| CHAPTER 3 |

TALK ISN’T CHEAP—IT’S UNDERVALUED

Communication Is the Front Line of Good PR

“It was impossible to get a conversation going, everybody was talkingtoo much.” —Yogi Berra

In former president Bill Clinton’s book Giving he writes about the unique way some African tribes greet each other. When someone says, “Hello,” the other person responds with, “I see you.” It’s a powerful message in a world where people can feel invisible, especially in relation to the brands they patronize and the products they buy and consume. Companies that use PR to engage customers—seeing them for who they are and noticing when they show up and what they do when they get there—build their businesses and grow. “Use contemporary, simple language,” says Laurence Haughton, a master storyteller, and author of The New York Times bestseller It’s Not What You Say ... It’s What You Do—How Following Through at Every Level Can Make or Break Your Company. “Don’t try to baffle people with numbers and big words, or try to make yourself sound smarter than they are. You’ll lose them.” Clear, resonant language is the best way to establish a personal rapport with the customer.

  A gift social media has given PR is the ability to have friendly, even intimate-feeling conversations with customers. It’s vital to listen to customer experiences if only because their sentiments, for better or worse, spread very quickly.

It amazes me how many companies neglect this simple task: connecting with customers via digital media, and giving them a chance to talk to you before making decisions that affect their experience. A gift social media has given is the ability to have friendly, even intimate-feeling conversations with customers. It’s vital to listen to customer experiences if only because their sentiments, for good or bad, spread very quickly. At that point you’re using PR to catch up with something that’s already happened, instead of using it to direct and control the conversation. At any rate, consumers have been taught that they can have a personal conversation with brands, so now they demand that direct access with the brands they deal with. They go online and tell everyone whether they are happy or unhappy with a brand experience. If you’re not paying attention, you’re missing what’s being said. It’s out there and has to be addressed.

SPEAK TO THE PERSON IN FRONT OF YOU

Doesn’t it annoy you when you’re talking with someone at a party and he’s constantly looking around to see if there’s someone more important with whom he can talk? When you try to get your PR message across to everyone, that’s essentially what you’re doing. Try narrowing your message and audience. As Fox News contributor and our brilliant client Dr. Keith Ablow says, “If you’re trying to be for everybody, you’re for nobody. When you’ve made your message so innocuous and so vanilla, you’re actually saying nothing.”

You’re never going to talk equally to all people, and you can’t try to if you hope to be successful. Sure, some monster brands talk to masses of people but even those megagroups represent niches, at least to a certain extent. The iPod, iPhone, and iPad are huge sellers, and Apple’s brand speaks to many people. Still, there are those who will never be Apple customers and the company knows it and is likely fine with it. The company’s language is honed to address tech- and fashion-savvy creative people, and it works hard to differentiate itself from the average tech brand.

Hank Sheinkopf is a master communicator who helped President Bill Clinton through the Monica Lewinsky matter and aided New Jersey governor Jim McGreevey through his “I am a gay American” debacle. Sheinkopf is a genius at strategy and a friend I regularly call for advice and counsel. “Never presume that people don’t care about issues,” he says. “They do. The secret is in finding the ones that matter to your audience and making them part of your brand mission.” In doing so, you create personal connections and unbreakable relationships. Sheinkopf calls this kind of communication “eliminating subtitles” and getting to “a direct expression of emotions that matter to the people you’re trying to win over.” Similarly, political pollster and consultant Frank Luntz calls it “eliminating the fine print.”

When brands, businesses, and politicians fail to understand that, they lose. Luntz told me in a recent discussion there are certain phrases that resonate with people—and will for the foreseeable future—phrases that get right to the heart and soul of what we’re talking about.

1. I get it. “Three little words that, when communicated, can stop whoever from complaining or fussing,” Luntz says. “It’s a short, simple sentence that is shortcut for ‘I empathize with you,’ and everyone understands it.” 5WPR’s motto since day one has been, “We get it,” and we try very hard to live up to that every day. If you can convey “I get it” in your messaging, you win with the consumer. I have known Luntz for maybe 10 years. He always looks slightly disheveled on TV, and is in “real life,” too. I always used to think it was a coincidence, but I’m less convinced of that today and instead think it speaks to this rule of his: making yourself approachable through appearance is another way to empathize with an audience—and to demonstrate that “you get it.”
2. No regrets. “We’re introspective and not happy with life today,” says Luntz. This reflects a new mood, one people have been in since 2008, he says. “Sharing the idea that your product or service is helping a consumer make it through life in a positive way with no regrets about the past makes people feel better, less insecure, and more willing to move forward,” he says.
3. Respect. This is a big one. “No one feels they get any,” says Luntz. “If you say to someone, ‘I respect you and respect your work, your time, your opinion,’ whatever. That’s an instant way to connect and establish a relationship with a customer.” And amazingly, saying it enables you to do things people wouldn’t otherwise accept.

Show You ‘Get It’

In 2004 we took on Avenue, a chain of more than 400 stores that sell plus-size clothing. The goal was to help the company grow its already successful business. The company’s mission is to dress women size 12 and larger. These women want to feel sexy just like any other women—they want the same kinds of fashion-forward, well-made clothing smaller women wear, but sized for a larger frame. Market research has shown that 62 percent of all American women wear a size 12 or larger, yet fashion magazines and media were not covering plus-size women. They were the ignored consumer in part because the fashion magazines, based in midtown Manhattan, just don’t see this woman (they certainly don’t see her in the offices of monthly women’s magazines, which are staffed with svelte young women).

Avenue had been listening to its customers, and what it kept hearing was customers’ frustration at not seeing women in fashion magazines that looked like them. They felt neglected or ignored by the fashion press, even though their dollars and support helped pay editors’ and writers’ salaries. We promoted this issue and lobbied Elle, Vogue, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, and other publications on behalf of Avenue’s customers. We said, “Look, you take ad dollars from this community, and the numbers show that a substantial portion of your readers are plus-size, yet your editorial coverage doesn’t address this audience through the use of larger models.” Our staff combed through past issues of these posh magazines and cut out ads from various brands that showed larger models (for household goods companies, beauty companies, and others). In order to properly reach and respect this segment of the audience, we persuaded reporters and editors (who live mainly in New York or Los Angeles; very few wear size 12+) to reexamine their editorial to see how it could better reflect the community they serve.

We did get coverage (our effort started out like pulling teeth with pliers), and several of the mainstream fashion magazines even featured plus-size models and products in their pages. These media impressions helped raise the profile of the plus-size industry and helped our client achieve important business goals. One of those goals was to let its customer base know that Avenue was listening to their concerns about underrepresentation in the magazines they read. The other was giving plus-size products the prominence they deserve in high-end fashion magazines.

To further make our point, we also staged a mock plus-size “protest” during New York Fashion Week, which resulted in about 150 million media impressions. Everyone from Entertainment Tonight to Access Hollywood to CNN covered it. Ten fabulous plus-size models held protest signs outside of Bryant Park, where Fashion Week was held at the time. The signs said things like “We are the real women of Wisteria Lane” (this was during the height of Desperate Housewives popularity). The models “protested” during the opening day of Fashion Week that they weren’t represented on the event’s runways—the real American woman was being ignored. These efforts were not only about talking to fashion editors and the fashion media but they were also about making the crusade personal by speaking to the plus-size women directly from high fashion’s “turf.” We wanted to make it clear that Avenue was firmly on these women’s side. It was all done with a sense of fun, even though we were making a valid point—and we wanted (and got) attention during Fashion Week.

It’s ironic that we had to work so hard to get women’s magazines to speak directly to a major portion of their readership: plus-size women. You would think that magazines would be eager to engage all their paying customers. Avenue uses beautiful plus-size models who are much more realistic but are still as “aspirational” as conventionally thin models. Besides, plus-size women want to feel sexy just as size-zero women want to feel sexy—and who says Gisele Bündchen is sexier than Christina Hendricks?

We continue to work in the plus-size arena with Redcats USA, which currently owns Avenue, as well as with OneStopPlus.com, the largest plus-size women’s online shopping mall, for whom we organized the first-ever plus-size fashion show during Fashion Week in the fall of 2010. Our core objective was to position OneStopPlus.com as a fashion-forward leader in the plus-size garment industry. We secured famed curvy models, fashion insiders, and plus-size celebrities such as Lizzie Miller, Toccara Jones, Nikki Blonsky, and Oscar-nominated actress Gabourey Sidibe to walk the red carpet and sit front row at our fashion show.

In doing so, we garnered positive coverage in more than 7.5 billion impressions (yes, you read it right) on such outlets as CBS Evening News, ABC News, BBC America, The Wall Street Journal, Vogue, and the New York Daily News, further positioning OneStopPlus.com as the leader of this plus-size movement (with live tweets during the show repeatedly from Woman’s Wear Daily, the fashion industry trade’s most important publication, and others). Our effort touched the customer and her specific needs and dreams. By mirroring this woman—a woman who, despite her clothing size, is interested in up-to-the-minute fashion trends—this company has a larger following of customers who know that the company cares about them and recognizes their value. Here’s how the plus-size market recognized and got in touch with its customers’ humanity, applicable to anyone with an audience:

1. Acknowledge the world your customer lives in so you can address her from the point of view of her interests, issues, and challenges. The plus-size market told a story about style and recognition for larger women.
2. Stand up for your customers, care about and advocate for them, and even defend them when necessary. Avenue literally “took it to the streets” in its efforts to win respect from the fashion media for its customers, and in the process won goodwill and loyalty from them.
3. Whether it’s through products, advertising, PR, or information, your customers feel appreciated for their uniqueness. Redcats USA highlights women’s plus-size figure and celebrates them for it—in all aspects of media. The company uses beautiful models (wearing their beautiful clothes), and its messaging is about making women feel great about who they are.

No Regrets: The Power of Ingratiation

Chabad.org is the official website for the worldwide Chabad-Lubavitch movement, the largest Jewish organization in the world, which promotes Judaism and provides daily Torah (the Jewish Bible) lectures and Jewish news and insights. Chabad does an enviable job of listening to its constituents, ingratiating itself, and becoming an integral part of their lives, allowing others to spread the word and entice more people to join the conversation. Its mission—to empower Jews worldwide by providing knowledge of their 3,300-year-old tradition—is realized in many ways, not the least of which is via a robust news and information service accessed daily by tens of thousands of people from all faiths across the globe. In fact, it welcomes 1.3 million unique visitors monthly, making it the most popular Jewish information site on the Web. I am proud to do pro bono work for the organization and attend local Chabad worship services.

It has, in particular, harnessed technology and social networking to fulfill its mission, and is an example of how organizations can go to where their constituents live in order to listen to and interact with them, even if they are in far-flung areas of the globe. “We serve all kinds of people on the website and through social media, enabling us to reach out to Jews and others in the furthest corners of the world,” says Rabbi Motti Seligson, who manages media relations for Chabad. It’s exactly this sense of community that is the dream of many brands. Chabad wins by offering a variety of interactive services and information that is continually updated, which keeps people coming back for more. “People come to us to study, some come for our ‘Ask the Rabbi’ feature (which gets hundreds of questions a day), each answered individually by a rabbi, some for inspiration, others for information, and news,” says Seligson. “We listen carefully to what they want and we give it to them.”

Visitors run the gamut of those who live in the middle of nowhere and don’t have a rabbi, to students looking for answers, to people in trouble looking for hope and help, to worldwide readers, including reporters for mainstream publications like The New York Times who depend on Chabad’s news service for up-to-date Jewish-related news from around the world. In 2008, the Times ran a story about the organization’s news arm—praising it for its ability to forge relationships with reporters from mainstream news outlets and exchange tips with them.

The coverage, which was great for the site, was the result of two New York Times reporters who used news feeds on Chabad while covering a Jewish-related news story involving breaking developments. “We have a network of 4,000 Chabad representatives or emissaries around the world, so when, for instance, there was a bombing in a Moscow airport or an earthquake in Japan, we can call the rabbi there and ask what’s happening and how they are helping,” says Seligson. The site also uses a host of freelancer writers (called stringers) who file dispatches from around the world, from Mumbai to Greece to the deep southern United States. Chabad uses social media platforms like Facebook and others successfully without sacrificing traffic on its vibrant hub. The organization keeps tweets short and provocative with relevant language and themes that always bring followers back to the home website via links. A few examples:

What’s wrong with washing your own brain?

Is the universe interactive multimedia?

18 Lessons in Happiness from the master of happiness

The secret they didn’t tell you is that The Secret is ripped off from the Zohar

Chabad’s Facebook postings are similar (“Can Judaism Be Fun?”), and also include feature- and news-story posts that always link back to its hub. More than 20,000 (and growing) fans read the threads and interact with each other and Chabad moderators. Many become fans via the main website and link back and forth between it, Facebook, and Twitter. “It is about a traditional movement with traditional foundations harnessing the power of technology,” says Seligson. “Everything in this world was created for a divine purpose, and it is our job to use the tools we are given for a higher purpose, whether it is TV or the Internet,” he says. With an attitude like that it’s not hard to see how Chabad has a built-in advantage when connecting with people.

“We’re a nonprofit and we have to work our tails off to raise funds. We have some generous donors but it’s always a struggle,” says Seligson. Because Chabad.org members feel they are part of a real community, the site received 5,000 contributions from visitors during a campaign before the Jewish high holidays in 2010. This outpouring of generosity speaks to the organization’s ability to reach out from that cold screen and make human contact.

The other smart outreach Chabad does is with its affiliate websites—1,300 of them, in fact. “Say you’re a rabbi in California running a camp or a school and you don’t necessarily have the budget to hire a dedicated programmer, or you have no time to build a sophisticated website and fill it with content. There’s a limit to how much of that you can do on your own,” says Seligson. So they can use Chabad’s back-end content and build a site with its own unique feel, complete with local information about programs (this is also great for Chabad’s Search Engine Optimization [SEO], which I discuss in Chapter 9). The rabbis can choose where they want Chabad content, including 15,000 audio and video files for streaming.

Chabad is a powerhouse technology—rich and easy to navigate—but it is the quality, variety, and daily freshness that keep people returning to the site. When visitors land on Chabad they are immediately welcomed and become quickly engaged with news, provocative and fun questions (there is no lack of humor and good cheer on the site), insight, advice, and information. Some useful takeaways from Chabad’s success:

1. Be “widely selective.” Engage people on multiple platforms in unique ways without overdoing it. Chabad uses social media thoughtfully and always in a way that drives people back to its hub. And it consistently ranks number one when searching for Jewish content online.
2. Don’t be rude. When a person accepts a brand or business into their social network, they don’t want to get advertisements, spam, requests for money (“donations”), or “invitations” to parties that are actually just phony sales events. Chabad keeps posts short, sweet, and focused.
3. Provide something of value. Chabad offers advice and news that’s current and usable—and integrated in one place. There’s really nowhere else on the Web where you can find as much Jewish content.
4. Stay relevant. Don’t post content just for the sake of posting content; otherwise people begin to ignore or delete it. Chabad posts are fresh and meaningful—it’s “news you can use” and hard reporting, new every day—hence, its own PR.
5. Show your speed. One of the best ways to use social media is to respond to constituents. When Chabad gets questions from fans, they are answered quickly and sincerely.
6. Ask a question. Customers are flattered when you ask for their opinions—and it’s a great way to engage people with your brand. Chabad poses questions often and it generates lively conversation and interaction among fans this way.
7. Consistency counts. Social media platforms are as important as any other platform in maintaining your core message, authenticity, and mission. Never let social media get away from those things—messages can quickly get out of control if the person or people maintaining your news feeds and postings aren’t constantly reminded of the brand’s mission and values.

A Bad Fit

One of the most blatant examples of insulting the customer comes from Gap Inc., when the company changed its iconic logo abruptly in 2010. Overnight, the recognizable blue box went from classic to something that felt very down market and discounted. It offended loyal consumers—the new logo insulted their taste and their intelligence.

Laird & Partners was the ad agency behind the new design, the Gap name displayed in a bold Helvetica font, with only the “G” capitalized, and a blue box placed behind the “p.” The change was not met with positive enthusiasm, to say the least—the Internet was on fire with criticism from design bloggers, customers, and other reviewers.

“It demonstrated the passion our customers and the community at large have for our brand” was the official company line. That’s a nice way of saying—it sucked. Gap failed to understand how its loyal customers feel about its brand identity. The company also underestimated the immediacy of social media—today customers can and do broadcast their opinions with lightning speed. Did this $3 billion corporation spend the same time on the logo change as it would on changing a crucial supply chain element? Did the ad executives (both at the agency and in-house) speak to any actual consumers? People will always comment on the new, and Gap Inc. should have recognized and proactively managed that process.

  Ultimately, a new logo or change in store appearance should say loud and clear that “we listened to you, watched what you were doing, saw what you wanted, and this is our response.”

Obviously, in the life of a brand it is vital to make milestone “stops” along the path and reconsider strategies. Gap Inc. was changing some of the styles it offers, and had said that the new logo was part of the evolution of the brand’s line. “The natural step for us on this journey is to see how our logo—one that we’ve had for more than 20 years—should evolve. Our brand and our clothes are changing, and rethinking our logo is part of aligning with that,” wrote Gap North America President Marka Hansen on October 7, 2010, in The Huffington Post. Yet Gap’s iconic line of clothing wasn’t changing drastically—the jeans and T-shirts hadn’t been reinvented. So why the logo revolution? Why squander equity with the customer? Logos and other design features, along with mottos, taglines, and mission statements, have value. The logo was just hanging out there by itself, stranded on a desert island. Customers ended up feeling confused, not enlightened. Ultimately, a new logo or change in store appearance should say clearly that “we listened to you, watched what you were doing, saw what you wanted, and this is our response.”

Then, just a few days later, on October 11, Gap announced it would kill the new logo and posted this statement on its Facebook page: “We’ve heard loud and clear that you don’t like the new logo. We’ve learned a lot from the feedback. We only want what’s best for the brand and our customers. So instead of crowd sourcing, we’re bringing back the Blue Box tonight.” In between the fracas the new logo created and the decision to pull it, Gap also tried to seduce customers into submitting their own designs for a new logo—a lame attempt at a design contest—a strategy that also failed.

Gap didn’t communicate its plan to change the logo beforehand—such changes are generally preceded by some strategic research or groundwork, and launches are usually accompanied by media coverage and advertising.

To no one’s surprise, Hansen was replaced and a corporate reshuffle, specifically in Gap’s creative team, followed. The company and its executives deserved the public spanking for this royal screw-up.

The debacle serves as a reminder about checking in with your audience. Major changes must be part of a larger narrative: a logo for a brand as large and prominent and consumer-oriented as Gap embodies a lot about a brand and its audience. How can you change the key visual connection between you and your audience and nothing else? What’s the new story that goes along with it? What did its new logo say about the “new” Gap or its new clothing? No story was ever told by Gap—what’s different other than the logo and what are we saying about it?

  Politicians need 51 percent of the population to succeed—businesses can win without a majority.

YOU TALKING TO ME?

Misreading an audience and getting the language wrong is why many public relations mistakes happen—often at a moment when you’re barely out of the gate. In 2006 5WPR partnered with a marketing company (and client), Vital Marketing, to launch what we called the “Hamptons Roundtable,” which was a summer series of networking events at a posh East Hampton estate we had rented for the season. We wanted to create, as BusinessWeek termed it, “a more formal summer marketing house”—a selective social venue for 75 to 100 marketing influencers. We envisioned it as a place where the who’s who of New York City could gather in the summer in the very place where many New Yorkers go to escape the city—the Hamptons.

The program was ambitious, and we managed to get a great deal of media coverage for it (including Newsday and BusinessWeek). Topics included:

• “Brands & Celebrities: How They View One Another”
• “Young Millionaires: Come Join the Elite of the Elite”
• “The Future of Youth Marketing—What’s Hot, What’s Not?”

Despite the press, and our hard work and best intentions, we misread the Hamptons audience. We didn’t speak to the audience correctly and so the PR we did get, which was great, didn’t work as intended—to get the right participants. The use of the words “formal” and “corporate” in our press releases—words that were repeated in news stories—were a turnoff to the people we were trying to entice. In the first place, people who go to the Hamptons don’t want to do “formal” networking on summer weekends—they want to escape. The primary purpose of visiting the Hamptons is for rest and relaxation. Secondly, the Hamptons is actually a series of towns separated only by short mileage distances, but in the summer it becomes congested with outrageous traffic as well. East Hampton, South Hampton, West Hampton, and Bridgehampton can suddenly be an hour away in brutal one-lane traffic. Why would someone want to drive three hours from Manhattan only to spend two more hours in a car getting to and from an event that, for all practical purposes, seems like work? It was an expensive lesson about misreading an audience. Of course, my staff didn’t mind—we opened the house to them for their summer use and enjoyment in an act of making lemonade from a lemon.

We learned that it’s not enough anymore to simply collect data on demographics (the age, gender, and occupation of your customers) because that information is so generic that it’s nearly impossible to discern useful nuggets from such cold facts. Based on the demographics of our Hamptons audience, the summer house should have been a hit. What we didn’t get was that other layer—how they thought about their personal time. Even the most driven executives don’t want to swap business cards when they could be spending moments with their kids, whom they may not have seen much of during the school year, and even more so when sitting in brutal traffic when the weather’s gorgeous. Our PR might have resulted in a better turnout had we emphasized the idea that the summer house was a place where people could mingle with families, or whomever they chose to bring, in a casual and relaxed atmosphere and meet interesting people they may not have access to in New York City.

We did much better when we orchestrated a somewhat similar idea—with strategic differences—with our “Escape Mansion” at the Sundance Film Festival a few years in a row. We drew a lot of celebrities to an after-hours house because they knew they could relax and unwind without much press around, and we wouldn’t leak anything. The Escape Mansion itself received enormous positive press for 5WPR and sponsors—but in a way that allowed our high-profile guests to maintain their privacy. That’s why, despite competing with events sponsored by major brands like MySpace and Motorola, 5WPR’s Sundance Escape Mansion became the destination of choice for Sean Combs, Nick Cannon, Harvey Weinstein, Kim Kardashian, Paris Hilton, Sienna Miller, Josh Hartnett, gossip guru Perez Hilton, Mary Kate Olsen, BET CEO Debra Lee, Marc Ecko, billionaire Ron Burkle, and many others. The buzz at Sundance for our mansion was amazing—it was the “it” venue despite the fact that we had no official relationship with the film festival. We rented a house nearby the festival because we knew many of the celebrities in attendance, and knew they would come to our events.

We understood that this audience didn’t want to go home after the official events and parties were over (in alcohol-free, post-midnight Mormon Utah), but they certainly didn’t want to necessarily work yet another room. So the whole event was designed to be relaxing and fun—with people they knew and trusted—and that’s how the best impromptu networking happens anyway. Unlike the Hamptons Summer House there was no hint that the Escape Mansion was anything remotely like “work” (and we achieved that in part by partnering the 5WPR house with the owners of 1Oak/Butter, hot New York City nightclub operators). It was a unique experience for festival goers, celebrities, influencers, and brands, where they could relax, eat, and socialize. No topical courses or lectures—this was all about fun.

In the process, we created an organic presence for our sponsors (and 5WPR). Clients Bud Select and Evian provided the drinks, and BoostMobile created lounging pillows (with its name emblazoned on them), so attendees had a very hands-on experience with these sponsors, creating a lasting impression. Skin-care product client AHAVA was the exclusive skin-care sponsor at our adjunct Sundance Escape Style Studio. This gave us the opportunity to educate celebrity influencers on AHAVA’s brand identity.

Our Sundance Escape resulted in media coverage in Star Magazine, OK! Weekly, Forbes.com, PerezHilton.com, Variety (“The 5W Sundance Escape mobilized all of Park City last night”), The Salt Lake City Tribune (“Your chances of attending: Unless you are a VIP by the party-thrower’s definition, forget it”), and many others. Planned paparazzi photos of celebrities with products made an impression with fans, too. Many of those pictures went viral and were widely seen on the Web. It all started because we had a great event that was communicated to the right people in the right way.

Perception Is Reality

We represent a B2B finance company located in the Midwest that has, over the past 10 years, grown into an $50 million, award-winning powerhouse. Working methodically in diverse business categories, including automotive, construction, dry cleaning, medical, restaurants, and hair salons, it has built up a robust and loyal client base. It solves finance problems for its clients, most of whom are small and midsized businesses that can’t afford to buy outright many items required for them to succeed. Few of its customers are aware of how large the company is, and the firm likes it that way. The owners feel that if the company’s size were widely known, the personal, homey feel their customers like could be lost. These are relationships that have been cultivated over many years and the owners don’t want to lose them.

We have worked with the company to fine-tune and tailor PR messages to this specific audience by keeping things simple. In fact, one of the owners carries a business card that identifies him simply as “Vice President”—a message that says, “I’m just one of you,” when he’s in the field meeting with clients. A card that reads “Founder and CEO” could be off-putting to his customers. (By the way, he doesn’t wear a bespoke suit and tie, or drive his Mercedes S-Class when meeting clients. Appearance is part of language.)

Our press outreach is usually focused on interviews for trade publications geared to the various industries in which it is involved (Chef Magazine, Pizza Today, California Builder, Equipment Journal). Seeing the company name in these trusted industry magazines with quotes from the owners reassures existing clients and attracts new clients. We also help the company create case studies that include customer testimonials. This strategy helps entice others to become customers. Hearing stories from peers—told in the shared language of their industry—is relevant, relatable, and reassuring.

The company’s website is also basic. It can certainly pay the most tech-forward, advanced Web designers but chooses not to, because when customers come to its site, they feel at home, aren’t intimidated, and don’t feel like the company’s services are out of their league. There’s nothing slick or extravagant about it. The company hits the right tone for its audience.

Capturing the LOHAS, Bite by Bite

Kellogg’s, famous for Corn Flakes, Special K, and Rice Krispies, among other iconic cereal brands, bought the Morningstar Farms brand when it acquired Worthington Foods in 1999, and the Kashi Brand in 2000—both purveyors of organic and natural foods. These acquisitions fit into the Kellogg’s brand; the company founder, W.K. Kellogg, had a strong commitment to nutrition, health, and quality, and that core value continues to drive the company today. Both Kashi and Morningstar Farms maintain websites separate from Kellogg’s (although you can find both brands on the flagship corporate site). Their sites are very different in look, content, and feel from the Kellogg’s site. While Kellogg’s home site is cheerful and bright, alive with Keebler elves, Pop-Tarts, and happy kids and moms, the Kashi and Morningstar Farms websites, in contrast, are colorful but lighter and fresher in feel—the palette of both is more natural.

Jeff Hilton, chief marketing officer and cofounder of Integrated Marketing Group, a marketing and branding agency that specializes in the natural health products industry, says that Kellogg’s has handled the Kashi and Morningstar Farms brands well. “Smart companies like Kellogg’s do the research to distinguish between their base brand and the natural food brand—these are two very different groups who have divergent needs and interests,” he says, “including food and nutrition.”

Hilton says that brands like Kashi and Morningstar Farms speak to a specific demographic known as LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability)—upscale and well-educated consumers who are interested in sustainable living and green or ecological products and services. “LOHAS make up about one-third of Americans,” he says, “and brands who want to reach this robust, smart group need to tell a story that includes the benefits of their product because LOHAS care about the quality and virtue of what they’re buying.”

When speaking to this audience, Hilton says the tone is often less glossy and polished. The choice of words and images has an unfinished, slightly scrappy and organic feel. “It’s somewhat crude or handmade in feel, but in an appealing, upscale way,” says Hilton. “Kashi, for example, takes a more intimate, conversational approach in its messaging. Slick images and pop culture language might drive away LOHAS.” Take a look at the Kashi website and you’ll see soft and natural colors, text that looks “handwritten,” and many natural and environmental images. This is quite different from Kellogg’s primary-colored, splashy, cartoonish, kid-centric site. Kashi maintains this organic yet sophisticated look and feel across its entire content—advertising, social media, and product packaging.

The danger for Kashi, or any brand that caters to an educated niche market, lies in getting too comfortable with where it is since the LOHAS consumer group could turn its back on the brand if they sense a change in voice. LOHAS are too authentic to get suckered into campaigns that shove brand names and ubiquitous claims down their throats. LOHAS want a nonabrasive, authentic feel, and they’re willing to pay more for it. Social media and social networking mean natural brands have to be especially transparent and authentic because niche groups can see right through it when a brand is not being honest. When they like you, they are one of the most loyal demographics around. But they can tell when they’re being “greenwashed.” Greenwashing is the unjustified appropriation of environmental virtues by a company to create a pro-environmental image and sell products to environmentally conscious consumers.

Authenticity is one reason why Whole Foods is so successful. A conventional supermarket sells a bit less than $400 per square foot while Whole Foods sells in excess of $800 per square foot, and not necessarily because its products are more expensive than the local supermarket’s. They aren’t. It is because, like Kashi, the 30-year-old grocery chain gets the tone right for its primarily LOHAS customers and talks them into buying more. Everything from the look of the store to its marketing initiatives hits that right tone. Go into any Whole Foods store and you’ll see signs that look handwritten, displays made from rough-hewn wood, and produce arranged in the same way you would see it at a country farm stand.

Whole Foods PR is subtle and based more on community, educational and charitable projects, and viral campaigns than glitzy events and in-your-face promotions. For instance, they give shoppers a chance to donate to micro-lending programs the company’s nonprofit arm sponsors in developing countries. It recently kicked off a campaign to provide shoppers with transparency about how farm animals are raised. It offers beef, pork, and chicken certified under the 5-Step Animal Welfare Rating system, a signature program of Global Animal Partnership, a nonprofit organization that facilitates and encourages continuous improvement in animal agriculture.

The company also features a Health Starts Here program in its more than 300 stores, which offers products, education, practical tools, and wellness resources to promote healthy lifestyles. Over the holidays, Whole Foods offers free shipping to military men and women overseas. All of these initiatives and others serve to further positive public relations and speak directly to the concerns of LOHAS, reinforcing what’s special about the brand—purveyors of the highest-quality healthy foods. How can you not help but feel virtuous when you shop at the store?

TACTILE INTELLIGENCE

Brick-and-mortar retailers such as Whole Foods have a huge advantage when it comes to learning how to talk to customers because they are able to watch them shop and interact physically with their wares in real time. When we work with brick-and-mortar clients, we always visit their locations because that is the heart and soul—the epicenter—of a retailer’s PR. The Samsung Experience in New York City is, more than anything, a seven-day-a-week PR campaign. It’s a fantastic, fun store that does a lot to promote the brand in an immediate, personal way. It speaks to its customers in an experiential language—you can sit on a couch and watch a game, engage the latest computer technology, check out appliances in an incredible setting, play electronic games, and try out cameras. The company’s products are about a technologically savvy, but highly aesthetic, lifestyle. It wants to create that experience in the store and it succeeds. Even if you don’t buy something on the spot, you’ll be more inclined to buy a Samsung product online or at another retailer because a visit to the flagship store spoke to you in a language that stuck.

Tightening the Belt

Small businesses benefit from being in the thick of things, meeting customers on their turf. Our client Badichi Belts exemplifies this theory and, as a result, is a small business achievement story. A few years ago Yinon Badichi, still in his early 30s, came to the United States to start a custom fashion belt shop, similar to those owned by his older brother in Israel. His mission was to offer fashion-conscious men and women the opportunity to design and fit their own belts. “I decided to come to the temple of fashion, New York’s SoHo, to establish a store,” says Badichi. Instead of starting out with an Internet business, which would have been a less costly risk, he jumped into the deep end of the pool and found a location in one of the chicest, most sought-after and expensive commercial real estate markets in the country.

Badichi’s idea filled a niche that didn’t yet exist in fashionable New York—custom belts for men, women, and even children that could be completed in a couple of minutes. “I knew that everyone is into customization of everything these days, from personalized news feeds to custom-made jeans.” Belts are the last touch on an outfit; as a result they are often an afterthought on a retailer’s part, which is why you often find belts set aside in a corner of a store. Belts are also the last frontier of bespoke, or custom-made clothing and accessories. The core mission of Badichi Belts is to elevate the belt and make it central to a fashionable person’s sense of individual style. Set in a comfortable, interactive atmosphere that emphasizes personal service, belt-making becomes fun, too. “It’s a little park for adults,” says Badichi. His service extends to changing the leather or the buckle on existing belts.

A unique idea is great, but selling it successfully depended on finding the perfect spot for the first store, because location is the most important thing in retail. It had to be a place where both fashion-conscious New Yorkers and tourists flocked and shopped. Since belt buckles and straps don’t take up a lot of room, Badichi was able to find a pocket-sized space to set up shop. The first location he found on Prince Street—central to all the retail and restaurant action in the heart of SoHo—opened in 2009. The second space, which opened in 2010, was in an even more prominent location, at the corner of West Broadway and Broome Street. “I had to make the stores look good from outside so I created an outdoor display because, even if it’s a little cheesy, I had to let people know what I had. With a small space with small display windows, the sidewalk is one of the few display options you have.”

It didn’t end there; the product, as always, had to be good quality because positive word-of-mouth would have to be the first line of communication. The store also had to be manned with great salespeople who could relate to customers from around the block and from around the world. “They are the on-the-ground warriors for public relations,” says Badichi. In this case, salespeople focus on helping the customer get in touch with their creativity and personal style. It’s a personal language. “We make customers feel comfortable right away, and encourage them to spend time experimenting with color, texture, and unexpected combinations,” says Badichi.

When those important elements were in place—product, idea, location, people, and language—the next strategy was a concerted PR campaign: creating the image, getting the buzz, and spreading the word to the New York and fashion press, including bloggers. The custom idea was quite unique, so 5WPR was able to catch the eye of reporters. Badichi Belts was covered in Woman’s Wear Daily (the Bible of the fashion industry), Lucky, Fox News, NBC, ABC, and named “The Best Shop for Belts” in New York Magazine’s “Best of” issue, among other media plugs.

“It was great, but it was also too much, too soon,” says Badichi, who was surprised by the overwhelming public reaction to the media. “People outside of New York wanted to order belts, and we didn’t have a Web presence set up so they could do that.” While Badichi was talking to customers on the ground and learning about what they liked, he wasn’t able to communicate effectively with remote customers. He was speaking their language (you’re creative enough to invent your own belt, and I will make it easy and fun for you), but not fast enough.

“I wasn’t prepared for what happened, but I am a great believer in experience. I learned that media has an immediate impact. You have to plan ahead for whatever it might bring.” Badichi hopes to extend the brand to include leather cuffs, wallets, and other small leather accessories that can be customized. “We want to expand our stores and open three or four more in New York City, with perhaps one big store, with every belt you can imagine. What’s life without a fantasy!” he says. Is he afraid of copycats? “Not really—part of what we sell is authentic. The store has my name and I’m a real person; I am my own customer, so the stores will always have a very personal, creative, and intimate feel. If someone on the West Coast wants to open a custom belt store, that’s okay. It won’t be the same as my shop.”

Your idea and mission should give you a clear idea of your position in the marketplace and the language you need to speak. In Badichi’s case, he identified fashionable people with a strong sense of creativity and style. The store, the salespeople, and even the design-it-yourself concept all contribute to the language Badichi Belts speaks. Remember, too, that location is language. Your physical presence has to fit your voice and mission and the personality of your intended customer.

A key misstep of Badichi was not being prepared for customers outside of his brick-and-mortar purview—a result of both word-of-mouth from national and international tourists and from the press he received, particularly in the digital world. Your best-case scenario is to assume you will be inundated following a media rollout—even a rudimentary website and basic customer service infrastructure is vital.

Bottom line: know your customers, and allow your PR strategy to move and grow with them. The smartest CEOs and business owners leave their ivory towers and check in with who’s doing what in their space. It’s not always only about studying data or reviewing charts. It is often as simple as the old-school scratch-and-sniff stickers for kids: sometimes they work (and smell great), and sometimes they don’t. Get out there and smell the air for yourself.