October 29, 2002

The PR Weather Report

Clearing Skies in November:

Hurricane warnings thru the 7th,
partly cloudy mid-month, then
sunny skies after the 21st.

If you have messages to get out before the elections are over, you can fugeddaboutit, as they say in the more sophisticated urban centers. Between warmongering, UN sanctions, the start of the NBA season, poll results, last minute negative campaigning, voter turn-out estimates and voting place interviews (and don’t forget COMDEX), the news hole for anything else is smaller than a hanging chad.

But the clouds will be parting once the polls close, as the media hungers to write about something other than the candidates. So give them some variety and they’ll declare you the victor!

If you’re fortunate enough to be pitching the media the last week of the month, you’re in luck. Since your slacker peers will be taking all of Thanksgiving week off, as will all journalists with any seniority, that leaves some lonely guys and gals in those newsrooms. I know. I used to be one of them. And even though I hate turkey, I would have written a “Dog Bites Man” story if the press kit had come with a drumstick. And for pumpkin pie, I’d have made it a front-page headline with photo. Be available for quotes and pithy comments—and you’ll not only make it into print, you’ll make a friend for life.

Dates to avoid:

• November 5-6, Election Day
• November 11, Veteran’s Day
• November 15, America Recycles Day
• November 18-22, COMDEX

New articles in this issue:

Articles with red titles require a subscription:
The View from the Pyramids:
The 2002 Cairo IPRA Conference.
Should you Trust your Agency with Measurement?
How to choose and work with a measurement-savvy agency.
Shopping for an Agency?
We rate seven top agencies.
The “Ad Value” of PR:
Jim Macnamara on AVEs.
Advertising is Dead; Long Live Advertising:
The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR, by Ries and Ries.
How Do I Get my Boss to Use Measurement Properly?
Nobody likes failure, except when it leads to improvement.

The following articles do not require a subscription:
The Paine of Measurement:
Agencies should use research to measure their clients’ success, not their own.
The PR Weather Report:
Clearing skies in November.
Can This Reputation Be Saved?
Will Rosie Bloom Again?
Measurement Maven of the Month: Wilma Mathews
Measurement Menace of the Month: Jan Hendrik Schon
Measurement Site of the Month: Hot A.I.R. and improbable research.
Benchmarking in Their Blood: Andrew West
This Measurement Life:
Doing the Agency Shuffle with Martha and Bob.

1. You’ll learn how to use hard numbers to prove the results of your PR efforts.
   
2. You’ll learn which are the right vendors for your measurement projects.
   
3. You’ll learn how to design your program right from the start to be easily measureable.

Click here to subscribe now! (It’s 100% money-back guaranteed!)

Struggling to set up your measurement system?
Katie Delahaye Paine can help you at measuresofsuccess.com.

133 Islington Street, Portsmouth, NH 03801,
603-431-6967 www.measuresofsuccess.com