Morgan McLintic on PR

More jobs - inquire within

I have some more positions vacant for those on the move - this time with clients.

1. Product marketing managers - security and wireless - based in Seattle (two or three vacancies)
2. Inside sales manager - security and wireless - based in Seattle
3. PR freelancer - temporary full time position - unified communications - Bay Area
4. Product manager - BPM and financial services - Bay Area

I've also got a few agency roles here at LEWIS - AE-AM level in San Francisco; Boston; Washington DC; Hong Kong; Sydney, Australia and Shanghai, China.

Mail me here if you are interested or know someone who might be.

Technorati Tags: jobs, LEWIS, vacancies

iTunes 4.9 - Podcasting has landed

The much-heralded new version of iTunes (4.9) was released today which includes support for podcasts. Just grabbed a few moments to put it through its paces. It has a good directory of podcasts, though many of the most popular are traditional radio stations. I did find For Immediate Release - The Hobson & Holtz Report which can be found under audio blogs, but perhaps will migrate to Business / Marketing in due course (not sure who handles the categorization). You can subscribe easily, and the settings handle some nice features about storing all episodes, the latest few or one, or just unheard editions. You can also control which get transferred to your iPod, which makes it more practical for those of us who had trouble wrestling with other software like iPodderX.

I have to admit, I'm still not wild about podcasting. I don't have a lifestyle which allows time to listen to hour-long editions of varied information in a quiet environment (like a car, train or plane) without interruption or pressing priorities. I tend to look down the notes and skip to relevant sections (which Neville makes supremely easy - thanks Neville). iTunes 4.9 has a bookmark facility which if adopted will help folks like me cut to their preferred section.

Will iTunes 4.9 drive the take-up of podcasting? Probably. Is everyone in favor? Not quite. But hey, it's a good place to start.

Technorati Tags: For Immediate Release, iTunes, Podcasting

Edelman in Polish takeover spat

Dennis Howlett has an update about the Edelman - Migut Media kafuffle which has been bubbling around on email over the last few weeks. The disagreement allegedly relates to Edelman's attempted acquisition of Polish PR firm, BCA. Migut Media owns 51% of BCA, which it appears Edelman overlooked in its negotiations. Den's managed to speak to Barbara Kwiecien, GM of Edelman's Warsaw office.

The bottom line? Edelman has made a cock up of this. One of the golden rules of hostile takeovers is: 'make sure you know who's in control.' Clearly, Edelman thought that Kwiecien knew everything any competitor (or ally) would want to know. Edelman's strategists didn't count on Migut, who has used PR spin to bite back. They also lost sight of the fact that Migut owned BCA by virtue of his 51% holding. Negotiating with the person who is doing the work is not the same thing at all.

Is there an end in sight to this nasty spat? Apparently not. According to Kwiecien: "I can't see any middle ground at the moment." I'm not surprised. But Edelman has to extricate itself from this mess. If it doesn't then Edelman tarnishes its image by default and by association.

It must be frustrating for Edelman to have kicked over a hornet's nest like this. I've been getting regular emails about it from Migut's megaphone, as I'm sure other PR bloggers have. Now the media is involved and Den's digging into the story, it'll be interesting to see the response. I wonder whether the erudite Richard Edelman will use his blog to respond? Probably not, but given Edelman and Intelliseek recently published their guide to blogging - this gives the firm a good chance to put those skills into practice.

Technorati Tags: blogs, Edelman

Thank you for your patience

I'm sitting on an Alaska Airlines flight back from Seattle to Oakland. The flight has been delayed by two hours. It happens. In fact, it happened several weeks ago on this same trip with Alaska.

The reason the flight has been delayed, they say, is that the pilot is on his way from Spokane. Makes sense - can't take off without a pilot.

While Alaska may think this represents good customer communication, I'm afraid it doesn't. Sure I know why the flight is delayed but not the root cause. Why is the pilot en route from Spokane? Doesn't he have an appointment flying this plane? That would be nice to know.

More importantly, what is Alaska doing to prevent this happening again? That might make me think these are isolated incidents, and use Alaska again. That's communication, not simple explanation.

"We're sorry about the delay of flight 314 to Oakland. Thank you for your patience," chirps the flight attendant.

Trouble is I am not patient. I'm certainly persistent, but patient - not really. Reason being this phrase is so insincere. It assumes customers will understand and sympathize. And perhaps we might. But not unless we're told the cause of a problem, rather than just an description of events.

In adversity, more communication and explanation is better than assumption.

And guess what? The attendant even tried to sign us up to their frequent flyer program as we landed. Seems they've forgiven themselves already. I wonder whether their customers will.

Piers Morgan - The Insider

I've just been given a copy of The Insider - The Private Diaries of a Scandalous Decade by Piers Morgan, former editor of UK tabloid, The Mirror. No stranger to gossip and scandal, Morgan is one of the more flamboyant and outspoken members of the UK press, and current editor of the Press Gazette. Looks like a light-hearted trip through the last ten years' news events - Diana, Charles and Camilla, Tony and Cherie Blair, Richard Branson, Rupert Murdoch, Alastair Campbell all get mentioned in dispatches.

Doesn't seem to be available at Amazon.com, but the UK site has it here, if you fancy some light relief.

Technorati Tags: Media, "Piers Morgan"

Media guide

The latest LEWIS Media Guide for the US is now available. It provides contact details for some of the leading IT publications, wire services, blogs and dailies in a handy poster-sized format. You can download a small version here, or just drop me a line if you want a hard copy.

Technorati Tags: LEWIS, Media

AlwaysOn ramps up

The AO conference is coming up fast on July 19-21. This week we've been preparing to announce the AO 100 award winners, which will go out on Tuesday.

I'm moderating a keynote by David Kelley, CEO of IDEO and founder of Stanford University's D-School (design school) on the Wednesday of the event. We're thinking about making it an interview format and taking a few questions from the webcast audience, which could potentially be interesting.

I'm also a panel judge for two of the CEO Pitch sessions where some of the AO 100 companies will present their business models for five minutes and then answer questions from the panel. I'm obviously interested in their go-to-market strategies, specifically the marketing. I've seen several of these firms present before, but there are also some new comers (to me at least) in the mix. There are still some spots available for this track if you or your clients are interested (note - it's a paid opp).

We're also in the process of signing up media and blogger passes. There were about 80-90 press / blogger attendees last year and since there will be free wifi I expect the event will be well covered. Let me know if you are interested in coming along and I hope to see you there.

Technorati Tags: AlwaysOn

Net to Newspapers: Drop Dead

BW: The new and troubling reality for newspapers is that even if they excel as purveyors of information to appreciative audiences, they still face tough business terrain. "They can try to be the destination where you go online and [can] be really successful with citizen journalism and blogs," says Fine [a Merrill Lynch analyst]. But such innovations are "not going to pay a lot of bills."

Technorati Tags: newspapers, blogs

Christopher and the Rabbit

I'm enjoying this tale. Here's the latest chapter.

Next Fifteen buys OutCast

Next Fifteen, which owns tech PR brands such as Text 100, Bite and AugustOne, has just acquired tech boutique OutCast for $6m. The intention is to run OutCast as a new brand under the NFC banner. The details are necessarily vague in the press release, but it seems there is an additional earn out potential of up to $7m over the next five years, bringing the deal to a maximum of $13m. This is a great shop to add to Tim Dyson's (NFC CEO) collection and the price seems a good one. The release claims that OutCast posted 25% profit of $1.6m on revenues of $6.1m in 2004. That's pretty high for PR firms which normally turn in between 7-15%, especially since OC opened a New York office last year so should be in investment phase. If 25% were sustainable, OC would easily pay for itself over the next five years without any growth.

Still Margit and Caryn (the owners of OutCast) have done a great job building OC into a strong agency in the Valley with an impressive client list. I think NFC will bring more positives to them than one of the bigger conglomerates could. OC's star was on the rise and with the market in an uptick, at first, it seems an odd time to sell out, but will make the earn out dollars easier to hit. NFC wins a good name, but the additional debt on the back of below-average profitability, the recent downshift on the stock market to AIM, and persistently low share price, seems to be a considered risk.

Good to see some movement in the PR market, and a definite reflection on confidence. Fun times at NFC with Bite's recent Sun win, and the Applied deal prior. All eyes will be on OC to see what happens next. Meantime, congrats to Margit, Caryn and Tim - I didn't expect this, good luck.

Technorati Tags: NextFifteen, Outcast, PR