PR Rock Star Award: Dayton's Arms Wide Open

And the January PR Rock Star Award goes to . . . Mark Dayton.

Regardless of whether or not you support Obamacare, Minnesota’s new governor yesterday did the PR world proud. Inviting tea party protestors into the signing of the state Medicare expansion into law and then going even further and giving them the podium, set a perfect tone for his new administration.

Kudos to the Governor and his PR people. We know it’s hard to give up control, and we enjoyed watching their bold move pay off.

The best of The GH Spin

For many media outlets, New Years is an excuse to reminisce about the previous year and create hundreds of lists announcing the top stories, events, and people of the year. At The GH Spin, we agree – it just wouldn’t be New Years if we didn’t have a “best of” list. Here are some of our top blogs from 2010:

• Looking back on the ‘00s: A look at how social media changed reporting over the past decade.
• Rock star PR move – January edition: Grand Forks turned a printing error into a well-placed plug for the area.
• The reality disconnect in American politics: New evidence: Chris Georgacas predicted that 2010 will be an anti-incumbent and anti-establishment year.
• Newspapers rethink Internet anonymity: Newspapers debated about regulating online comments.
• The ultimate retweet: The Library of Congress archived all public tweets.
• A lesson in journalistic ethics: A reporter outed an openly gay senior pastor in the Minnesota-based magazine Lavender.
• Putting the hyper in hyper-local news: Community-specific websites battled mainstream media to cover the suburbs.

Happy holidays from Goff & Howard

Goff & Howard is wrapping up 2010 with our traditional mix of interesting client projects, solid teamwork, and rewarding community involvement. We look forward to a successful and fun 2011 and hope the same for you.

Happy holidays!

In case you missed it

It’s been another busy week in the fast-changing social networking world. Here are a few updates from The GH Spin’s “In case you missed it” file.

• Time Magazine’s Person of the Year: Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was named 2010 Person of the Year by Time Magazine. Time credits Zuckerberg with wiring together a “twelfth of humanity into a single network.” It is clear that Zuckerberg has made an enormous impact on the way we communicate, and Facebook’s popularity is not expected to wane soon – more than 250 million people (or half of Facebook’s members) use the social networking site daily.

• Mobile phone use increases: While this may come as no surprise due to the increasing popularity of smartphones, a recent eMarketer survey found that people spend as much time on their mobile phones as they do reading a newspaper and a magazine combined. The average user spends 50 minutes a day using his or her mobile phone, 30 minutes reading a newspaper, and 20 minutes reading a magazine.

• Myspace integrates with Facebook: Myspace is now letting users log into their Facebook accounts through their Myspace pages. Myspace will import users’ likes and interests listed on their Facebook walls and stream entertainment content based on these interests. According to Myspace, this move will deliver an “even richer entertainment experience” to its users. Learn more here.

Passing the digital tipping point

Some of us may remember the first time we saw a Web browser and started our journey down the information superhighway. The Internet and its impact on our lives have since exploded, and we’ve reached a “digital tipping point.”

Americans now spend as much time online as they do watching TV, according to a recent Forrester study. The average U.S. household watches an average of 13 hours of TV per week, equaling the amount of time spent on the Internet.

While people ages 18 to 30 have watched TV and surfed the Web equally for a few years, this is the first time Gen Xers (those ages 31 to 44) have joined the trend. It’s not that we are collectively watching less TV; it’s that Internet use has gone up 121% since 2005.

With more people making the Internet a growing part of their daily lives, it’s even more important for anyone who needs to reach customers and other audiences to have a strong digital strategy to complement traditional communications.

Those who integrated blogs, social media, and other new channels into their existing communications early on may not be surprised by this information. Others who are waiting to see if the Internet “trend” will sustain itself need to accept this new reality. The digital Pandora’s Box is not going to close anytime soon.

Faster networks, smarter phones, and more access to the Web regardless of where you are will expand Internet use and data consumption. What will never change is the need to have a smart plan in place that connects all of this to goals that matter to your company or organization.

G&H announces strategic partnership with McClung

Goff & Howard and McClung Communications & Public Relations are forming a strategic partnership to work together on public affairs and public relations projects in Minnesota and across the country.

The partnership brings together the experienced team at Goff & Howard, a full-service public affairs and public relations firm founded in 1994 with a staff of 13, with McClung Communications & Public Relations, started this June by former gubernatorial spokesman and deputy chief of staff to Governor Tim Pawlenty, Brian McClung.

This partnership will strengthen Goff & Howard’s position as a leading public affairs and public relations firm in the Upper Midwest. Our alliance with Brian brings another experienced, highly regarded, and well-connected person to our already fantastic team.

Goff & Howard and McClung Communications & Public Relations will remain separate entities that will work together with clients on a project-by-project basis.

I’ve known Brian personally and professionally for more than 13 years. Others at Goff & Howard have also known him for many years. Our history with Brian makes it even more exciting that we have the opportunity to partner with him on future projects.

The death of advertainment in Minnesota

Television news operations have long been looked at as a hybrid between journalism and entertainment. Happy talk between anchors, reporters standing outside in a hurricane to help us better “understand” the significance of a storm, and features full of gift, shopping and dining ideas are just a few examples.

From its call letters to the “focus” of stories within its newscasts, KARE-11 has been a leader in blurring the lines between news and entertainment. The station created a backyard for weather broadcasts, made desks of ice to cover the Winter Carnival, and got people to wave to the camera at the end each newscast.

Five years ago, KARE-11 pushed the journalism-entertainment envelope even farther when it launched “Showcase Minnesota,” a show that combined entertainment segments with paid advertising segments – advertainment.

When “Showcase Minnesota” was launched, KARE-11 general manager John Remes said, "This is an opportunity for advertisers to connect with audiences in a way they haven't done before.”

Critics said it was “paid advertisements masquerading as programming” and that “guests will pay to be on the new show and the anchors will act like inquisitive hucksters.” Critics were concerned that audiences wouldn’t notice or care about the difference between real news and advertainment.

The age of advertainment may be over in Minnesota – KARE-11 announced last week that “KARE-11 Today” would replace “Showcase Minnesota” in January. KARE-11 has not said if the decision was based on a lack of interest from advertisers who wanted to “connect” with audiences in a new way or if it was based on other factors.

"It's a great opportunity to highlight our strong news teams at KARE-11," said Remes. "Whether its early mornings, midday, evenings, late news, or weekends, we are proud of the commitment of our journalists and their connections with our community."

For now, the thin wall between news and advertising has been restored, and advertisers will have to find another way to connect with audiences.

A personal touch

The United States Postal Service is struggling to find a place in the digital world and recently reported an $8.5 billion loss in the past fiscal year. Many people have switched to using e-mail or social networks to stay in touch. While I’m a fan of social networking and e-mail, I also appreciate the sentiment of a handwritten note. I don’t think digital communications can replace that.

The holidays are a perfect example of the difference a handwritten, mailed note can make. The warmth of a hand-addressed envelope brimming with holiday greetings and family pictures could never be replicated by an e-card.

Nevertheless, to survive in the digital world, the Postal Service needs to reinvent itself like many other businesses have done.

Learn more about the Postal Service’s struggles and potential solutions from a National Public Radio series.

A community partner

This holiday season The GH Spin wants to tell you about a company that consistently invests its time and money in its community. Flint Hills Resources, which operates Pine Bend refinery in Rosemount, maintains a steady presence in the community by sponsoring educational opportunities for children, environmental clean-up efforts, a training facility for law enforcement officials, and more.

Flint Hills has been the title sponsor of the Flint Hills International Children’s Festival for almost a decade. The festival, which is one of the nation’s first of its kind geared toward children, introduces more than 50,000 people to international art each year. The company also sponsors several programs with the Science Museum of Minnesota which allow children to learn about science through fun, hands-on experiments. Most recently, Flint Hills and some of its female engineers hosted Girls and Science, an event at the Science Museum aimed at inspiring more girls to become engineers and scientists.

Flint Hills is also working to restore natural habitats near its Pine Bend refinery. For the past 11 years, volunteers from Flint Hills and the surrounding community have pulled buckthorn and opened and connected prairies on a section of the Mississippi River bluffs that is owned by Flint Hills Resources.

Local, state and federal law enforcement groups have trained at no cost for more than a decade at Flint Hills’ training facility. The multi-faceted training grounds include a mock duplex and apartment building, an obstacle course, and a K-9 course.

Companies that are truly great community partners are few and far between. We are proud to have Flint Hills as one of our clients.

Seven score and seven years ago*

On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln delivered one of the most famous speeches in U.S. history in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania – the site of a major Civil War battle four months earlier. It proves that some of the best speeches are also the shortest. At only 10 sentences, it concisely captures Lincoln’s feelings while inspiring the American people to believe in the nation’s future.

Lincoln was not the keynote speaker that day. The keynote speaker lectured for two hours before Lincoln spoke. But Lincoln is the remembered speaker. These were his words, no doubt carefully selected:

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate – we can not consecrate – we can not hallow – this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion – that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” **

* The Gettysburg Address was delivered 147 years ago. “Score” means 20.
** This text is one of several versions of the speech that Lincoln wrote. It is believed to be the final version.

Manganese demonstration project underway

Congratulations to Cooperative Mineral Resources, a subsidiary of Crow Wing Power, which began a demonstration project this week to mine bulk samples of manganese ore from a site in Emily, a small town in central Minnesota. Manganese is used to make steel and is being considered for use in new technologies to reduce power plant emissions, purify water, and improve rechargeable batteries.

Cooperative Mineral Resources went through an extensive approvals process in Emily and with state and federal agencies to secure the necessary health, safety and environmental permits before starting the demonstration project. Goff & Howard has helped explain the science behind the environmentally sensitive mining technique, answer questions, and address concerns about the project.

If the technique proves viable, this could be the first step toward a larger commercial project that would create jobs and potentially share millions of dollars with members of the Crow Wing Power Cooperative. Learn more about the project from Minnesota Public Radio’s coverage, and look back at Goff & Howard’s first blog about Cooperative Mineral Resources.

The end of e-mail as we know it? Facebook says yes, the GH Spin is not so sure.

In 1972, Ray Tomlinson transformed the way we communicate when he invented e-mail. Tomlinson used the “@” symbol to send information from one computer to another, and communication has never been the same. Now, 38 years later, 26-year-old Mark Zuckerberg wants to change e-mail as we know it.

The Facebook founder announced yesterday yet another new feature for his ever-expanding social media empire – a comprehensive message system that would consolidate e-mail, texts, and instant messaging in one social inbox. In less than a month, each of Facebook’s 500 million users will receive an e-mail address (@facebook.com).

You will then be able to choose how you prefer to receive messages – text, e-mail, or Facebook account – and messages will automatically be forwarded to you in your preferred format.

Zuckerberg says that Facebook’s messaging system is not e-mail. In fact, he said in a news conference that he doesn’t think e-mail is going to be a modern messaging system, partly because it is too formal. For many, he’s right. Younger people are forgoing e-mail in favor of more casual instant messaging and texts.

There is also an important business reason behind this. The messaging system creates more chances to reach the more-than half of a billion Facebook users via ads. Some are positioning this new service as Facebook’s way to better compete with Gmail and other e-mail services.

Despite the rise of informal texts, tweets, and Facebook wall posts, The GH Spin believes there will always – and should always – be a time and place for formal communications, namely in the workplace. While your in-laws might not care if you send them a quick message via Facebook, a potential client, employer, or colleague might not be impressed with your knowledge of Internet abbreviations.

Additionally, domain names associated with e-mail addresses subliminally inform recipients about the sender. Will an e-mail from an @facebook.com account have the same clout as one from more acceptable e-mail domains, like Gmail or a company domain?

As with all technology developments, we will have to wait to see whether or not the Facebook messaging system is successful. Google recently tried to take on Twitter with Google Buzz. But the buzz faded quickly, and Google is ending the service.

Nevertheless, this new development shows how Facebook is evolving to serve the needs of those who want quick, informal communications. How we communicate and the options available continue to evolve, especially as the social network strives to be an even bigger part of our lives.

Count on The GH Spin to keep you up to date.

Learning from Austin

Once a year for the past nine years, InterCity Leadership, a group of business, government and civic leaders from the Twin Cities, have visited other cities to learn how they deal with critical issues such as transportation, economic development, and education. Much like touring other homes to find ideas to make yours better, the trip has become an incredibly valuable way for our community to see how others have managed challenges and created opportunities.

This year Goff & Howard’s Mike Zipko was a part of an InterCity Leadership group that visited Austin, Texas, which has been heralded as the next Silicon Valley complete with an eclectic mix of arts, culture, and live music. At a time when the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metro area needs to find ways to keep existing companies and to attract new businesses, the group learned how Austin leaders have successfully done just that.

Through strong and consistent messaging, Austin has become known as the “live music capital of the world.” This buzz, along with the city’s collaborative relationship with the University of Texas, has helped attract large corporations and create thousands of jobs. According to city officials, Austin doubles in size every 20 years.

While there is much that can be learned from Austin’s success in growing its economy, there is still much to appreciate about our metro area, including the number of corporate headquarters located here, a strong system of colleges and universities, and a transportation system that continues to improve. Through trips like these, we are strengthening our regional economic development vision by incorporating some strategies from other cities and finding better ways to leverage the things that already make our region strong.

Members of the 2010 InterCity Leadership group visit the Mueller redevelopment project in Austin. In this project, the public and private sector are working together to redevelop a former airport into a 711-acre, master-planned, mixed-use development that will be home to approximately 10,000 people, 10,000 permanent employees, 10,000 construction jobs, more than 4,900 homes, and approximately 140 acres of public open space. The project could be an example for the Twin Cities to look at as decisions are made about redeveloping the Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant site in Arden Hills and the Ford Plant site in Saint Paul.

In case you missed it

It’s been another busy week in the fast-changing online world. Here are a few updates from The GH Spin’s “In case you missed it” file.

•Patch goes live: AOL’s hyper-local news source, Patch, went live in Edina this week. Patch journalists in several Twin Cities locations are already active on Twitter and Facebook. According to MinnPost, Patch is hiring journalists for nearly 50 sites in the metro area and is adding 600 journalists nationally. Read more from MinnPost or The GH Spin.

•Preview websites instantly: Google announced today a feature that will allow people to preview a screen shot of websites that appear in a search before they click on a site. The “Instant Previews” feature will be launched in 40 languages over the coming days. Read more here.

•Twitter starts advertising: Starting this month, Twitter will allow companies to place an ad in a user’s Twitter stream regardless of whether the user follows the company. Virgin America, Starbucks, and Red Bull have already bought ads. This advertising option complements the “promoted tweet” that appears at the top of searches on the Twitter website. Read more here.

•Clip coupons via Facebook: Facebook is now offering coupons through a new feature called “Deals.” More than 20 companies, including Gap, McDonalds, and American Eagle Outfitters, have signed on. The feature can alert users when a store near them has a coupon available, making it especially useful for smartphone users. Read more here.

Chris Georgacas named top political influencer

Goff & Howard President Chris Georgacas was recently named one of Minnesota’s top political influencers by Campaigns and Elections magazine. On the list, he joins Saint Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, Congressman Erik Paulsen, former U.S. Vice President Walter Mondale, and others.

Chris is widely regarded as one of Minnesota’s top public affairs strategists. He has been involved in Minnesota government, civic affairs, and politics for more than three decades, including serving two terms (from 1993-1997) as state chairman of the Republican Party of Minnesota. Earlier this year, the Republican Party honored Chris with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Following a transition of leadership in the Emmer campaign, Chris became chairman and helped Tom Emmer become highly competitive in Minnesota’s gubernatorial race.

Congratulations to Chris on this well-deserved honor.

Your vote matters

Election Day – Tuesday, November 2 – is approaching quickly. In a state of more than five million people, some wonder if one vote really matters. It does. Hundreds of federal, state and local elections in the United States have been decided by less than a percentage point, including several races in the past decade.

• The memorable 2008 Coleman/Franken Senate election was decided by a margin of only 312 votes.
• In 2008, an election for the Alaska House of Representatives was decided by one vote following a recount.
• An election for the Oklahoma House of Representatives was decided by only two votes in 2006.
• A gubernatorial election in Washington State was decided by 133 votes in 2004.
• A primary election for the Ohio Senate was decided by 22 votes in 2004.
• A U.S. House of Representatives election in Colorado was decided by 121 votes in 2002.
• George Bush narrowly won the Presidential election in 2000. He won in Florida by 537 votes and in New Mexico by 366 votes. The margin of victory was less than 5% in 12 states and between 5 and 10% in 10 states, making it the closest Presidential election since 1876.
• Going further back in history, Minnesota’s closest statewide race was decided by only 91 votes. In Minnesota’s 1962 gubernatorial election Karl Rolvaag defeated Elmer Anderson by a margin of 0.01%.

Although the state gubernatorial race has been getting a lot of press over the past few months, there are also several important city and county referendums and races that might not have grabbed the attention of the media. Because fewer people vote in these elections, it is even more important that voters make informed decisions and vote. The Minnesota Secretary of State website has sample ballots listing who and what will be on your ballot.

On November 2, remember to go to the polls, because your vote really does matter.

Rock Star PR Move: The Wishing Tree

While strolling around her favorite Minneapolis lake a couple of weeks ago, this GH Spin blogger and her husband stopped abruptly when tiny pieces of neon-colored papers waved at them from a tree along the walking path. Before even knowing what we were seeing, we couldn’t help but smile at the whimsy. Turns out, this “wishing tree” was the first part of the 52-week Hokey Pokey Project, launched by Minneapolis mom Deb Arora and her family. Passersby were prompted to write down their wishes on the tiny pieces of paper and hang them from the tree with pieces of yarn. There were hundreds of them, calling on the giver of wishes for everything from world peace to a dog.

Photo courtesy of the Star Tribune.

We mention it here, not just because it brightened our day, but because it is also a hall-of-fame-worthy Rock Star PR move.

On her blog about the project, Arora said, “For the next fifty-two weeks, my family will strive to create a weekly public project that will serve no other purpose than to make people smile – perhaps hundreds of people or maybe just one. But smiles are the primary goal.”

Arora, a former advertising pro, says her husband’s dream is for the Hokey Pokey Project to become a global phenomenon. As both a do-gooder and savvy marketer, Arora just might pull that off. Her idea has already appeared in the Star Tribune, Pioneer Press, and the blogs of other young moms and Lake Harriet enthusiasts.

In case you missed it

It’s been another busy week in the fast-changing communications world. Here are a few updates from The GH Spin’s “In case you missed it” file.

•The next odd couple: Northwest Publications, the Pioneer Press’s publisher, announced yesterday that it is partnering with The Onion, and will run the paper’s Twin Cities business operations, including sales, production and distribution. The GH Spin hopes the Pioneer Press takes advantage of The Onion’s outstanding headline writers. Read more here.

•The social network meets the retail opportunity: Target has expanded its partnership with Facebook this week past Farmville gift cards. Minnesota’s own discount retailer announced this week that customers will be able to print pictures directly from their Facebook accounts at in-store photo kiosks. Read more here.

•Internet use swells to 2 billion: Does it seem like the Internet is getting a bit more crowded? New research says the World Wide Web is on pace to reach more than 2 billion users before the end of 2010, according to a recent report. That means nearly 30% of the world’s 6.9 billion people have access to the Internet. Read more here.

Putting the hyper in hyper-local news

There is a new online news source heading into our market that The GH Spin is watching closely.

AOL-owned Patch is putting the hyper in hyper-local news. It is creating community-specific sites for suburbs in 18 states so far (mostly near the coasts). It covers everything from little league games to crime, business openings and “average folks doing extraordinary things.” It will also include directories of local restaurants, businesses and organizations.

In Minnesota, Patch is hiring staff to create sites for several cities in the West Metro (plus Eagan). The first site, covering Edina, is slated to go live on November 1. Local staffers say Patch will expand into the East Metro eventually, but not yet. They don’t plan to serve the downtowns of Minneapolis and Saint Paul because that’s not where the advertisers want to be. Such is the continuation of the micro-targeting of those who consume news and ads.

Mainstream media has been wrestling with the best way to provide the trendy hyper-local news. In this market, Channel 5 has a “Where you live” section on its home page, but the content is light. The Star Tribune has shuffled its special zoned sections several times, trying to find the right fit, and MinnPost is working hard to claim its piece of the online news share in the state. All of these outlets should be watching patch.com very closely, as should local weeklies.

Why not to start a sentence with “We need a PowerPoint on…”

I’ve written plenty of PowerPoint presentations in my time. They can be effective and interesting.

But an editorial by Nancy Duarte for CNN.com reminds us why we shouldn’t approach a presentation by thinking of it as a PowerPoint. The better way to approach it is by asking ourselves why we are being asked to speak and what our audience should take from it. After all, the purpose of communicating is to reveal meaning, not just to throw information at people.

I recently wrote a 15-minute speech for someone that included a PowerPoint. The PowerPoint itself consisted of only eight slides (photos, a basic graph, and a memorable quote). That’s because the presenter’s message was strong enough to stand on its own. She used PowerPoint for only one reason: to help make her strongest points resonate with her audience.

Next time you are asked to make a presentation, think first of what you want your audience to remember. Then determine if PowerPoint will help.

Editor’s note: The flowchart referenced at the beginning of Duarte’s editorial was first blogged about by G&H’s Chris Georgacas in March 2010.