If you needed a reason to categorize music companies as humorless corporate entities that have no heart, here’s a woman being ordered to remove a YouTube video of her kid, because there’s a Universal Music song playing in the background.

The average person has no idea how vigorously these companies pursue documentary makers, store owners and others who have the bad luck to have a song intrude on their work.

Even someone casually humming a song can lead to copyright problems. It’s gotten to the point that filmmakers treat an incidental bit of sound as a tragic occurrence, instead of serendipity.

Share This

The White House probably wishes it could take a mulligan, after widely distributing a Reuters story in which the Iraqi president agrees with Barack Obama on the timetable for U.S. troop withdrawals.

The flurry of attention from the boo-boo came as Republic John McCain had to respond to the Iraqi presidents comments without appearing to back down from previous statements about a possible lengthy U.S. military presence in Iraq.

Just a blip in the blogosphere, but always interesting to see when someone inadvertently appears to be endorsing a news story by sharing it with others.

Share This

For some bands, an arrest for cocaine possession is just another week of media attention.

But for any entertainers trying to market themselves to children, drug arrests, unwholesome sex acts or disrespect for religion can be career stoppers.

The initial response from The Barenaked Ladies website said Steven Page had pleaded not guilty and “the validity of the charges against Steven will be strongly contested.”

While there’s a lot of societal tolerance for booze, “soft drugs”, and addictions to bad haircuts, the murmurs of understanding seem to die out when cocaine, meth, heroin or any of the harder drugs are involved.

While the cheerful, energetic lead singer’s legal case is being built, he and the band will have a lot of work to do on the reputation restoration side.

Not so much from their adult audience, who may be disappointed with a celebrity’s poor choice of mind-altering substances, but from parents who don’t want to expose their children to “bad influences.”

The behavior of children’s entertainers has always been held to a higher standard than us regular folks.

The Ladies have always been able to handle the media and their fans well. Here’s hoping they find the right combination to work through this situation.

Share This

The interconnectedness of public relations and marketing is evident when you see a company effectively differentiating itself from its competitors. But even the most coordinated efforts have to amplify something true about your company.

Revolutionary advertising teamed up with bland media relations won’t get you where you want to be.

Setting yourself apart in the public’s mind will fail miserably if the customer experience doesn’t live up to the billing.

If employees and business partners don’t buy into the idea that you really are a different company, they’ll pass on their skepticism  to customers.

Southwest Airlines and Canada’s WestJet have been very effective creating a corporate culture that reinforces their image as friendlier, more customer-focused travel companies.

The photo (left) of CEO Gary Kelly doing his best Gene Simmons imitation reinforces Southwest’s willingness to behave differently. And that image is reinforced daily by employees’ behavior.

Basically, if you can’t enthusiastically answer the question “Why should you do business with us?“, your company doesn’t have a workable differentiation strategy.  Which means whatever you’re spending on marketing and PR can’t achieve the results it should.

And if your answers don’t ring true, your attempts to make your company stand out from the crowd will succeed in the wrong way.

So, can you explain why people should do business with you?

Photo courtesy Southwest Airlines Photo Gallery.

Share This

This tip works for executives, employees and just regular folks.

If you can see yourself years from now talking about what a waste of time and energy your job (or relationship, or business venture) was, stop complaining and start getting out of your current situation.

In some cases, I’ve been able to renegotiate my role. Other times, the smartest thing to do was bail quickly and not look back.

I’m not advocating infidelity or corporate backstabbing. But there are some situations where you just can’t win, so stop trying.

Other Quick Tips.

Share This