regardless of the actual truth laid out in the complete story.

The other night I was watching CSI or Law and Order, it's easy to forget which, and the show had a perky, blond, PR bunny mom who spouted lines like, "Look, I work in PR, I know how the world works!" She's so evil, you're supposed to think she's the killer. But guess what? It's the innocent kid who killed the drug dealer, not Evil Incarnate.

"You Know Times are Tough for PR When...

"The Cylon mole on Galactica is....the dweeby PR guy!" notes Elizabeth Albrycht, who says she is, "severly depressed that PR is now the popular icon for traitor/badguy."

If we jumped into action each and every time PR is associated with the sinister and the sleazy, then the purveyors of pop culture will move on to villainize easier targets.

How about those dentists?

Blog 9-11: Help! All the Aggregators Have Stopped Picking up my Feed!

2005-02-10T01:27:00.000-06:00

UPDATE: Pardon the disruption. However, from this point further I'll be posting over on my new blog on Typepad.

For all new posts, please go to: http://phenixrising.typepad.com.

Thanks.

About three days ago I noticed that all the aggregators, every single one, had stopped picking up my RSS feed. I tinkered and dinked and tweaked around, but to no avail. I wondered if perhaps something at Ping-O-Matic had clunked out, so I experimented with individual pings to individual aggregators.

Nothing worked.

So tonight I sent a "help me, please!" email to Technorati, PubSub and Blogdigger. The first to respond was Greg Gershman from Blogdigger. He was very helpful and apologetic--even though the problem was all mine.

Greg found some noxious html in one post and that apparently was clogging the whole feed. He sent me to FeedValidator to find the problem. If you ever sense that your posts aren't connecting with your normal outlets, try this site or type in your RSS or ATOM address like so:

http://feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=ADD YOUR RSS FEED ADDRESS HERE

Thanks, Greg! It wasn't his job to help me with my broken html and I really appreciate it. Somebody give Greg a raise.

Public Relations Licensing

2005-02-09T14:58:00.000-06:00

Over at Shel Holtz's blog, a shel of my former self, the intrepid blogger, podcaster and king of all media debates my question of whether the public relations industry should police itself by creating a regulatory board.

Shel ponders the feasibility of a standard PR license:

"Any communication challenge can be approached a thousand different ways, and it takes just one creative thinker to come up with a thousand-and-first. What will work with an target audience in Los Angeles may not succeed with one in Mississippi. Culture plays a part. You just can’t test PR the way you can test accounting."

In a similar vein, Neville Hobson, the other intrepid blogger, podcaster and king of all media, posted this comment on my blog:

"The state bar idea is a very good one, clearly a workable concept in the US. How about the rest of the world, the 200+ countries with their own laws and business practices? For instance, I can see the fun trying to get this idea even discussed in the European Union.

"And don't forget that what's illegal or very bad ethical practice in one country isn't necessarily so in another."

Excellent points, gentlemen.

What if we created a baseline set of standards that are acceptable to each region? What say we adopted ten mutually agreed upon, inviolable rules? For example: No agency may pay a pundit, be that in cash, gifts or even the standard wine & dine. After setting these rules in stone, then any agency that violates these rules would be subject to censure and possible revocation of license.

Then, in turn, each region adopts a secondary coda that outlines its local standards.

Comments? Suggestions?

No. 2 in the series: Why I Love PR

2005-02-09T14:23:00.000-06:00

UK Flack Accidently Tells UK Hacks to "Sod Off"

There's no such thing as a normal day in PR. And that is another reason I love working in public relations: work is never boring. Daily, minute-by-minute, the communcations challenges morph and multiply.

Take Alastair Campbell's situtation for example.

Sometimes just the simple act of hitting the send button can set off a sequence of events that will test your mettle in unimaginable ways.

For the PR Industry: The Carrot, The Stick (and my father's recipe for beans)

2005-02-08T01:07:00.000-06:00

I was listening yesterday to The Hobson and Holz Report and they were chatting up our humble movement to build blogging goodwill for the PR industry. While encouraging, they wondered what measurable change this can possibly accomplish.

I have a pet theory and it's related to my father's "Famous Beans." When my dad would invite family over for dinner, he'd welcome us all to come over because he was cooking up a pot of his "famous beans." Over the years, when speaking of his beans, he always referred to them as his "famous" beans.

Now we all refer to them as such and can hardly remember a time when they were not famous. I think if we keep tooting our own horns, beating our drums, keep chanting "I do believe in fairies! I believe in fairies!" then Tinkerbell will live and people will one day speak about public relations with reverence instead of disdain.

That's the carrot. Here comes the stick: I believe we need to create a public relations licensing authority.

Lawyers have such a body and you even need a license to be a masseuse and a cosmetologist. As Phil Gomes grumbles in a recent post, "For some reason, PR people turn into a terribly self-flagellating bunch every so often, maybe about once a year or so. Do litigators do this?"

Well, no. But it couldn't hurt them to examine their navels now and then.

However, I suspect that having a licensing body with real teeth can save us all from both scandals and periodic self-flagellation. (By the way, if you work with Phil Gomes, he really needs a hug. Crikey, do you really associate your work with the Stockholm syndrome?)

Here's a suggestion: Let's create a state bar for public relations professionals that has the power to censure its licensees. And if we give them the power to revoke licenses, then even agencies with $97 million federal contracts will stick to the straight and narrow.

Tags:
Public relations
PR
Marketing

"Gross! PR is icky"

2005-02-07T13:52:00.000-06:00

Number 347 in the series--Why PR Gets no Respect:

From Self Publishing | Blogs and Self Publishing

"Are blogs a form of self publishing? Absolutely! They are the epitome of self publishing! Why don't more writers write a blog?

"That's a very interesting question. From interviews with our members, the general consensus seems to be that most writers want to get paid for their writing. They don't want to be marketers or have to do scummy stuff like marketing, public relations or advertising!

"Yuk! Who does?"

Let the flame war begin....

Tags:
Public relations
PR
Marketing

Let us now recommit to the creed that didn't work the first time

2005-02-07T11:05:00.000-06:00

Judith Phair, CEO of PRSA, opines in this week's PR Week:

"Coverage of these high-profile scandals has overshadowed the work of thousands of PR pros who are committed to the ethical practice of PR - work that makes positive contributions to businesses, organizations, communities, and society. Indeed, the reputations of all of us who practice PR have been tarnished. Business decision makers and other opinion leaders might be influenced by this coverage, and the damage to the practice of PR may take years to undo. Repairing the reputation of our profession is a task that falls to all of us collectively and to each of us individually."

And here's the suggested fix:

"In the next several weeks, the PRSA will convene a summit meeting of leaders of the profession to recommit to the ethical practice of PR as outlined in the PRSA Code of Ethics. This gathering will examine the issues that have arisen and will come again as the environment in which we work changes."

Let me get this straight. We're recommitting to the Code that did nothing in the first place to prevent the current scandals. And these passively-voiced issues "that have arisen," will surely arise again.

Blah.

Sayeth brother Robert French:

"Apologists we do not need. Defenders of good practice we do need....Due diligence of strong advocacy - in all public forums - must begin with vigor."

Here endeth the lesson.

Tags:
Public relations
PR
Marketing

Good Will Aggregating

2005-02-04T18:25:00.000-06:00

Why is public relations necessary?

Yesterday I posted an open letter asking folks in the PR industry to join together in a grassroots blogging campaign to help raise the perception of our industry.

Here are some early snips from some of the PR blogorati:

ELIZABETH ALBRYCHT: "...Never before in the history of our profession has there been a greater need for professional communicators..."

ANONYMOUS: "For public relations to be effective it has to be based on credibility and integrity. Those that I admire in the business have this in spades. If there's any kind of Darwinian justice these are the people that will form the PR gene pool for the future."

ROBERT FRENCH: “We need leaders - servant leaders. I want to see my PR leaders on CNN, MSNBC and Fox. I want to see their opinions in print, on radio, in blogs, in podcasts, online and everywhere possible. I want visible and transparent PR leaders.”

NEVILLE HOBSON: "Other than every PR professional taking an individual stand in the absence of any stand for the profession by any professional association, what's to be done? What can any PR professional do to raise the perception of PR as an honourable profession?"

BOB LEDREW: "I've learned that it's simply not enough to do good things -- it's important to show that organizations and individuals are doing them, and to communicate that fact to the right audiences."

MORGAN MCLINTIC: "I don't feel that PR's existence or raison d'etre is at stake. PR is necessary. PR is valuable. PR is relevant. What's more, it's more relevant, valuable and necessary now than ever before."

TOM MURPHY: "I love PR because your friends don't understand what you do and your mother always wants to know why your name isn't in the paper."

JEREMY PEPPER: "...with an administration that had a first term with one of the lowest amount of press conferences, and then showed its disdain for the press by paying pundits to push their agenda, PR has taken an unnecessary hit for being the conduit of some of these deals."

PETER WEST: "Over the years I've seen lots of folks use some of the very powerful PR tools to do a world of good. Let me give you an example of how we used PR to help police with a cold case involving an unknown victim."

Thank you all so much for contributing. But don't quit now! Send your posts to all your friends in the industry and have them contribute as well.

What would you all think about doing this once a month, say on the first Friday of each month?

All in favor, say "aye!".....

Tags:
Public relations
PR
Marketing

PR is Necessary

2005-02-04T13:49:00.000-06:00

I know there will be plenty of folks who are a lot smarter than I who will eloquently state our necessary role in business or wax philosophical in our pro-PR campaign today. I'd rather talk about the emotional side because for me, public relations is a personal interaction.

And one of the reasons I feel so strongly about how public relations is perceived is due to young PR people like Helon, a 20 yr-old public relations major at Auburn University. On her blog she recently posted, "Whenever anyone asks what my major is and I tell them Public Relations they make the comment, 'so you want to cover up scandals and promote false images.'”

Now that just breaks my heart.

But Helon is absolutely correct when she says that most people "don’t have the slightest idea what PR practicioners do. All they have to go on is what they see in the media." And if the media has been portraying us poorly, whose fault is that?

Ours, of course.

Hopefully, in some small way, this is the beginning of a change in perception. And it begins with me and you and every other PR professional.

For me, public relations is personal because I grew up in a family of journalists. As I mentioned in an earlier post, my father was the reporter that shot the film of Jack Ruby gunning down Lee Harvey Oswald back in 1963. When I was a teenager my parents published five weekly newspapers here in Central Texas. So I grew up trying to get my parents attention while they were always on deadline. Somehow, instead of that turning into a neurosis, my childhood pain has grown in a valuable skill. Now media relations has become a visceral thrill ride and I'm addicted to the thump-thumping adrenal pump I get every time a reporter returns my call.

And public relations is personal for me because I've felt its power to affect other people's lives. My proudest moment in PR happened when I once helped a reporter friend whose brother had pancreatic cancer. The only thing that could save him, the doctors said, was this new Erbitux drug. But the clinical use trials halted during the Sam Waksal and Martha Stewart scandal. My friend was upset because she couldn't get anyone in the media to listen to her. "And I'm a reporter!" she said.

So I offered to help. She had been going after all the business reporters she knew. So I went after the health beat because I knew the biz beat just wanted Martha, Martha, Martha. I wrote a pitch about how the real scandal in all this was that the scandal surrounding Martha and Sam was keeping very sick people from their last hope. This pitch to a reporter I'd never met at the WSJ, landed our story on the front page. My friend's brother face became one of those dot matrix portraits in the Journal and Sam Waksal and his parent company re-opened the compassionate use trials that very day.

At the time I was commuting 2 hours each way from San Francisco down to San Jose. Out the door at 5:30 am, home by 9:30. I was completely exhausted all the time. But when my friend needed help, I came alive again. Helping someone, making a difference--that's what PR is all
about to me. Even when I'm flacking something as dry as RFID tags or CRM software, I try to always remember that what I'm doing will affect people's lives.

I try to keep it personal and true to me and for the most part that's kept me out of trouble. For the most part, that is. When I have screwed up I came forward immediately and owned up to what I did.

So, Helon, I hope viewing public relations as a personal interaction will help when you face criticism. And I personally hope that what you've witnessed from the PR profession over the last few weeks hasn't scared you into changing your major. I hope you stick with us.

Tags: Public relations, PR, Marketing

Alan Kelly, Applied Communications, on Trust and Reputation

2005-02-04T02:30:00.000-06:00

Applied Communications - Ketchum-DoE Episode Necessitates Look at Definition of PR

Keeping in with the pro-PR spirit of the day, check out Alan Kelly's thoughts on trust and reputation on the Applied site, published also in this week's issue of PR Week.

"Many professionals, academics and associations idealize PR as a management function for building trust and reputations. But trust and reputation exist in marketplaces and, as such, they must be defended and asserted in the context of competing forces. That mere fact requires PR professionals to operate as advocates, not simply ministers of goodwill and good ethics."

--Thanks, Alan, for allowing me to link to your article.

-SP

An open letter to all PR bloggers

2005-02-04T01:25:00.000-06:00

Dear Public Relations Bloggers,

Today, (Friday, February 4th) will you join with me and other PR bloggers in a grassroots blogging campaign to help raise the perception of the public relations industry?

I know you’re aware of the recent ruckus in the blogosphere regarding the pundit payola scandal. Additionally prior to this, there were plenty of articles declaring that the PR industry is dead and blogging killed it.

I’m growing tired of defending my avocation and I’m concerned that the actions of one agency might ultimately affect the fortunes of us all. I’m also concerned that as Congress goes forward with its investigation that the reputation of the industry will further decline. So this Friday I’m proposing that all of us in the PR blogging community devote a post—or two—to why we are necessary, how we make an impact or to simply what we respect and love about this industry. My hope is that our contributions will create somewhat of a buffer zone of online goodwill that will hold up no matter what befalls us next. I’m not telling you what to write. Nor am I asking you to even link this campaign back to me or my blog (though I wouldn’t fight you if you did).

However, for the online unity of this campaign, please include the phrase “PR is necessary…” and the following tags:

Public relations
PR
Marketing

(If tags are new to you, see the Technorati pages above for the html code to insert in your post.)

Additionally, if you have suggestions on how to improve on this campaign, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Regards,

Steven Phenix

McManus' Ethics and Religion and Not a Little Irony: Anatomy of an Ethical Lapse

2005-02-03T08:28:00.000-06:00

Writes McManus in latest column: "What's particularly painful, I write a column called "Ethics and Religion" and am guilty of an ethical lapse. How did this happen?"

See Ethics and Religion: "Anatomy of an Ethical Lapse"

PR versus Advertising

2005-02-02T17:55:00.000-06:00

Last week I was whining to my friend in advertising about how all of the public relations industry is taking a hit both in the media and in the blogosphere thanks to one big name agency paying off conservative pundits.

My friend, let’s call him “Darren Stevens,” says to me, “It doesn’t matter. PR is dead anyway.”

Instead of throttling him, I launch into a spirited defense: “PR is necessary! It builds brands through independent, third party credentialing. While advertising merely reinforces a brand.”

To which Darren retorts, "Yeah, I also read The Fall of Advertising; The Rise of PR. So bow down to your failing industry, if you want, bow to her. Bow to the Queen of Slime, the Queen of Filth, the Queen of Putrescence. Boo! Boo!”

Explanation: Friend Darren has an unnatural affinity for the movie, The Princess Bride.

“Seriously,” says me, “You think advertising is better, more effective? Take this Ketchum thing as a case study. You honestly believe that advertising—over PR—can revive the reputation of public relations?”

“I’ll bet you a $100 that I can do measurably more with an ad than you can do with standard PR.”

“Level playing field? No budget? And all online?”

“It’s a bet!”

We were planning to both launch our campaigns on Thursday, tallying our results the first week in March.

However, the bet is now off. Darren showed me his intended campaign about an hour ago. Now I’m really mad at him and I don’t think we can even be friends anymore.

I don’t know if he didn’t take our bet seriously, or if this is an intentional slap in the face. I just sent him an angry email and he responded with more quotes from The Princess Bride: “You fell victim to one of the classic blunders, the most famous of which is ‘Never get involved in a land war in the Middle East’, but only slightly less well known is this: ‘Never go in against a Sicilian, when death is on the line.’"

Moron. Advertising moron. The character you’re inappropriately quoting delivers this line then falls over dead.

So I'm more than a little mad. And I'm going ahead with my campaign. More later....

PR is dead, says Blogger; Sky is falling, says Chicken

2005-01-29T16:02:00.000-06:00

PR is dead, according to Linda Zimmer at ZnetLady:ModernMediaModo: PR is dead. Long live MC.

Writes ZnetLady, "PR was dead. Ketchum just did the requiem."

Ms. Zimmer, like all of us in PR and PR bloggers in particular, was set off first by Ketchum's role in buying columnists for the Bush administration; second, by Jay Rosen's blog castigating PR bloggers for not rushing to the barricades and setting everything on fire.

If you're not part of our microcosm, please do check out PressThink for this particular post. Everything you’ve read how blogs feed and feed and feed upon each other can be witnessed here.

For the most part, Rosen’s argument has no merit. His post, “Bloggers Are Missing in Action as Ketchum Tests the Conscience of PR,” is discounted by all who commented and quickly disproved here—Jay Rosen versus PR Bloggers, by Marc Snyder.

But back to Ms. Zimmer contention that PR is dead.

She writes, “Let 'PR' pass from this world peacefully. Don’t try to re-brand it or mange its reputation. The function is needed (even by those who denigrate it) – but the perception has crippled it beyond repair.”

I for one will not go gently into that good night.

We are wounded, yes, but we’re far from dead.

Perceptions can be changed. Reputations can be repaired. This is what we do, right?

That is, unless, like the physicians that can’t heal themselves, we are also incapable of consulting to our own.

Once the headlines have faded, the bloggers have moved on, history will view PR people as hairdressers with bad haircuts--we've just been too busy to attend to our own upkeep. (See Ketchum PR: Dumb-Ass Branding -- And A Blown Opportunity at Redemption.)

Still, we're not quite dead yet.

Paying Pundits is Propaganda Proclaims Pelosi

2005-01-29T06:35:00.000-06:00

"When I was a kid, a journalist who took money from the government was a propagandist, someone who worked at Pravda for the KGB," to quote myself in a previous post.

Apparently Representative Nancy Pelosi and twenty other ranking congressional leaders feel the same.

President Urged to Order Full Disclosure of Covert Propaganda

The House wants the President to release all public relations contracts signed by the Administration during its "secret publicity campaigns." While the Senate has introduced a "Stop Government Propaganda Act," to which Dan Gillmor states, "If people can't support this bill, they are outright endorsing corruption of the press. Period."

Ray Kotcher, CEO of Ketchum, writes in PR Week that his agency, for its role in this scandal "is currently under the microscope, the PR industry at large is about to be viewed through a telescope. For starters, a public-interest group called Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has filed a series of Freedom of Information Act requests to 22 government agencies, including all cabinet agencies, requesting copies of all contracts with PR firms."

Thanks, Ray.

If you're called to testify before Congress, here's my media training advice:

Do everything you can to keep the photographers from shooting you from the Angle of Guilt. You know what I'm talking about. These guys squat down below and in front of the committee dais and shoot upwards at the testify-ee.

Keep the photogs away from this shot.

This is not a good angle for anyone.

Pundit Payola: And McManus makes three

2005-01-27T22:52:00.000-06:00

These guys are for hire? Jeez, 15 years in public relations and I've always been doing this the hard way.

THIS SPACE FOR RENT: WILL PRAISE FOR PAY

Mike McManus, whose "Ethics & Religion," column appears in 50 newspapers, is now the third columist implicated in the growing payola scandal involving conservative columnists taking money from the Bush administration.

For those of you scoring at home, here are the other payola pundits who promoted presidential policies while cashing the presidential paycheck:

Armstrong Williams, failed to disclose a $241,000 Education Department contract to promote the president's No Child Left Behind law

Maggie Gallagher, failed to disclose a a $21,500 contract from the Department of Health and Human Services to promote the president's "healthy marriage."

As sure as there are more praise-for-pay pundits yet to be revealed, you can count on all the bloggers, those of us who chatter-on-the-cheap, to have our say about this over the next several days.

When I was a kid, a journalist who took money from the government was a propagandist, someone who worked at Pravda for the KGB.

From USA TODAY: "Kelly McBride, a media ethics scholar at the Poynter Institute, said any journalist should at least disclose such payments to readers. 'Any time anyone gives you money, you have a loyalty to them, and that's a conflict," she said.'"

Finding James S. Moran: The Last PR Samurai

2005-01-26T16:57:00.000-06:00

NOTE: Just republished this post over on my new blog. Still hoping to find out more about Mr. Moran's life.

Back during the height of the boom I read a NY Times obituary on James S. Moran, who died at age 91, after a four decade career in public relations.

We give great praise to those who think "outside the box." But Mr. Moran never even set one foot inside.

His life story changed my life. But outside of his obit, I can't seem to find a lot of information about him.

According to this paper, Journalists' Hostility Toward Public Relations: A Historical Analysis, here is some of Moran's work:

"To help a dairy get a cow into print, he dyed it purple; to promote refrigerators, he traveled to Alaska to prove that he could sell an icebox to an Eskimo; and to promote the 1946 movie The Egg and I, he sat on an ostrich egg until it hatched (a feat that took 19 days, 4 hours, and 32 minutes)."

In his obit, the NY Times mentioned that Moran once had a stunt called off when he couldn't get the proper permits. To promote a movie, he wanted to use kites to fly midgets over Central Park and it seems NY city officials had a problem with that.

I paraphrase Mr. Moran's well-covered reaction: "There's something wrong with this country when a man can't fly a midget over a park on a kite."

That's a PR man's PR man. Denied his stunt, he still got the ink.

On the Internets I've only been able to find one other reference the Mr. Moran. Google Answers has someone seeking photographs:

"During the late 1930's or early 1940's an master independent publicity stunt(PR)agent named James S. Moran wanted to generate publicity for a newly released record. The record was entitled either "Shoot the Sherbert to me, Herbert" or "Pass the meatballs to me Dominick, my boy". Both records are jazz records probably done by two different musical groups; The Merry Macs and Tommy Dorsey.

"The publicity stunt orchestrated by PR agent James S. Moran, involved renting a dinning room at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in NYC. Mr. Moran brought in lots of meatballs and sherbert and people named Herbert and Dominick and then promoted the biggest food fight there ever was."

The person seeking the photos, "publicitytracker2002-ga,"never found them.

Does anyone out there have any information regarding Mr. Moran? If so, please contact me.

Where have you gone James S. Moran?/Our industry turns its lonely eyes to you/(Woo, woo,woo).

Steve Rubel's Blog Crisis Communications Planning 101

2005-01-26T15:57:00.000-06:00

Want to know how blogs should fit into your crises containment plan? Check out this elegant and smart article at Micro Persuasion: Blog Crisis Communications Planning 101.

I've recently been urging all my clients to carpe blog, to enter the blogosphere and blog first before they blog you. This week I've been crafting a best practices manual for corporate blogging and I think the five steps that Steve Rubel and friends laid out during Blog Business Summit should be adopted by everyone in public relations.

Ad on Andrew Fischer's Forehead: It Ain't Me, Babe

2005-01-25T13:43:00.000-06:00

THIS SPACE FOR RENT

Putting the SnoreStop ad on this guy's forehead wasn't my doing! Thanks to everyone who called and emailed today, asking if I had anything to do with this stunt.

Here's the press release from the real culprits, Crier Communications, a SoCal PR agency:

Heads-Up! SnoreStop Highest Bidder to Place Ad on Andrew Fischer's Forehead for One Month; $37,375.00 eBay Bid a Surprise from Daughter of SnoreStop CEO Christian de Rivel

They get extra points for the creative CEO quote that compliments young Andrew Fischer for his "head for business." Should get lots of pick up, that quote.

Crier's Peter Berk should be having a fun day today. It will be interesting to watch this agency's efforts to keep the story alive for a couple more news cycles. Peter, when things slow down, give me a call. I've got some ideas on how to keep making headlines.

Have you seen the rapid Newtonian opposite re-action in the blogosphere? In fact, there's even a Forehead Ad Blocker, a new product for auction up on eBay.

Public relations

"Infamous Terrorist Launches New Attack" or, Local TV News Station Yells Fire in Crowded Theater

2005-01-24T16:22:00.000-06:00

Last night, fifteen minutes before the ten o'clock news, K-EYE, the Austin CBS affiliate, announced, "Infamous Terrorist Launches New Attack, tune in at 10."

Holy crap, thinks I.

What's going on? Should I pull out the Kevlar vests, grab the shotgun and shove the whole family down into the fallout shelter? And if we're in imminent danger, why are they making us wait fifteen minutes?

Omigawd! Lord help us all!!

Fortunately, we have the Internets. So, I stopped hoarding gold and boiling water and rushed to my computer and saw the headlines all over Google News: al-Zarqawi has declared a "bitter war."

In Iraq. For the elections next Sunday.

Whew. They were only teasing us about terrorism so we'd watch their broadcast!

Imagine my relief.

I began re-rolling the concertina wire and turned my attention back to K-EYE to see how they'd report the story. But unbelievably, they lead off with the death of Johnny Carson.

Omigawd, they're doing it again--they're terrorist teases!

Now I make my living by taking a complex technology story and reshaping it for the more simple demands of television.

"Will ___________ (insert product here) mean more jobs for the Bay Area? Tune in tonight at 11 to hear about...."

And I've long ago stopped being annoyed when the local weatherman teases the evening broadcast with, "Will it be raining cats and dogs tonight or just kitties and puppies?" I just don't watch TV for weather or news because everything I want to know is an online click away.

But K-EYE's tease was despicable. And post 9/11 what they did was tantamount to yelling fire in a crowded theater.

Does the FCC get complaints about news lead-ins? Or are they merely the dirty word police?

Thank god for the Internets. And for John Stewart.

So instead of filing an angry complaint with the FCC or sending a nasty email to K-EYE's station manager, I just won't watch their newscast.

Technorati tags:
Public Relations
News
Current Affairs
\"John Stewart\"

Good Luck in NYC, Darcy

2005-01-23T17:32:00.000-06:00

Good luck, Darcy!

It's been a pleasure working with you. I knew when we first met that you were destined for great things. I only wish we'd worked together longer so I could take credit for all your future success. 8-)

Please stay in touch....

Sydney Falco's Top Ten Rules for PR Stunts, err uh, Promotions

2005-01-22T14:35:00.000-06:00

Heidi Cohen contributed this good ClickZ Network article on how to create and measure buzz with online promotions.

Tip o'the hat to colleague Peter Shankman who receives several mentions.

Sydney Falco, another colleague, who insists I always use his nom de publicité when blogging, sent me the following Top Ten Rules for PR Stunts:

SYDNEY FALCO’S TOP TEN RULES FOR A SUCCESSFUL PR STUNT:

1. Keep it simple – the fewer moving parts the better.

2. Make it "high concept" -- Can you describe it in 10 words or less?

3. Make it sexy -- If you can't make a story like managed web hosting
sexy, then go work for Amway.

4. If you can't make it sexy and you don't want to work for Amway, then
make it sensational -- add emotion, scandal, danger, humor or weirdness.

5. Tie it to your business goals -- Will streaking through Shea stadium
actually sell more widgets?

6. Maintain your news cycle -- Name a baby Turok after a video game and you get one wave; hold traveling baby Turok challenges in large states with big media towns and the story lives longer.

7. Ratchet your concept up a notch or two and get more coverage --
Example: A beauty contest for geeks is OK, calling it Sexiest Geek
Alive to poke fun of the popular kids in People Magazine is better, and
pointing out to the press the scandalous chauvinism of your own contest -- even better.

8. Create seasonal tie ins -- If you keep one reporter from doing one
more Easter egg hunt, you earn a life-long friend.

9. Keep in mind that PR stunts are ultimately about building long-term
media relationships -- Make them laugh and editors will always return calls, years after the fact.

10. Allow the reporters the opportunity to be reporters -- allow for
clever word play and snarky puns; be willing to make yourself a target
while keeping a straight face.

-30- -30- -30-

I might add that when it all goes wrong, see Avoiding PR Disasters to try to contain the crises.

Public relations

PR for Dummies: Fort Wayne IN needs some help

2005-01-20T17:26:00.000-06:00

USATODAY.com - Looking for signs of intelligent life in Fort Wayne

This USA Today story interviews the intelligentsia of Fort Wayne, IN after a Men's Health magazine survey named this fair city the dumbest city in America.

Quoth USA Today: "The survey is the talk of the town, or at least among those who read, and there appear to be thousands..."

"...Columnist Kevin Leininger suggested it was basically "an evil Liberal Media Conspiracy." He pointed out that eight of the 10 smartest cities were in blue states, and eight of the dumbest were in red states. He says it's not a coincidence that "a certain amount of cultural elitism was at work here."

Riiiiiiiight.

This just explains why Bush did so well in those eight red states.

You'd think Mr. Leininger, a member of the Fourth Estate, would know not to argue with people who buy ink by the barrel.

Then again he does live in Fort Wayne.

City leaders will need to get in front of this story fast, or be labled the Jessica Simpson of cities for all eternity.

In fact, the bimbo brand is already beginning to stick:

“I’ve seen some dumb things in my life, but I haven’t seen as many as I have this week,” says a police officer watching typical Fort Waynians drive around "road closed" barriers and into flooded streets.

Public relations

Attention Martha Stewart, Ken Lay, Bernie Ebbers, John Riggas, Paris Hilton

2005-01-19T14:22:00.000-06:00

Do you have a need to rehabilitate your image?

What sort of foot print have you left on the Internet? When reporters or employers Google your name do they find your carefully crafted key messages? Or are the first ten items penned by some unemployed crank who wears a tin foil hat to stop the X-rays emanating from your company's products?

If you have the budget, you can drive Mr. Tin Foil down in the rankings by issuing press release after press release.

**Roll commercial***

Press release on BusinessWire or PRNewswire: $600-1000 USD

Your reputation: priceless

****

Still, with bailbondsmen, lawyers and all, sometimes it's hard.

Here's a solution that's free for the first year, $50 a yr, thereafter.

Post your profile on Ziggs.

The company claims its back end work with search engines will keep your best side always toward the public while Mr. Tin Foil can go back stalking Brad Pitt.

Here's my profile on Ziggs.

And even though I'm hardly a celebrity, here's some of the silliness that I've had to overcome from Mr. Tin Foil.

And if you're still lurking, ya git, Angelina Jolie and I are just friends.

Free Porn Magic for You!

2005-01-19T14:13:00.000-06:00

Opinion Column from PC Magazine: Free Porn Magic for You!

Dvorak says using the words "free," "porn" and "magic" in a headline will increase traffic for you. He writes that two years ago he put the headline "Free Porn" over his column and that column is still among the top page views, month after month.

Let's see if the same headline voodoo works for me, as well.

In the earlier days of the Internets [sic], webmasters use to tweak their meta tags to say things like "Nude pics of Britney Spears" to drive traffic. If you're thinking of paying frequent visits to Yahoo! Buzz Index to glom the best meta tags like "Paris Hilton" or "Golden Globe Awards," fuhghedaboutit.

The search engines quickly caught on to this trick.

Wired News reported back in August that the porn sites were creating mutliple blogs that cross reference each other to cheat their Google rankings. And yesterday CNET News reported that Google has created a new "no follow" tag that will keep people from posting comment spam that falsely drives up traffic.

But the recursive cross-referencing across multiple blogs ploy still works, right?

Overstock vs Ebay: Poet Robert Frost was a stock analyst

2005-01-19T10:33:00.000-06:00

Take a look at this morning's chart comparing Overstock versus eBay.

Looks like Wall Street is going down Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken,"

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."

eBay earnings (melo)drama

2005-01-19T09:52:00.000-06:00

eBay Puts Loyalty to the Test

"Get ready for a bit of drama during eBay's (EBAY:Nasdaq ) earnings report Wednesday," writes Kevin Kelleher for TheStreet.com.

Some eBay sellers have lashed out over a recent fee increase: "Thanks eBay! This $3,000+ per month seller is done for good on Feb. 17," writes one Power Seller on the company's message boards.

Meanwhile over at Overstock.com, their online auctions have increased 50 percent in the five days since eBay's announcement.

What you're seeing is a repeated pattern at eBay.

My friend and ex-client, Eric Jackson, has written an excellent book called "The PayPal Wars: Battles with eBay, the Media, the Mafia, and the Rest of Planet Earth." Back when Eric soldiered for PayPal as the company's marketing director, he witnessed many a ham-fisted, bone-headed maneuver from his competitors over at eBay.

Yeah, this is a naked book plug.

However, despite my blind loyalty, this book should be required reading for every eBay investor and MBA student in the country. In fact, here's a professor who says the same thing:

"The Genius and Struggle of PayPal" -- Ludwig von Mises Institute

Bill Gates' Nipple Slip, Part 2

2005-01-17T23:58:00.000-06:00

Ewww!

Geeky

Bill Gates' Nipple Slip

2005-01-17T09:51:00.000-06:00

monkey methods: Bill Gates Strikes a Pose for Teen Beat Photospread, 1983

Just kidding. And just wondering if that subject line will boost or bust my blog's traffic.

Do check out these Teen Beat-style photos of young Bill Gates posing like a geeked-out David Cassidy.

Seriously, though, is that a Mac I spy behind the recumbent Billy "Boy Toy" Gates? Does this count as a "marketing malfunction?" And in this parallel universe of boy band/technology monopolists is Bill the "cute one" or the "smart one?"

And how does Steve Ballmer fit in to this equation?

Geeky

Craigslist: It's Craigsworld, we just post in it

2005-01-17T08:41:00.000-06:00

Craigslist's global expansion could threaten big players

Eric Pfanner has written an excellent article on the nicest man in the world, Craig Newmark, is taking over the world one city at a time. This man doesn't own a dog, yet he carries dog biscuits in his pockets to give out to all the dogs he encounters on the streets of San Francisco.

I wish Craigslist had the same reach here in Austin as it does in San Francisco. It works so well in the Bay Area because everyone there is on it. I found three jobs and two apartments on Craigslist. And when we moved, I typed in "cardboard boxes" and found several people who had just unpacked and were giving their boxes away to anyone willing to drive by.

During the Bust, we moved from a 2 bdrm apartment down to a 1 bdrm. So to make room, we sold and bought everything we needed through Craigslist. We had a coral colored chaise lounge that we sold to an interior designer. A year later we're watching HGTV and my wife recognizes the designer.

"Omigawd, that's our chaise lounge," says my wife.

Ah, the circle of life is complete.

Bloggers are Weenies: Old school journalists kick butt

2005-01-16T21:26:00.000-06:00

Buy this book.

My dad, "filmed one of the iconic images of American history: Jack Ruby shooting Lee Harvey Oswald in the basement of the Dallas police headquarters"

2005-01-16T10:56:00.000-06:00

statesman.com | Four journalists recount the dark days in Dallas that changed news

(reg. required: or, better yet, go to: BugMeNot. )

Austin American Statesman Review

Four journalists recount the dark days in Dallas that changed news

By Felix Gillette

SPECIAL TO THE AMERICAN-STATESMAN

Sunday, January 16, 2005

As a 24-year-old cub reporter, George Phenix filmed one of the iconic images of American history: Jack Ruby shooting Lee Harvey Oswald in the basement of the Dallas police headquarters. At the time, Phenix was working for KRLD, a CBS radio and television affiliate. That afternoon, his film was broadcast nationally. Millions of Americans watched the scene of Oswald crumpling. Behind the camera, Phenix's cub status also was taking a hit.

Along with three of his then-colleagues at KRLD -- Bob Huffaker, Bill Mercer and Wes Wise -- Phenix has recently published a memoir of the Kennedy assassination, "When the News Went Live: Dallas 1963." In it, Phenix recounts how a few weeks after the shooting, he snuck into the station and developed a roll of the film as a souvenir. His two toddlers quickly got their hands on the keepsake. "They imagined it to be some sort of new kind of yo-yo," writes Phenix, "and repeatedly rolled it up and down the hallway -- ruined it."

[He-heh: My sister and I were on the CIA payroll and we were actually born in Cuba. Switched at birth, we were, with George Phenix's REAL KIDS, to complete our mission and destroy all the evidence. Shhh, don't tell anyone else, OK? --El Fenix]

When Phenix sat down 40 years later to set his experiences to paper, he realized that grim memories die harder than old rolls of film. He didn't need any visual cues to recall the details. "I wrote it in one pass," says Phenix during a recent telephone interview. "I was surprised. It had been indelibly burned into me. It's just kind of part of (my) DNA."

During the course of the book, each author recounts his role covering John F. Kennedy's assassination. Wise, who was attending a luncheon in Kennedy's honor in downtown Dallas, remembers the reactions of the people around him when the news first broke. "A young man stood facing a wall, propping his left arm against it and burying his head in his forearm, sobbing uncontrollably," writes Wise. "In bizarre contrast, to my shock and dismay, a man at our table continued to stuff a steak into his mouth."

For the four young reporters, there wasn't much time to eat. Or sleep. Or grieve. Within minutes, they were broadcasting the unfolding events. In the coming weeks and months, Huffaker interviewed Oswald's mother, Mercer covered Oswald's midnight news conference, Phenix filmed Oswald's murder and Wise testified at Ruby's trial. "If we weren't professionals before the assassination," writes Mercer, "we certainly achieved that status in the aftermath."

Each of the authors went on to distinguished careers. Huffaker became an English professor at Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos and an editor at Texas Monthly. Mercer broadcast games for the Dallas Cowboys, the Texas Rangers and the Chicago White Sox. Wise wrote for Sports Illustrated and served as mayor of Dallas for five years in the '70s. Phenix, who lives in Austin, co-founded the Texas Weekly and was editor of the Westlake Picayune.

"The interesting thing is that our tools were so primitive in those days," recalls Phenix. "There were no cell phones, no faxes, no e-mail."

And no second gunman lurking on the grassy knoll. From the get-go, the authors declare themselves "weary of conspiracy theories." Throughout, they avoid any rote speculation about Oswald's motivations. There are no flights of fancy buzzing through the murky backrooms of Cuban apparatchiks or Mafia hit men. Instead, the narrative remains grounded in the streets of Dallas. It's a sobering antidote to the staggering paranoia of, say, Oliver Stone's "JFK." In pithy, laconic prose the authors lay out the who, what, when and where of the heart-rending events. The bloody parade. The search for Oswald. Ruby's mental unraveling at the subsequent trials.

To this familiar set of episodes and characters, the four men sprinkle in personal details based on what they reported -- and what they didn't report. Wise recounts how, on the day following Kennedy's assassination, he bumped into a disgruntled Ruby outside the Texas School Book Depository. Like all Dallas broadcasters, Wise knew Ruby, whom he describes as "the ultimate news reporter groupie of his day." After a brief discussion, Wise brushed him off. "Reflecting on that conversation, I have wondered whether Ruby was hoping that I might do a radio interview with him," writes Wise. "Such a thing would have been a historic part of that sad weekend's coverage."

Throughout "When the News Went Live," the authors advance the less-than-radical theory that the assassination was a turning point not only for world history but also for broadcast journalism. They argue that the round-the-clock coverage of the assassination changed television news, paving the way for such future cable-TV obsessions as O.J. Simpson and Scott Peterson.

It's a bittersweet legacy. Phenix says that today's cable news networks have taken something of value and ruined it, like a bunch of youngsters playing yo-yo with a precious roll of film. "For me, the question is: Has TV news helped make America smarter? Or dumber?" writes Phenix. "I vote for the latter."

Austin journalist Felix Gillette writes frequently for slate.com.

My buddy Brad is MIA

2005-01-16T09:10:00.000-06:00

Brad King, My Friend & Milk Carton Kid. Or, just a typical journalist

Have you seen this man? We use to friends but he moved to Boston and now he doesn't return my emails. I'm worried about him. If you know him, have him call me and tell me that all is OK.

The Sexiest Geek Alive

2005-01-16T08:31:00.000-06:00

Salon Technology | Who wants to be the sexiest geek alive?

"Phenix, ever the promoter, didn't miss the opportunity to shamelessly plug his company, appearing on [Good Morning America] wearing a T-shirt with ClubCastLive's URL emblazoned on the front."

--Salon

Geeky

A note from my mother

2005-01-15T20:51:00.000-06:00

"One of the most creative, brilliant minds that I've ever met. He pairs an entirely different way of thinking with an innate knowledge of people and their motivations. I highly recommend Steven and his abilities to anyone who needs a great 'nose for the news.'"

--Steven's mother

STEVEN PHENIX Part 1, The Early Years

2005-01-15T17:34:00.000-06:00

At birth Steven Phenix was thrust into the world two months early, and he's been crying for attention ever since. His father, a fourth-generation Texan, shot the footage of Jack Ruby shooting Lee Harvey Oswald in the basement of the Dallas police station. Up until Dan Rather announced Steven's father's name, their home was quiet with mourning. When his family began screaming and jumping up and down, young Steven understood the power of the media for the first time.

“The PT Barnum of tech…Phenix simply came up with a hugely successful way to announce his client's new product -- the media stampede did the rest.”

--Wired News

At four years of age, this future PR luminary first caught the camera's eye while playing his toy saxophone with Texas musicians at a press conference for the late, great Governor Preston Smith. A news cameraman beamed the image of our toe-tapping hero across the vast and proud Lone Star state and, even at such a tender age, Steven Phenix wore the word "shameless" like a mantel.

"But Phenix isn't offering cheap thrills so much as an unblinking look from the cutting edge of his generation."

--Austin American Statesman

While most Texas teens were tipping cows, Steven Phenix was a humor columnist for his family's five weekly newspapers. While others were learning how to dance the West Texas Push, Phenix learned the hard, cynical ways of the Fourth Estate. But at seventeen, Steven Phenix wrote his first press release and had an epiphany. In what the Associated Press later called an "audacious act of teen rebellion," Steven Phenix let 50 white mice loose in the high school to protest the school's draconian policies. On the way home, he dropped off his first press release at the local daily paper.

When he saw his own visage—albeit clad in a ski mask—on the front page, there was a trumpet clarion and a clap of thunder.

And another flack was born.

His career has since strayed from the spicy world of cool teen espionage and into a universe where geeks rule. Staying true to his roots, he has empowered successful nerds everywhere to stand proud. He has given start-up companies like Clubcastlive.com a voice in the cold, cruel world of the media's "cool crowd." He has represented CEOs of technology companies who cry out, "Look at me now!" He even created the Sexiest Geek Alive Contest (as featured on Good Morning America, The Montel Williams Show, in USA Today, Wired News, and hundreds more), which PR Week called "the PR stunt of the year."

"’Look inside the pocket-protector psyche of any successful geek,’ says Steven Phenix, ‘and you'll find youthful episodes of insecurity and humiliation at the hands of the cool kids. Every single one of us has some kind of a wedgie story.'"

--Dallas Morning News

After years in Silicon Valley, Steven is living the good life back in Austin. He enjoys stolen moments with his wife, a beautiful Cajun queen from New Orleans, long walks with “Poochie,” his English Pointer and rainy Sundays at home.

“‘Tech is here to stay. Recession be damned,’ said Phenix. ‘Geeks invented the microchip, the Internet and somewhere out there, there is a pasty, socially awkward young man or woman who is hiding in the basement from the neighborhood bully, while inventing the killer app that will fuel the next surge in the economy.’”

--internet.au.com

Geeky

2005-01-15T00:04:00.000-06:00

Crying for attention since 1963!