Reflections on Hurricane Sandy

Posted on November 19, 2012 by Jerry Schranz
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If you’re like me, in the days leading up to Hurricane Sandy you took all of those ominous-sounding warnings seriously. After all, last year’s Hurricane Irene was pretty darn bad. Last year in my area of northern New Jersey, we got soaked with nine inches of water thanks to the low water table. I spent a few days and nights after Irene in my basement bailing out water with buckets and two shop vacs I converted into proton packs you might have seen the Ghostbusters use. We had power, but we didn’t have a sump pump, so I went to Home Depot and bought a bunch of PVC pipes; I attached them to the shop vac, reversed the switch in the front and splattered the water out a tiny window.

This year in the area rain wasn’t the main issue; it was trees and power lines that did us in. So before the storm I had the sense to pick up a few extra AAA and AA and C and D batteries — and a couple of bags of chips just in case. I powered up all portable radio devices, plugged in all the cell phones and laptops in the house.

Just out of curiosity, I went to my local supermarket, where I saw people stocking up on bottled water and non-perishable items like they were going out of style. The gas lines started to look lonely, and I decided to fill up all the tanks in our cars. I fell for the early hysteria a bit, not because the media over-hyped the severe weather events to boost ratings or anything, but in case we needed to go somewhere.

To be on the safe side, I started thinking of every way to defend my home, where I have two kids under the age of five, and a wife who started getting out those large candles that smell kind of funny. I gathered up all the toys outside, threw a bunch of stuff into a shed and rigged the garbage cans so they wouldn’t blow away. That was outside. Inside the basement I lifted everything off the floor, pulled plugs on appliances and hooked up those trusty shop vacs once again. This time, however, we had a new member of the basement patrol: the sump pump we paid a grand for last year after the hurricane.

By six or seven Monday night there was a bit of wind. We actually couldn’t wait to see if the storm was even going to happen or if the predictions were off. Well, it was a terrific lightning storm from what I recall, and the night sky was lit up like a light show you’d see in a screen saver on your old PC.

Then darkness came. The power suddenly went off. We put on the gas stovetop to keep warm and lit candles everywhere, even near our cat and fish. In the silence, I had some time to think about what was going on at work. We were about to blow out a press release for a client launching their flagship app.

First, I expected the power to only be out for a few hours, then perhaps a day at most. I never expected that we’d be without power for an entire week. Second we weren’t sure if there was power where the kids went to school, so we hooked up the old rotary phone in the old non-digital phone jack. The phone rang but just as we were listening to the borough’s announcement, poof, the landline phone signal went dead.

Then back to the outside. We didn’t suffer any property damage. We just were without power and heat. So the first night was rough, and then we had to think about what to do with our food in the refrigerator and freezer. It was a little too late for most of it as the soggy food boxes and milk started to go sour.

We saw lights on just a block away, but there weren’t great accommodations for a family of four, and a mother-in-law in tow, as she had lost power in her home. We found a family in town that had power, three beds in one room and a pull-out couch in another. We set up Schranz camp there for the nights. For the days, the kids had to do something or they would tear apart the hosts’ home in no time. I called a few places of interest to kids and, lo and behold, Chuck-e-Cheese on Route 4 in Paramus had power. That place has enough activities to occupy a full day. It’s like an arcade and an indoor amusement park for little kids, and you always wind up with tickets that add up to some sort of toy at the end of the day when you tally things up. Love that place.

So, my wife stayed at the guest house to study for a test at the guest house (along with her mom) and I took the kids to Chuck-E-Cheese. They could play and I could power up my iPhone and laptop. Only thing I needed was WiFi access, since I had to use Excel and other programs to get my work done. So, I begged the manager to lend me the Wi-Fi access and I’d keep buying tokens for my kids. They didn’t mind. They had power and the place didn’t look busy at first. Then after a few hours the place started to really get busy, not only with kids but with adults too. While most of them were watching their kids or trying to score points and tickets by mastering the easy kiddie games, I powered up and got press releases out, pitches for another client of ours that coincidentally dealt with inclement weather issues and insurance. I scored a Bloomberg radio piece live on the air in middle of the storm, and somehow the client was able to find enough juice to power his cell phone for the interview. Wild stuff, I tell you. E-mails came in from all over the place, including for another client where I was communicating with a renewable energy contact who was going to meet up with a Dow Jones reporter, so there was still a lot to coordinate even if the Beckerman office was closed for a few days. I did get around to some arcade games, and I did the conga line with my three-year-old, chasing after a guy in a Chuck-E-Cheese outfit throwing free tickets in the air if you followed him and did the Chuck-E dance. I took a few pictures you can see here http://beamr.com/vZj4nF. Hey, did you know that an Atari executive started Chuck-E-Cheese? I noticed a few legacy video games and played some Centipede as well.

While I was pitching one story, I inserted a line something to the tune of “I write to you not from the office but from *another* location and hope you are surviving ‘SandyCane,’” and a reporter from Reuters wrote back he wasn’t interested so much in the pitch I just e-mailed but my personal story on weathering the storm. So, I almost became part of the news but got cut out of the story due to space requirements. How many of us have heard that line before in PR?

I spent two days in Chuck-E-Cheese, where the kids were busy, I was busy (I did a few ski bowl games) and eventually there was even a Halloween party happening there. It was probably the only place they celebrated Halloween at its rightful time, since the governor pushed Halloween to the next week. Scary.

Anyhow, work got done, there was a nice note from management that enforced the work from home policy (or wherever you could be productive and effective), and it turned out to be a pretty successful bunch of days for some of the clients I work with. I can’t recall a time or place I was multitasking and most productive ever before.

I can’t prevent trees from falling or branches from flying, but I could certainly score some media hits (and some tickets) at Chuck-E-Cheese. And who would have thought that a children’s arcade led by a friendly looking rat named Chuck would be the perfect hotspot for me to multitask by working and watching over my kids at the same time.

We patiently waited every day to see if the power would go back on as we could see that we might be overdoing our stay with our gracious hosts on the other side of town, but it was more than a week until that occurred.

Things sure weren’t easy. Being refugees in your own town and chasing after kids all day isn’t all that fun. But there were many acts of kindness and people really caring for one another. Strangers and neighbors you don’t normally see became instant pals, and the only people you’re upset with are the local utility companies who have no way in hell to get any real updates to you. Well, there was Twitter, and I managed to tweet at them and get some tweet backs. It started out positive but became very frustrating when we walked down the streets where trees were down and found no utility vehicles anywhere in sight.

The lack of electricity also provided opportunities for the kids to learn new skills and discover talents they never knew they had. They played board games, did puzzles with my wife, etc. Everyone bonded in some way. We talked about things we normally wouldn’t have time to and of course got homesick as the days grew. Thankfully when we got back home and power went on a week later, things were in good shape. The only tragedy was, we lost a fish. I checked with the cat but in the end I figured it was probably a fight in the tank among the goldfish.

Jerry “JerryCan” Schranz

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Apple iPhone5 Maps Mea Culpa

Posted on September 28, 2012 by AllyneMills
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Let’s face it. Apologies are hard. Few like to admit they are wrong, and for some it feels humiliating. The party apologizing feels vulnerable. But the wronged party usually feels better. Some psychologists say that in relationships, apologetic behavior is enough, and an actual uttering of the words “I am sorry” isn’t necessary.

As Apple’s anxiously awaited iPhone5 introduction took center stage this month with a typical-of-Apple entertainment industry-style teaser campaign leading up to a giant media splash and the sale of five million iPhone 5s in the first weekend, an Apple Maps crisis was navigating its way toward the company. Reviewers of the iPhone5 have lauded its larger screen size, LTE wireless data speeds and many other features, but Apple’s replacement of Google’s maps with its own is being widely criticized.

As an Apple fan, new iPhone5 owner and public relations professional, I think it would have been amazing if Apple, a company so focused on amazingly intuitive functionality and quality design, had built into its rollout and communications plan the strong possibility it would receive backlash for what is perceived to be an inferior Maps application. (Apple might also have expected negative reaction to the new smaller Lightning iPhone connector, which, unless you acquire adapters, makes obsolete all the cables and docking stations you may currently use with the previous iPhone model). I can see the plan now. Pre-Launch: announce date of press announcement (without referring to products); Press Invitation: send out 7-10 days prior to event with a design that alludes to iPhone5, such as a shadow of a number 5; Press Event: unveil in true Apple style; Post-Launch Week One: release first weekend sales figures and monitor potential negative reaction to Maps and Lightning; Post-Launch Week Two: issue apology if Maps or Lightning not going over well.

Well… maybe not. It’s unusual for companies to apologize and readily suffer humiliation when things are not going well, and Apple is certainly no exception. For example, when Britain’s High Court ruled in July of this year that Apple must run a national ad campaign acknowledging that Samsung didn’t copy Apple’s tablet designs, and leave a similar note on its UK website, Apple appealed, saying it didn’t want to advertise for a rival, and the order was stayed until October. So it’s highly unlikely that this week’s apology for the Maps issue was planned in advance.

Apologies do pacify some customers – they feel their complaints are not being entirely ignored; for most, however, it is the apologetic behavior and action after the apology that counts most. So for a company like Apple, when its Maps programs are improved and running flawlessly – as they surely will be — the negativity may die down. In the meantime, kudos to CEO Tim Cook and his communications team. It must have taken a lot to apologize – to decide they needed to admit that even a company as beloved as Apple is vulnerable and in doing so, draw even more attention to its Maps misstep. Now I’m looking forward to seeing them walk the Maps talk.

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Lessons learned from the NFL’s public relations disaster

Posted on September 28, 2012 by Tim White
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The National Football League (NFL) is a $9 billion-a-year organization, universally recognized as the most popular and successful sports organization in the United States. Just three weeks into the 2012 NFL season, the decisions made by Commissioner Roger Goodell and the NFL’s front office have damaged its once impeccable reputation in the eyes of its most valuable constituency — the fans.

Much has been written about the NFL’s highly publicized labor dispute with its referees. Everyone with a financial stake in this dispute may decide on the merits of the terms negotiated in the eventual agreement that was finalized late Wednesday night. I will leave it up to NFL analysts, sports writers, sports talk radio personalities, bloggers and all of the semi-pro football commentators perched on bar stools throughout the country to document the long list of inexcusable on-field calls made by replacement referees in these first few weeks of this season.

I would like to focus on the one area of this saga that I am most familiar with — the ongoing corporate reputational damage that Commissioner Goodell has brought upon the league he is entrusted to protect.

In 2006, Roger Goodell was chosen by a majority vote of franchise owners to replace then-Commissioner Paul Tagliabue. By the very nature of this selection process and because he needs continued support from the owners to retain his position, Goodell has been beholden to the 32 owners/ownership groups that control NFL franchises. While it’s understandable for a commissioner to make decisions based on the financial interests of the owners, Goodell made the unforgivable decision to put those interests ahead of the overall reputational well-being of the league.

Because of the inherent authority given to the league’s top executive over virtually all football-related business operations, the NFL Commissioner is justifiably referred to as “the most powerful man in all of sports.” On more than one occasion Goodell has publicly stated that one of his primary responsibilities is to “protect the shield,” a reference to the league’s reputation as represented by its iconic logo.

During the first week of this year’s NFL regular season, complaints about the poor quality of officiating by these inexperienced replacement referees could be heard on sports talk shows, in blogs and in the sports sections of newspapers in every region of the country. Despite these early criticisms, Commissioner Goodell, in an attempt to improve the bargaining position of the NFL owners, publicly defended the professional capacity of the replacement referees.

From a public relations perspective, the situation grew increasingly more difficult for Goodell to manage by the conclusion of the Sunday games. When the substandard performance of these replacement referees became apparent, prominent NFL players, high-profile sports analysts and former referees began to join the chorus of stakeholders who called on Goodell to bring a quick resolution to the labor dispute for the good of the game. Instead of acknowledging the seriousness of the situation and taking the necessary steps to expeditiously end the standoff, Commissioner Goodell chose to not to address these public criticisms at all.

Then it happened; the proverbial tipping point. Last Monday night’s nationally- televised blown call on the final play of the Seattle Seahawks-Green Bay Packers game forced the issue of replacement referees onto the front page of almost every newspaper, and into the lead story of almost every news program in the country. Worse of all for the NFL, it became the most popular topic of discussion on Twitter, the most accurate and measurable real-time barometer of an issue’s relevance.

In the hours that followed, Roger Goodell, the man in whom so much power has been placed, had his opportunity to “protect the shield” and take the steps needed to put a stop to the carnage. Instead he issued a statement that attempted to justify an indefensible on-field decision, instead of acknowledging and recognizing the public’s demand for a quality product and expressing his intention to expeditiously put an end to the standoff.

Further, he should have tried to salvage whatever minimal leverage the league had left in the ongoing labor negotiations. Place the onus on the referees to get back to the bargaining table to hammer out a deal within 24 hours of the Monday night debacle, thereby showing his commitment to protecting the integrity of the league.

While a deal has finally been reached, and the professional referees were back on the field for last night’s game, the damage has already been done to Roger Goodell’s reputation and to the NFL’s brand. The slow road to recovery began last night and will end when the public and the media have quenched their collective thirst for retribution.

For business leaders, regardless of the size of the corporation they manage or the sector in which their businesses operate, there are two very valuable lessons to be learned from this case study in failed stakeholder relations and crisis management.

First, understanding that while it’s important to satisfy the short-term financial demands of a company’s internal stakeholders (board members, financial partners and executives), it’s far more important to its long term interests to address the desire of its end-users (clients and customers). Secondly, that it’s critically important for the decision-making executives in a crisis situation to recognize the tipping point and to quickly and decisively adjust their stakeholder and public relations strategies accordingly.

Timothy White, a vice president with Beckerman Public Relations, specializes in public affairs, crisis communications and reputational management initiatives

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The Fallout Shelter Comes Full Circle

Posted on August 17, 2012 by Stefanie Matteson
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As a child of the Cold War, I remember well the feeling of vague dread associated with duck-and-cover air raid drills, the yellow and black “Fallout Shelter” signs and the frightening suspense of the Cuban missile crisis.

But there was one element of the Cold War picture that never evoked such feelings — the fallout shelter. As a generation relegated to a suburban underground of knotty pine-paneled basement rec rooms, I viewed the fallout shelter as the penultimate rec room: one in which you didn’t need to go upstairs (and confront the parents) for a glass of water, the bathroom facilities or a snack. By the demanding supply standards of fallout shelter design, everything you could possibly need in the event of nuclear armageddon was at your fingertips.

Although I never actually saw a fallout shelter — despite President Kennedy’s call for a fallout shelter in every home, Mad Men-style bars were a more sought-after amenity in the suburb in which I grew up — they never lost their fascination for me. I was especially intrigued by stories of fallout shelters lined with shelves of canned food that was still edible after decades. To my mind, these fell into the same category as discoveries of ancient Greek shipwrecks with cargoes of olive oil-filled amphorae, or still-viable seeds recovered from Chinese burial mounds.

But if I missed my chance to lay eyes on a real fallout shelter, I may get it again. According to Beckerman’s real estate clients, the latest thing in custom home amenities is a “safe room” with a panic button linked to the local PD and a “generator vault.” Why a generator vault? The purpose of the safe room, in case you rank among the uninitiated, is to protect occupants from a home invasion. If the generator were to be located at the side of the house, the home invaders could cut the electric lines, but if it’s located in a vault they can’t get to it.

One would imagine the occupants of a home with a safe room would be mobster canaries with prices on their heads. But no — these are ordinary suburban residents who are afraid that gangs of thugs are about to break down their doors. I have no idea what is fueling such paranoia, but I do know the trend reveals a startling downward spiral in the health of the national psyche when examined through the prism of luxury home amenities.

As a real estate industry observer, participant and PR professional, I have had the opportunity to examine such trends over the decades. Fallout shelters aside, the most popular post-war era amenities were focused on the automobile (the carport, the attached garage), the family (the rec room) or letting the good times roll. Besides the bar, for instance, ice cream fountains like the one at the corner sweet shop were a hot feature. By the 1970s, the zeitgeist had taken on a self-improvement theme. The “in” amenities were libraries with rolling stepladders and private gyms with gleaming arrays of exercise equipment. And by the go-go 1980s and 1990s, it was all about conspicuous consumption. Newly ascendant yuppies installed indoor putting greens, refrigerated rooms for fur storage and wrapping rooms to rival those of Macy’s at Christmastime.

In recent years, however, special rooms devoted to solitary occupations have become the trend, along with a descent back down to the subterranean level. There are basement home theaters and wine tasting rooms for the sampling of your private cache of rare vintages. I once saw a basement room with a single chair devoted to the contemplation of a work of art concealed behind a locked, remote-controlled display cabinet. I wondered what it concealed. The missing Vermeer from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum? A masterpiece of erotic art?

Viewed in a broader context, the safe room seems like the culmination of a larger cultural trend toward sequestration in hidden worlds that might be dubbed the “Second Life” effect after the popular online virtual world — in the case of safe rooms, one populated by vicious predators.

I confess that I am as fascinated by the idea of a safe room as by the idea of a fallout shelter. I could have used such a shrine to free-floating anxiety for purposes other than protection from home invasion: i.e. to hide out from a moody husband or a teenaged daughter in a snit. My dog would have loved it during thunderstorms. Who needs to pull the covers over their heads when they have a safe room with a panic button? The safe room is a fallout shelter come full circle, but now the threat isn’t borne on a missile nosecone, but inside our heads.

The question such a trend raises is, “Where is it headed?” Unless the purpose of such rooms takes on an even darker hue, it would seem that some détente of the national psyche is bound to eventually render the safe room — like the fallout shelter before it — irrelevant. In that case, I look forward to a brighter day when safe rooms are adapted to other uses. If we were to break through to the home theater and the wine cellar, for instance, we would have a contemporary iteration of the 1960s-era rec room — just in time for the anticipated millennial baby boomlet.

Tinny-tasting cans of string beans included.

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There Are No Problems, Only Solutions

Posted on August 14, 2012 by AshleyManz
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Is it possible to make the dumbest mistake and biggest save, all in the same hour? From  recent experience, I know the answer is yes! One of the biggest lessons I have learned is that in order to survive in this field you must always think on your feet.

The back-story: While getting ready for a client event earlier in the week, I was given the responsibility for bringing the company camera. The client had specifically requested it, so it was important that the camera be there, and my boss reminded the team about it two or three times in advance. All set and ready to go, I had charged the camera, cleared the memory card and put it in my car before leaving. I decided instead of driving to the city, it would be easier to park in Hoboken and take the Path and then the subway. Traveling an hour via public transportation to New York City, I arrived with my coworker a few minutes early and went up to check out the rooftop location. It was a beautiful night in the city, the rooftop bar was gorgeous, and that’s when my colleague asked the fatal question, “Why don’t you take a picture of the view?”

Tip 1 – It’s okay to freak out . . . but only for a minute.
I couldn’t believe I had forgotten the camera. I have countless lists and planners and am not one to forget things, so I was embarrassed by my mistake. But everyone is human, and mistakes happen. Knowing my team would be mad or disappointed by this news, I just had to accept the fact that I forgot the camera. There was no point in dwelling on it or remaining frustrated. Instead, I knew that I had to come up with a plan quickly.

Tip 2 – Make an assessment. Figure out your options and devise a plan.
As soon as I realized the camera was still in my car, my boss walked out of the elevator. Luckily for me, I managed to sneak into the bathroom without him seeing me so I could figure out what I was going to do next. I had to stop and think about what my options were. At this point, I still had 45 minutes until the event started. Option 1: I could go back on the subways to NJ, grab the camera and be 15-30 minutes late to the two-hour party. Option 2: Suck it up and buy a digital camera.

Tip 3 – Own up and tell your boss.
Honesty is the best policy. I called my boss to let him know what was going on. I could tell he was disappointed, but I apologized and just told him I would figure it out.

Tip 4 – Think out loud, because you never know what’s possible.
Considering how long it would take me to get back to my car, there was really no point in doing so, and I decided I was just going to have to buy a camera. Mind you, I am a 22-year-old recent grad about to move in to a new apartment, so my credit card was screaming at the thought of this purchase. I pulled out my iPhone, used Google Maps to find the nearest camera store, and I was on my way. Then the idea hit me. Bursting into the store, I said to the man behind the counter, “This might be crazy, but I need to rent a camera for the next 2 hours.” To my shock and disbelief (and relief), he said, “Okay, got $25?”

With 15 minutes to spare, I made it back to the event with a camera just as great as the one the firm owns. We took pictures all night, and the event was a huge success. One of the reporters we invited even asked us for the pictures to use in a story he would be writing about the client. This was the best money I had ever spent, not only getting the job done for the client but proving to myself that I am capable of thinking on my feet to save myself from a dumb mistake.

Needless to say, I will never forget the camera for an event again.

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