The case of the missing credit

We all know the deal.  Journalists aren’t always interested in your cause.  Some are far more interested in the celebrity, so you hammer out a compromise.  They get access to the celebrity and you get an agreed plug for an area of your work.

A typical example would be Sam Fox.  She is a big supporter of Scope and as such went to support the charity at BGC’s charity day (see The biggest celebfest of the year!).  The Guardian asked for an interview and, having been asked by the charity, she agreed.

For Sam it was something she was doing for the charity, not because she particularly wanted to do an interview for the Guardian. A deal had been struck that they would mention that Sam was supporting Scope at BGC.

Fantastic, everyone wins.  The article came out on Saturday and you can read it here.  There’s a prize for anyone who can spot the reference to the charity – it’s alright I’m not being generous, there isn’t one.

One of the most frustrating parts of working with celebrities is that no matter how hard you work, how well you cross the T’s and dot the I’s, the moment the interview has happened you have, in most cases, lost control.  For whatever reason someone, probably a sub-editor, has cut the credit.

As so many communications folk will tell you this happens more often than you’d like.  It’s certainly happened to me.  A journalist may promise the earth but even they don’t control their work.  What appears in the media is ultimately down to subs and editors.

Is there a solution? In reality, no.  You could go back to the journalist and complain but that won’t change the article.  You could try and guilt trip them into doing something else for you but there’s no guarantee.  The fact is PR is not an exact science.  There are no guarantees.  A piece which was timed to promote an event may not get run until it’s too late.  Even worse you go through all that and then there’s a real news story which means it gets dropped altogether.

So next time something like this happens around your project don’t blame the celebrity manager or media person who set it up.  Just be glad you don’t have a job where you can spend hours working on something with no positive outcome at the end – and remember that the celebrity manager is the one who has to explain to the celebrity why the credit didn’t appear………and if they’re really unlucky, as a friend of mine was, the celebrity manager may also be getting it in the ear from the celeb's own publicist.

Lies, Damned Lies & Statistics

We all use them.  They form a vital part of our work.  So often I’ve talked to celebrity supporters about how many people are affected by a condition or the number of people whose lives can be changed by support. 

So in this blog post there are no celebs but a tribute to the people we all rely on. The statisticians! 

Tomorrow, 20/10/2010 is the first, UN organised, World Statistics Day. OK not very sexy but when I found the National Statistical Office of Papua New Guinea had commissioned a jingle “to celebrate the many achievements of official statistics, to development” I just felt I had to share (the link takes you to the complete lyrics) and you can hear the jingle by clicking on the player below.

So whilst budgets are slashed, Quangos turned into charities, public sector redundancies soar and we all tighten our belts, here’s a little something to cheer you up.  But don’t expect it to last – I’m sure the jingle budget will be one of the first to go in the UK’s Comprehensive Spending Review.

Celebrity Auctions - the route to riches?

When you want to raise money surely what you need is a few big names.  Who bigger (if you’re a child or parent) than Dora the Explorer?  For five year olds she’s a global superstar translated into 30 languages.

But why stop there?  Let’s add some other big names to the mix: Jade Jagger, Eva Longoria-Parker, Salma Hayek-Pinault, Jessica Alba, Matthew McConaughey & Camila Alves, Heidi Klum, Shakira, Sheryl Crow and finally let’s throw in former Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash.  With all those names the money’s bound to roll in - isn't it?

Well that was the stunning line-up put together by the folks at Nick Jr to mark the 10^th anniversary of Dora.  The nine stars designed their own version of Dora the Explorer back packs and they were auctioned in the UK for UNICEF and the US for the Dora ‘Beyond the Backpack Foundation’.

In the US the backpacks were on display in the window of Macy’s Herald Square store.  There was an even a celebrity unveiling of the window.

I don’t have the figures for the amount raised in the US but in the UK the total was a mere £1,211.  So why bother?  The time and effort involved for something like this is enormous.  To be fair I suspect UNICEF were merely recipients rather than active partners.  In reality it was a PR event to raise awareness of Nick’s CSR activities through the Foundation.

Which brings us to the point. These types of auction shouldn’t be seen as a primarily fundraising activity.  There will always be exceptions, for example some sporting memorabilia, but a vast amount of celebrity auctions don’t make a huge amount of money, especially online.  They can however get you great publicity.

There are also reputational issues.  In the UK auction Matthew McConaughey and Camila Alves’ bag went for only £26. Not something you would necessarily want to have to report back to your star who’s donated their time.

Auctions should be approached with caution and a clear idea of what you’re trying to achieve.  If PR’s your aim that’s great but it’s worth thinking long and hard if you’re investing a great deal of staff time with the specific aim of raising funds via an online auction.  If it’s one of a series of lots at an event where people can get ‘caught in the moment’ an item will probably do much better.

Shout it from the rooftops!

Steve Cram MBE, sports presenters Hazel Irvine, Clare Tomlinson and Jim Rosenthal, Kelly Cates, commentator Clive Tyldesley and Soccer AM's Max Rushden – just some of the names NOT mentioned in a tweet from CRUK yesterday.

Whilst I know a tweet is short I’d have mentioned “sports celebrities” rather than plug the venue.  The event, for the Bobby Moore Fund, looks like a really great evening and clearly an important fundraiser; it brought in nearly £200k last year.

So why not mention the celebrities - they emphasise what a big event this is?  If like me you follow lots of tweeters a tweet needs to stand out.  Whilst you can never rely on PR this is a simple free way to maximise the value of celebrity support and gain awareness beyond those who might attend on the night.

But there’s another reason why mentioning the names of celebrity supporters is important.  Not everyone either follows you or looks at your website. If you haven’t mentioned them then someone doing a web search for their favourite celebrity may not show up their support for you.

CRUK have clearly created a clever, successful event that has strong sports industry support – which adds credibility to a sports quiz.

The key thing to remember is to always maximise the value of support because you can’t rely on PR coverage. As I mentioned in “David Schneider in a crop top” it’s important to mention celebrity support wherever you can, so shout about it in your own publications, newsletters and your social media channels.  It increases the chance of your work or fundraising activities being heard about and, with the right celebrity, enhances your reputation.