when reporting on crisis communications and current situations in the media, it is inherently necessary to discuss the Virginia Tech tragedy which engulfed the early part of this week. According to a PR week article (http://www.prweek.com/us/sectors/crisiscommunications/article/651936/Virginia-Tech-creates-comms-team-wake-tragedy/)
Within hours of the news, media from all over the world were arriving on the campus and in less than 24 hours, the university's communications staff was forced to come up with a contingency plan that enabled them to manage the country's largest gathering of national and international media in recent memory. Now, from my viewpoint as a student, being able to relate to the situation, a contingency plan to support the media torrent should definitely fall second to the plan that should have initially been devised to warn students immediately following the first shooting. I understand that there are 30,000 people at V. Tech and informing all of them in such a short period of time is basically impossible. i also understand, however, that the majority of those students were not on campus at 7 in the morning when the first shooting occurred. had the school taken the initiate to cancel school for the day considering dorm room shootings many of those off campus students would have stayed off. originally nothing was said to the students because they thought they were involved with an isolated incident and it apparently didn't seem necessary. however, at that time they had no motive, no capture and no suspect, so what lead them to assume so strongly it was isolated? whats done is done but i think had an announcement immediately been made and the campus closed, many lives could have been saved and many more unruined.

Bye-mus Imus

In today's day and age, after the "nappy headed hoes" comment, and according to an MSNBC inside story(http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18126093/)it is really no wonder Imus's CBS days are in the past. I'm not sure if he was aiming at funny, didn't understand the slang or simply has been listening to too much rap music and forgot the terms were offensive, either way, he made a large mistake. in the world today the media public is always on the hunt for the next big controversial statement or story to follow. being a long-timer in the radio business Imus should definitely have known this prior to his verbal slip. as far as making up for it, i don't think he has many options. of course the most important thing to do would be apologize, again and again and again. he has to apologize specifically to the Rutgers team, to the school, to the black community and the nation as well. in the 21st century few have tolerance for racial slurs, especially on national radio. this in mind i doubt simple apologies, no matter how abundant, will be enough. CBS clearly didn't think so. the only other option i really see for Imus at this point is to try to spin something positive out of it. he has been compared to Howard Stern before and maybe its just time to make the transition to satellite as well. the word is that all publicity is good publicity, regardless of its positive or negative status. If nothing else positive has resulted for the show host, at least Imus is now basically a household name. he needs to find some way to harness that publicity and focus it on another, more positive aspect of his life or career. if he can prove that negative comments aside, he is still a genuine and respectable citizen and has good to offer the world, maybe, in time, redemption is still an option.

The J&J Way

When marketing a new, potentially high risk drug such as Johnson &
Johnson's new Ortho Evra birth control patch, premptive measures may be
necessary to eliminate risk of a Vioxx-type incident from occurring.
According to an article published by MediaPost Publications in Marketing
Daily, although Ortho Evra may be more convenient than oral birth
control, it has been proven to double the risk of blood clots. In
addition, women who use the patch are exposed to 60% more hormones than
those who take birth control pills. Keeping these potential negatives in
mind, Johnson & JOhnson has developed a strategy of their own to prevent
a crisis scenario before it even occurs. Since the online community plays
such an enormous and growing role in the spread of information, J&J hopes to avoid
negative online attention for its birth control patch by buying the rights
to negative domain names. by purchasing domain names such as
Deathbypatch.com and Orthoevrakills.com, the idea is that these domains
will no longer available for negative use against the company. Larry
Mickelberg, senior vice president/Marketing of Medical Broadcasting Co.
commented "It's really a best practice move." Although none of the domain
names purchased were currently in use, J&J saw how the Vioxx situation
prompted Web sites with names like Vioxxlitigation.com, Vioxxlawyers.com
and others. "Vioxx has definitely changed the rules for drug companies,"
Mickelberg said. In today's era of the internet and instant access to
information, there is so much opportunity for litigators who have become
quick to pounce on pharmaceutical companies. keeping this in mind the
actions J&J are taking to reduce the risk of negative online sites may be
a smart step in defending themselves against a potential crisis scenario.

Everyone Wants a Prime Rib

When you think of a coyote wandering in and taking control of a restaurant for an afternoon, good publicity isn't exactly the first type of publicity that comes to mind. however, a Chicago Quiznos found a way to make it just that. This past Tuesday a one and a half year old coyote, later named Adrian, found himself walking through a propped open front door of a Quiznos location and proceeded to jump over the counter, falling short and landing in the beverage cooler. According to a mediapost article in marketing daily (http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=58249), as customers scattered at the site of the wild animal invading their lunch hour, Adrian hung around for about 40 minutes. This wild animal in a public place scenario could have hurt the Quiznos chain for sure, however I for one am extremely impressed with how the situation was handled. immediately following the incident the company issued a press release quoting Quiznos' Executive Vice President/Corporate Marketing Officer Steve Provost as saying: "We've certainly been looking to expand our customer base and appeal to different demographics, and it appears that we have hit a chord with the animal kingdom. This has never happened before; we can only think that [the coyote] must have been attracted to our new Prime Rib on Garlic Bread and its above-average portions of meat. One thing is for sure, this coyote clearly has excellent taste." This move seems sheer brilliance as the potential wild animal crisis was actually turned into a light and somewhat funny advertisement for their new sandwich. Sandwich promotion aside, to make matters even better, the company donated $1000 to Chicago Animal Care and Control, where Adrian currently resides making animal activists happy as well. Thursday morning Adrian was transported to the Flint Creek Wildlife Refuge near Barrington, Ill. where he will be able to unite and roam freely with other stray urban coyotes. As a finishing touch on the crisis turned positive opportunity, Quiznos announced it was giving Adrian a farewell present--a Prime Rib on Garlic Bread sub "to go" while making sure to accentuate the fact that it was the sandwich that the coyote had "traveled far and wide for."

American Idol?

Thus far in their reality/entertainment history, American Idol has held their ground as a reality show capable of finding real talent and producing genuine super-stars. The latest season, however, has been facing a controversy truly capable of challenging the shows credibility. the name Sanjaya Malakar, quickly becoming household, has shocked the country week after week by somehow managing to make the top 10...despite his obvious lack of talent in comparison with other contestants. this is a problem for 2 reasons; 1. Precedents of American Idol talent are not factoring into Sanjaya's continuance on the show. the show is not being taken seriously and thousands of young girls continue voting to keep him on the show each week. Regardless of his actual talent, this creates potential for an American idol completely un-idol worthy. 2. contestants who really do possess talent are getting kicked off the show in order for Sanjaya to stay on. this takes away from the shows credibility greatly as now talent is no longer the focus, as it has been in the past. in reality, this season could make or break the future of the popular reality show. if the right man wins as usual, i see little change in the popularity and direction the show goes in, however as Sanjaya fights his way through elimination after elimination a new judging format may be necessary. it would clearly be a blow to the show if a less than extremely talented, teen heart-throb won based on popularity points alone. Maybe this is just a sign that the show has already reached its peak and viewers as a whole aren't taking it as seriously anymore. regardless, if AI hopes to remain on top they need to refine their judging strategies, maybe regulating viewer voting once contestants reach the top 10 to ensure those who make it are truly deserving and have a fair chance to win. otherwise, American Idol may have seen their best days and the time maybe have come for the country to move on to the next entertainment/reality show obsession.