Trade Tips: Altruism or Publicity Stunt?

Trade Tips: Altruism or Publicity Stunt?

By Nicole Hayes

Have you seen a campaign or action that initially appeared altruistic but then wreaked of self-promotion? The following effort may be an example of that, but I'll let you decide.

This past weekend's "Super Soul Sunday" on Oprah's OWN network, aired the documentary "No Impact Man" created by Colin and Michelle Bevan of New York City, as part of a yearlong quest to reduce their carbon and environmental footprint as much as possible. Working off the “reduce, reuse and recycle” model, the Bevan’s went without electricity (six months, including television), took stairs instead of elevators (including access to their fifth floor co-op), bicycled New York’s congested streets (with toddler daughter in tow) for one year. The Bevan family washed their clothes in the bathtub, ate by candlelight and tried alternate means of refrigeration with a Nigerian flower pot idea that wasn’t successful. They eventually requested daily ice cubes from their neighbor's freezer for their cooler, grocery shopped from farmer's markets, used cloth diapers for baby as opposed to disposable—all to reduce their personal waste. Their perceived intent was that their diary of yearlong sacrifice when viewed by the public would spur a movement and behavioral change among individuals—and the promote Colin’s book, No Impact Man. Yes, Colin is an author. Michelle is a senior writer at Business Week.

http://www.oprah.com/own-supersoulsunday/blogs/Highlights-from-No-Impact-Man

While the Bevan’s can be applauded for their efforts to change how we treat our environment, understanding their professional backgrounds makes me question whether the message was 100% altruistic. Furthermore, they might have unintentionally defeated their "no impact" effect—by adding to the public’s carbon footprint. The couple landed multiple interviews on national television talk shows—interviews that occurred in television studios using wattages upon wattages of electricity. Studios delivered the Bevan’s interviews to millions of viewers who could only see the "no impact" information via their plugged in televisions and computers. Speeches and workshops could have been conducted in a park, sparing the electricity used by millions. Not only that, their neighbor who gave them daily ice from her freezer, was making her own carbon footprint so the Bevan’s didn’t have to. Does this make sense?

As communications professionals we strive to ensure that our messages, strategies, tactics and outcomes/impact align with our goals.

Was the Bevan’s purpose met or was it simply a publicity stunt?

Video: Remembering the Tuscon Shooting Tragedy, One Year Later

Remembering the Tuscon Shooting Tragedy,

One Year Later

By: Ryan Duncan

Yesterday was the anniversary of the horrific shooting in Tucson, Arizona, which wounded Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, killed six, and injured 13 more. In a new video, survivors talk about how that day has affected their lives, and the strength they've found in the days since. It's hard to believe it's only been a year since this terrible tragedy. Especially hard to believe how far Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords has come in her recovery since then. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all effected by this event.

Trade Tips: Are Your 2012 Goals S.M.A.R.T.?

Are Your 2012 Goals S.M.A.R.T.?

By Nicole Hayes

Hi Good People! McKinney & Associates hopes you enjoyed the holidays and your New Year has started well. We appreciate your reading of our "Comm in the Storm" blog and we'll work to continually provide you with helpful and insightful information throughout 2012.

Our December 20, 2011 blog post "To Be New, You Have to Do New" offered tactics for successful goal-setting. The New Year is here. We feel refreshed with new energy, goals and ideas; ready to conquer the world. However, you soon realize there's more involved to planning and your superhero belt and bracelet is defunct. Before you're off and running without a plan, let's make sure your goals and plans are S.M.A.R.T. !

Specific: Does the goal or idea clearly meet a specific need or solve a problem? Have you defined the "who, what, when, where, why and how" details? Does your goal or idea have substance?

Measurable: Can the goal or idea be measured against previous benchmarks or with an idea of what success will look like? ("Success will look like this if "x" number of people sign up or "x" happens by this date")

Actionable: Have the "who" in your goal or idea been assigned a role with a full understanding of their deliverable? Do they understand how, where, when and why to complete assigned deliverable? (Example: Send out newsletters, email supporters, secure venue, host fundraiser, etc.)

Results-Driven/Realistic: Does your goal or idea amplify how you want yourself or your audience to react, think or feel? Does the goal or idea support the business you're in? Is your goal or idea realistically attainable with the people and elements you have in place? Honestly assess this.

Timeframed: Is there an attainable, thought-out timeline and deadline attached to your goal or idea for successful completion? Is every action accompanied by a "due date"?

You may have already been familiar with S.M.A.R.T. yet a refresher is good for aligning our thinking. We hope this helps and wish you the best success.

2011 Buh-Bye!

2011 Buh-Bye!

Wow, hard to believe another year is over and a new one is about to begin again! There was a lot that happened in the world this year, and it always feels refreshing to begin a new year with a clean slate. We at McKinney & Associates would like to thank you for following our Comm in the Storm blog with us all year, and hope you will continue to do so in 2012. We have a lot of exciting things coming up, a new website, a new look for the blog, and lots of PR Tips, and important stories to share. We'll be taking a brief hiatus from blogging until after the New Year, when we'll be returning on January 3rd. We leave you with this very funny 2011 year-in-review video from JibJab. We think they pretty much hit it all the major headlines in this video. What do you think? Is there anything they missed? Happy New Year everyone!

Helping Doesn't Have a Season

Helping Doesn't Have a Season

By: Shannon Mouton

From Thanksgiving to Christmas, the downtrodden, the less fortunate and the those generally in need find themselves the beneficiaries of kindness, care and generosity. They receive traditional Thanksgiving and Christmas meals; they receive gifts and their children receive toys. Many people give during the holiday season. This is when they make their annual donation, when they give or do extra and for some, it spurs them to giving for the first time.

This is wonderful! America is giving country and her citizens a giving people, with a spirit for helping those in need. America is blessed beyond measure and it is only right that those with more help those with less. Americans should be proud of themselves...for 31 out of 365 days, you take time to see what you daily ignore. Bravo! Yes, you are reading sarcasm.

What about the rest of the year, the other 334 days?

What will they eat?

Where will they sleep?

What will their children play with?

This is not an indictment of what Americans don't do, rather it is a clarion call to keep it up throughout the year. Let this season be the beginning of a life of giving, sharing and caring for your neighbors, not just a one time event.



Trade Tip: To Be New, You Have to Do New

Trade Tip: To Be New, You Have to Do New

By Nicole Hayes

Albert Einstein said, "If you want different results, do not do the same thing." He makes good sense but why is this easier said than done? Humans are creatures of habit and often times "new" or "change" can mean "scary."

The fear may be real but shouldn't paralyze you from taking the first step. As we enter another new year, we may have hopes to lose weight, repair relationships, arrive to work on time, improve public speaking skills or begin a new business. All of this is possible with some tips to bring you closer to reaching your goals. Last December, friend and colleague Kareen Riviere, PhD, desired to begin a nonprofit to help protect girls and women in Haiti from violence but knew nothing about beginning an organization. She read books, learned the processes step-by-step, overcame her fears and launched The Empower Foundation this April. She shares these tips for setting and reaching your goals and identifying 'success:'

1- Write it down. Write your goal(s) in measurable, practical steps you can actually achieve. Trying to lose 20 lbs in two weeks is unrealistic. Be specific, not ambiguous. If you want to get up earlier for work, say "I will get up 30 minutes earlier" rather than "I'll get up earlier."

2- Tell others. Share your goals with friends, family or partners to keep you accountable.

3- Lighten up. Let go of emotions that make you feel bad about why you need to make the change (overweight, not so great speaker). Improve from where you are now. Right now is the perfect place to start. Refrain from saying, "I can't workout at the gym because I'm too overweight to exercise in front of people." Or, "I am a poor public speaker so I can't join Toastmasters because others may speak better than me".

4- Today counts. Speak about your goals in present tense. "I'm losing weight right now instead of "Someday I will be slender." You are working toward your goal everyday, achieving your goals in the moment. It's happening right now.

5- It's all good! Don't throw away your plan if you make an error, mistake. Get back on the bike and ride! Every day is new.

6- Every day is full of possibilities. What's your possibility for that day? What are you creating for today? Think about today and not the past.

7- Silence the hype. Don't let your mind talk you out of your goal. Your mind operates in survivor mode, working to keep you comfortable and pain-free as possible. It doesn't really like change. Your mind will perceive change as being "dangerous." Feel the fear, push through and do it anyway!

8- You are success. You create what is successful for yourself. You make your own ruler.

9- Tick, tock but don't stop. Realize the final outcome/product takes time. Rome wasn't built in a day.

10- Get ready for new in 2012!

Criminal Justice: Finally- A New Sheriff in Town

Associated Press

Finally- A New Sheriff in Town

By: Llenda Jackson-Leslie

Civil rights supporters heard welcome news on a couple of fronts last week. First Attorney General Eric Holder made it clear in a speech at the LBJ Center at the University of Texas that the Department of Justice was prepared, able and ready to enforce the Voting Rights Act, and to seek legal sanctions against states refusing to comply. Welcome news for voting rights supporters busy tallying up the new restrictive voting measures passed in 25 states.

Then in an even more satisfying move, DOJ civil rights chief Tom Perez released a devastating report detailing how Maricopa Sheriff Joe Arpaio, also known as America’s meanest sheriff, had engaged in racial profiling and other civil rights abuses against Latinos. Rinku Sen wrote a brilliant piece in Colorlines titled “Because the Arc is Bending Toward Justice.” You can check out her analysis here.

Poor Joe really had a bad week, after the report was released, the Department of Homeland Security run by none other than former Arizona governor Janet Napolitano announced that it was ending an agreement with the Maricopa department that allowed deputies to enforce immigration laws and use the Secure Communities programs which uses fingerprints collected in local jails.  DHS sanctions Arpaio.

The Supreme Court will review Arizona’s restrictive immigration law, SB 1070 in 2012. Arizona voters spoke last month when they recalled the bill’s author, Senate President Russell Pearce. He is the first state senate president to ever be recalled. More about Arizona law here. Meanwhile Pearce’s followers in Alabama are scrambling to undo the damage their state’s copycat anti-immigrant law has caused the state’s bottom line and reputation. Apparently several traffic cops have been enforcing the strict laws against the wrong immigrants. When executives with Honda and Mercedes were stopped for not having proof of citizenship—Chamber of Commerce types thought they had gone just too far. Despite the fact that the Chamber backed most of the miscreants behind the bill. The Republican attorney general is suggesting several fixes as is the Republican governor who signed the bill. The arrests of the two auto execs prompted Missouri to run an ad encouraging foreign investment saying, “We’re the show me state—not the show me your papers state.”

Mayor Sheldon Day in Thomasville Alabama is worried about recruiting industries. According to Day, "Up until a few months ago, nobody raised the immigration issue," he said. But in the last few months, it's been brought up regularly. Day suspects competing states are portraying Alabama as hostile to foreigners even though he says that is not the truth. Based on the questions he gets from industrial prospects, he also believes competing states are recounting stories from Alabama's civil rights past. "It's bringing back old images from 40 or 50 year ago," he said.

The governor says he's declined many national TV interviews about the law because he doesn't want to fuel comparisons with what he sees as Alabama's long gone past. "It's going to take us a long time to outlive those stereotypes that are out there among people that Alabama is living in the '50s and '60s," Bentley said.  You can read more here.