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As I contemplate a trip to visit family, I eye the airline and ticketing industry with more trepidation than ever before. Big deal right! Some backstory. I am a fearless flyer. Been flying by myself since age 8. Visited my father in a distant city every summer as I grew up. I have been on the last plane out of blizzards while they shut down the airport etc. I even remember the palpable tension when flying less than 2 weeks after 911. So, I have seen the gamut of the flight game. Very little fazes this traveler. Until recently that is.
Okay, since that fateful day, the industry has done what it can to deal with the new reality of US air travel. As the rest of the world sympathized with us back then, today they look on dumbfounded at how far we have gone to alienate travel and of course the government sanctioned air Gestapo has gone out of its way to make the process as horrid as it can be. And even with the affronts to our personal space I can trudge security lines with the best of them. The only thing I ask is get me there in a reasonable amount of time and in the event of a problem do your level best to find a solution.
Well, as the horror stories proliferate, tarmac delays lengthen and the security nazi’s start dressing up like real cops, I hate to surrender my fortitude and admit to dreading air travel, but they give me no choice. Not only can they target you for any perceived ‘Orwellian’ slight, they can treat you like a criminal until proven innocent.
If that weren’t bad enough, the airlines complete the raping of the customer by providing subpar service while figuring out ways to ding us for escalating prices instead of being forthright about increasing prices and explain it as the new cost of doing business. So, now not only do you have airlines playing musical chairs in bankruptcy court the ones that can still do business are finding ways to give the consumer less, while charging more to keep their head above water. Many of these airlines would be closing doors if they were in any other business, and rightfully so. Natural selection being a good process in this case.
But alas, not only are there more crap airlines clogging the airports and the skies offering less for more. But that’s not the worst of it. Even the good guys are following suite. I recently mentioned to a friend – who hasn’t flown in 2 years – how you get charged for any checked baggage with some airlines and how others are charging ‘customers’ for anything served to them during a flight and she was shocked! What struck me is the difference in our attitude in the moment. Her outrage that it got that bad and my desensitized resignation of ‘what are you going to do.’
In the moment I wanted to say ‘welcome to the new lowered standard of air travel’ but didn’t as it was probably too close to the truth and a depressing thought. What the moment did generate was this diatribe and a dawning realization. Air travel is the latest in a long line of public transportation systems that America is trying to kill. First one to be discarded was the railways. In a country so large they initially held promise until no one wanted to invest in the next round of technology to keep it relevant, like the Japanese did with their state of the art high-speed maglev systems. Next up is mass transit around the country’s metropolitan areas. Half developed or very efficient in its tiny market, there is no in between and often little or no interface to public transit outside the city.
So, in the case of air travel we have gone from the express train to the cross-town bus. Its like we’ll get you where you are going, we just cant say when or in what shape you will be once you get there. I think if an airline had the balls to step up and say “Fuel has gone way up for you and obviously for us to, but since we believe in maintaining good airline service and some profitability, here is how much more it will cost us to get you where you are going without the extra charges for baggage, hidden fees and the refreshments we have always provided.” The day an airline advertises old school service for a realistic price, guess who will be the first guy in line to avoid being the packed in like a sardine on the cross town bus!
As I step down from my creaky soapbox, wish me luck on my flight to a Midwest city that feels more like I am charting a tortuous passage to Istanbul!
Recent news items got me thinking about this topic I had covered several times in past years. As the voracious public keeps driveing tech, telecomm, wireless and palm of the hand portability, new vistas are being opened for keeping an eye on you. In practice, this familiar Orwellian theme as it was written years ago, may seem more of an optimistic cautionary tale, than a viable blueprint to controlling the masses. However, the literary realm of science fiction often spins a believable and much scarier version of this tale where the central character is technology. With so much of what was once tech fiction becoming fact, the potential for big brother to snoop around your business is much greater than ever before. The biggest culprit is wireless communications of all sorts
Of course, the most obvious tech to exploit is mobile phone communications. As DOT driven traffic monitoring continues to grow from the early days of the Missouri Department of Transportation ‘just’ wanting to monitor cell phones movements to map real-time traffic conditions statewide. To Google using its maps software to evolve from just satellite mapping to show street views and their GPS locations. While cell monitoring has long been able to detect the speed and movement pattern of mobile phones by network signal as long as the phone is turned on. DOT’s indicate their aim is to more intelligently manage traffic flow through wireless data collection and stress that the data will remain anonymous with no possibility to track specific people from their driveway to their destination. But privacy advocates are uneasy nonetheless.
It doesn’t stop with just monitoring the mobile phones themselves. The rising popularity of short-range blue tooth technology, particularly in mobile hands free headsets, opens up another avenue for listening into mobile conversations. The New York Times recently covered the increasing phenomenon of consumers that use blue tooth technology to easily overhear snippets of conversations that aren’t their own as they roam around the city.
Mobile tech isn’t the only avenue. Our wireless appetites extend extensively throughout the home and business. The enabler in these environments is the unregulated and heavily utilized 2.4 and 5.8 ghz frequency bands, which encompasses devices from home telephones to wireless video monitoring equipment – much of it not using encryption. The ease of monitoring this common band was demonstrated recently by an experiment conducted in a Canadian city where with a little bit of know how and some commonly available equipment, allowed whole range of images and conversations to be easily monitored just by wandering the city streets with equipment in tow.
For the tech savvy or long time gadget geek such as myself, this wireless risk may all be disconcerting but is hardly surprising. However, the tech that scares me the most and that could wind up being Big Brothers device of choice is a range of tiny chip devices referred to as RFID (radio frequency identification). RFID has quietly revolutionized the industrial, manufacturing and logistical transportation industries. It is a key link in the chain that moves products and raw materials to business and products from business to the consumer. This is reliable big tech that comes in a relatively unsophisticated form and often in very small packages.
It can be as small as half the size of a grain of sand, respond with a readable signal for years and carry a wide range of digital information. Though its not new tech, it continues to evolve and demonstrate a vast applicability to any situation where tracking, monitoring or identifying is required. A well-known use of RFID in the consumer sector that has spawned much debate, is the chips embedded in the family pet that carry information on the animals owners. With pure breed and rare animals worth thousands of dollars RFID chips have been embraced by the veterinarian and animal shelter communities nationwide as a sure fire way of lost pet identification, wherein small chips are injected under the skin of the animal to be read by electronic readers confirming the animals identification.
Of course the subsequent discussions of using the technology in the human populace might be the worst scenario but it is not the only ominous development.
Manufacturers and marketers are exploring the role of using RFID in durable goods such as apparel for numerous purposes such as linking a person’s identity with the clothes they buy and wear. Even worse, by coupling RFID to a knowledgebase about individual consumers, advertisers can target messages consumers see in a wide range of environments, just by tracking their spending habits or by product data attached to RFID chips on their person. The myriad number of uses becomes staggering. Even the European Central Bank is considering imbedding RFID in bank notes. Should this sound like something to only consider for the future, RFID availability for use as the global passport standard has been circulating for years.
It’s easy to see how quickly the implications get dizzying. My suggestion, be aware, choose and use your tech wisely and oh yeah, if you thought I forgot to mention the Internet, that was intentional! The Web is becoming less anonymous all the time and that topic is a Pandora’s box all its own.
While I wrap up my ruminations on the recent glimpse top bloggers gave PR people into their world today, I am struck more by the implications of trends and practices they propose for the future of relations with the blog world and the media at large. As all of the members of the panel highlighted, personal attention to detail is now mandatory with
this medium. Not only does that encompass knowing the blog intimately, it also includes knowing how to contact bloggers to get their attention. Yes! The pitch is back! Unfortunately, that doesn’t necessarily mean you ‘get to’ (or in the case of the pitching challenged ‘have to’) pick up the phone as in days of yore. And, be forewarned, with those that did prefer a phone pitch, they quickly made it clear that they weren’t interested in the stale, the scripted or the boring. Even the ones that chided those listening to get away from the voice mentality didn’t negate the pitch and quickly pointed out all kinds of alternative vehicles are used to show up on a bloggers radar.
The Epitch
The entire panel quickly confirmed that the pitch needs to make the transition to email with same attention to quality, creativity and brevity the industry once put into the phone pitch. As with all the suggestions for the future the panel kept reiterating that the pro’s in the trenches had to start thinking outside the box. Some underscored that point by mentioning how the people who took the time to text message, IM and twitter them per their stated preference were obviously the people that got their attention first! Some even indicated they were ONLY open to a pitch via this alternative contact
method. Just like the traditional media in the past, do the leg work, find out what their preferences are and make sure to know ‘when’ its best to contact them.
Content
Leave the conventional press releases and article vehicles to the media that want them. When PR professionals think blogging, they need to think post proposals. Pitch interviews, have something original to say that steps beyond the ‘if its new to you, its news to you’ syndrome. The entire panel quickly reminded those listening that Blogsphere thought leadership is quickly leaving traditional PR and media behind. So keep this in mind when you step up with your industry expert client. Make sure they bring their A game. They also stressed that the quickest way to alienate bloggers was to treat them as a lesser media.
The panel also discussed the convenience of the one stop Webshop for collateral information. It is pretty amazing with all old school PR going on and all the attempts to be way out there and tap the viral juggernaut, few corporate PR pro’s try to make media’s job easier by hosting a one stop site for everything pertaining to a particular release or campaign. The panel speculated that perhaps the PR world doesn’t see the benefits of the web presence because they are so conditioned to set-up the “follow-up” process with bloggers like they do traditional media.
What they are missing however, is a next-step opportunity to not only provide a venue for media to get the information they need, but to create a whole information environment that supports, sells, and expands the brand of the product or service that they PR vehicle is trying promote. Just like in the old days when you painstakingly built hardcopy media kits because they were important to the story, ‘Webkits’, per se, can offer the same kind of slick support that their predecessors did and make your campaign stand out with important one click access.
Future Trends
As I wind this down and squint at the crystal ball, trying to glimpse through the muck, there are a few things I can see and a few I can surmise. As mentioned above the webkit will catch hold and the smart PR folk will start utilizing tools of the blogging trade such as RSS feeds and more effective push techniques with email. Particularly in the case of ongoing brand processes and multi-vehicle campaigns. Smart PR folk will also increasingly plot and pursue their social network prescence. Just like LinkedIn has helped the individual business network prosper for all professionals, so to, will the smart pro carve and nurture either their corporate brand or personal brand as it relates to what they do. Bloggers of course have built their whole process on this premise and it will be up to the rest of media relations industry to get onboard. Done well and often it allows for a blending of lines between blog and promotion that will serve both sides equally well and establish such things as thought leader tracking and commentary clout for the savvy PR Pro. Branding will move from a reasonable objective to the attainment of the holy grail as the media evolution continues. This is where the water muddys worst of all. As lines delineating media types blur, the requirements to maintain or achieve branding in popular media will increase in complexity and throw equal parts customer service and crisis management into the ‘relations’ mix. As marketing and PR combine in new ways, understanding the role media realtions holds in the bigger scheme of things is where the smart PR pro will thrive instead of just survive.
Last week I started a diatribe about the state of PR from my little corner of the media world and listened to prominent bloggers try to school PR folk in the best way to work with them in their environment. As those that read part one know, it was eye opening to say the least. What resonated with me the most is that all the bloggers I listened to reiterated over and over that PR pros need to do their homework. It sounded like they wanted those in the trenches to BE creative, not just PUSH creative through the usual channels. Do the legwork!
Unfortunately, doing your homework these days seems to be mostly focused on getting the generic word out and tracking down where the spaghetti stuck to the internet and traditional media wall. The later being a daunting task, granted. Of course, if you work on the media team for a major corporate brand, you can probably focus on more than those basics, but if you are tied to an agency, you’re hard pressed. Unfortunately, if you want to do business with bloggers, they make it clear going the extra mile to reach them is mandatory.
What’s that entail? Well first off, knowing how blogs work. What kind of blog is it? Spend time there and find out. If it’s a news source don’t send them white papers for Christ sakes. Conversely, if it’s a razor’s edge, niche oriented, issue-based blog, don’t send them your damn corporate press releases. (Sorry about the crusty grumble.) Find out if they post outside contributed content. If they don’t, does the blogger(s) interview appropriate thought leaders. All of these, and many more seemingly simple components contribute to doing the legwork to be a valuable resource to a blogger. I can almost hear any PR folks reading this chime in with ‘screw that I wont mess with bloggers if they’re that much trouble.’ Well as the panel I listened to underscored, that train has left the station. Where do you think traditional journalists are going as conventional media shrinks, transforms and evolves? Yes, that’s right, and no, they’re not going away.
To give you an idea of what I am talking about, they offered some perspective on the traditional vehicles that are in the PR repertoire. Press releases, when mentioned generated considerable disdain and unless its earth-shaking and discussion worthy in the topicsphere for that particular blog, make sure to only bother news bloggers with the really important stuff. Know what needs to go out en-masse to traditional spaghetti media and what is issue worthy to generate blog perspective. Another pet peeve, if you do send press release to a blog, make sure you give them all the parts they need to cover it. Don’t make them hunt you down to get components such as art. Best of all, as far as they were concerned, is the PR pro that could write and submit a release that read like a blog post.
For commentaries and guest columns most agree that PR folk still try to slip them content that is to rah rah and much to advertorial. Don’t forget the golden rules of editorial in conventional media and make sure that your clients are thought leaders and have thought leading things to say. Also, stay away from the rambling op-ed that strays into the bloggers domain. If you want to blog, start your own. Better yet, don’t just drop articles into the inbox drop ideas, start dialogues about issues, make sure the canned stories are solid and based on those issues and once again offer collateral.
Editorial practices was another thing many of the panel chimed in about. Timeliness was a big deal to many of the bloggers on the panel. They couldn’t stress enough how important quick response was and that they be accorded equally responsive access to the senior people they need to talk to. If news is breaking, don’t deal them the kind of embargos you would for print or even broadcast since being competitive for them can run on a near real-time basis. All one has to do is witness the past year at CES and all the exclusivity hijinks between Engadget and Boing Boing. As enlightening as all this is, the he last point the panel makes is I think the most important. Many even used these exact words; create relationships. Now I can just imagine all the old boys pumping their fists in the air and yes you’re tenets are relevant again. But is it all the same tactics the traditional media moved away from? Not by any means. Sure you can approach bloggers with long-term relationships in mind but once you get beyond that foundation, is where the similarities to old school, end. My apologies for rambling enough to warrant a part three but I promise to wrap it up into a pretty little package next week.
