The old saw that any publicity is good publicity is being challenged by NBC Universal executives.
Good PR or Bad PR?
Many celebrities and those in the entertainment industry want and even crave publicity. Good PR or bad PR, they want to be in the boldface type in the newspaper, magazine or online.
I find it hard to believe that Jeff Zucker and his team foresaw the groundswell or vitriol about Jay Leno, Conan O’Brien and The Tonight Show.
Must See TV
NBC, the Peacock Network that invented the term “Must See TV” has announced that it is discontinuing nearly one third of its Prime Time product lineup (Jay Leno Show) in its first year on the market. The ripple effect into late night TV has caused Conan O’Brien to decline to move the Tonight Show to 12:05 from 11:35.
Businesses strive to have new products or services make up a portion of their sales. New products replace aging or obsolete products. That is not the case here. The star that was moved out of his successful show (Jay Leno) now will go back to his prior show. Seems like a do over.
His successor, Conan O’Brien, who waited five years for The Tonight Show slot in exchange for not leaving and not going to a competitor, is leaving to become the competition.
The Result
Ratings are down for each of the shows, the stars are unhappy, the pundits and bloggers are having a ball. Lots of publicity but no good result other than a short lived bump in The Tonight Show ratings when Conan O’Brien vented against his bosses.
Latest News
The latest news indicates that Jeff Zucker is pushing responsibility onto one of his lieutenants. Conan O’Brien is rumored to be getting in the neighborhood of $30 million for not working. He should be able to have his own show on another network like Fox in less than a year.
Could there be a worse outcome from this debate?
The Takeaway
Each firm should have an executable PR plan. More importantly that PR plan must have a crisis management plan ready to implement.
That Is How I See It. How About You?
- Do you have an executable PR plan?
- Do you still believe that any PR is good PR?
- Do you have a crisis management plan ready to pull of the shelf in an emergency?
3 replies on “All PR Is Not Good PR”
I think you just need to look at Toyota to see that not all PR is good….!
No, I do not think that any PR is good PR. Take a look at politics today. what value does the average person put on someone who tears another down? What work is actually accomplished when a politician or a major sports figure is discovered to have an affair ruining their life and the lives of their loved ones, in broad daylight no less. Unintentional bad luck is one thing but electing to partake of bad behavior is another. If you can’t tell your Mother about it then don’t do it!
I think that if you do good things for other, help people as best you can, you’ll get great PR. People remember kind acts, helpful pieces of advice and good service.
I have two businesses, both small. One is a chess coaching business (my husband and I work together to teach children) and the other is freelance writing (I work on my own there).
Crisis management for Your Chess Coach means I pick up the phone and call my client’s mommy and handle it with good communication. 🙂
With small businesses you have to just do the best you can. You usually don’t have a giant PR budget and must find creative ways to get your name out there.
Blogging and social networking are two good, free ways to gain good publicity. If you apply the reasoning that by doing good things and helping other you can gain all the PR you want!