Insights for Leaders Navigating
Visibility, Credibility, and Growth.
From media strategy to reputation management, we explore the trends shaping public perception and share the approaches that drive measurable results for growing brands.
In today’s fast-paced, competitive business world, an emphasis is often put on earnings, return on investment (ROI), and the like. Many would argue that cash is a necessity and corporate culture a nicety. But what if culture and character not only improved morale, but also trickled down to earnings?
I recently read Fred Kiel’s “Return on Character” and found his research on the impact of leaders’ character not only inspiring but also applicable to businesses in any industry and of any size. Over seven years, Kiel studied 84 CEOs, their senior teams, and their organizations, and found that character not only matters, but that “good” character wins.
To evaluate character, Kiel and his team outlined four universal principles in their Return on Character (ROC) Matrix: integrity, responsibility, forgiveness and compassion, and ranked leaders on a scale of superior character, or virtuous, to poor character, or self-focused.
The truly fascinating finding through the research is the return on assets (ROA) of the CEOs at the top of the character curve versus those at the bottom. The virtuous CEOs created a ROA of nearly five times greater than did the self-focused CEOs.
As Kiel states in the book, “When an organization is led by a CEO and executive team of high character, on average it will produce a great ROA than organizations run by low-character leaders.” Additional benefits of this high character “ripple effect” within this research include highly engaged workforces, delivery of better value to customers, and strong customer satisfaction.
So how does this apply to the everyday professional?
Character is shaped by a mix of upbringing and personal experiences, but Kiel found that virtuous leaders continued to develop the principles and further honed leadership-enhancing skills through mentor relationships, meaning we can continue to develop our character throughout our lives. He suggests seeking guidance and counsel from mentors or advisors to aid in this development.
Further, character applies to more than just C-level executives. It’s inherent in every level of a business and not only will those around you appreciate your “good” character, but Kiel’s findings suggest that your business will also reap the benefits. There are a range of considerations for a business, however, looking beyond cash and ROI to character and company culture has a proven effect to not only improve business, but increase morale.
Possibly one of the most talked about event events of 2015 was the farewell to Bruce Jenner and the introduction to Caitlyn Jenner. Jenner has been in the spotlight for decades and is a household name to all generation because of Olympic achievements and reality television stardom. In April of 2015, the much-anticipated interview with Dianne Sawyer aired and in June of 2015, Caitlyn made her debut on the cover of Vanity Fair.
As a PR pro, I thought that the entire transition process went incredibly smoothly. To be honest, I hadn’t given much thought to it other than, “job well done” or “what an amazing story.” It wasn’t until The New York Times published “Caitlyn Jenner’s Secret-Sharer,” detailing the process, that I realized that the public transition was thoughtfully managed and well-executed.
Before the Kardashians dominated the world of social media and reality T.V., Bruce Jenner was a well-known Olympian, working with Alan Nierob from Rogers & Cowen to handle his public appearances, endorsements and image. According to The New York Times article, after marrying Kris Jenner, he stopped working with Nierob because Kris began handling his career. But in 2014, Nierob received a call. It was Bruce Jenner. He had recently divorced Kris and needed help from his old publicist. At this point, tabloids ran wild with the possibility of a gender transition and Jenner was doing his best to stay out of the spotlight. But with a transition in the near future, Jenner needed PR help.
From the beginning, Nierob knew that it was time they take control of the narrative and the first part of the process would be to let the public hear the story straight from Jenner. The Kardashians had a strong relationship with E!, owned by NBCUniversal. In order to prevent the perception that the interview was for financial gain, Nierob and Jenner chose to move forward with ABC. Next, they needed a reporter that would handle this matter sensitively, while still asking the right questions, the ones that people would want to know the answers to. Diane Sawyer seemed like a natural fit, and Nierob had experience working with her on behalf of other clients in trying situations and had seen successful outcomes. It also didn’t hurt that Jenner respected Sawyer.
Next, the introduction of Caitlyn. Knowing this would be a highly anticipated event after the interview with Sawyer aired, it was critical that her debut was handled thoughtfully. The publication needed to be well-respected and have connections with renowned photographers and journalists that would capture the essence of Caitlyn—this was the first time the public would get to meet her. Vanity Fair seemed to have everything Nierob was looking for, especially a connection with Annie Leibovitz, who would go on to produce an iconic cover.
One aspect The New York Times article neglects to recognize is that Nierob and his team also planned the launch of a Twitter account for Caitlyn to promote the Vanity Fair cover. Really, this was Caitlyn’s main introduction to the public. No one knew her name yet, when, where or how she would be introduced. But social media allowed for the cover to spread like wildfire. Within four hours, Jenner gained one million followers, breaking a record and beating out Barack Obama for the fastest accumulation of followers.
When Nierob began working with Jenner again, he did not have an easy task ahead of him. The tabloids were spouting rumor after rumor and most of them negative. As a result, the public had preconceived notions about Jenner’s transition that were fueled by tabloid gossip. There were family ties to broadcasting companies that had the potential to skew the public’s perception of Jenner’s motivation to do the interviews. And most importantly, this was one of the first highly public cases of a transgender person making her transition, and the public needed to be educated in the process. By approaching this in a couple of different stages, from Bruce’s perspective and introduction to Caitlyn, and conducting the process through multiple channels, broadcast, print and social, Nierob helped introduce the public to Caitlyn in a thoughtful manner. Not only that, but he has positioned Jenner remarkably well for the next stage of her career, an advocate and ambassador for the transgender community.
Spaceflight, an integrated space services company and client of Communiqué PR, is reinventing the model for launching satellites into space and driving a new space revolution designed to democratize space access.
Since 2010, Spaceflight has been innovating and investing in programs to foster a new era where space access is a service. A full-service launch provider, Spaceflight provides a straightforward, cost-effective, and comprehensive suite of products and services, including state-of-the-art satellite infrastructure, rideshare capabilities, and global communications networks that enable commercial and government entities to achieve their mission goals. To date, Spaceflight has launched 81 satellites and the company has contracts to deploy more than 135 satellites through 2018.
Through the contributions of Spaceflight and other commercial satellite companies, the space industry is experiencing a massive shift, where private companies can not only partake in the exploration of space, but take the lead in driving innovations across the industry. Spaceflight is helping drive access to space for commercial, scientific and non-profit entities and promises to bring new information with incredible uses for every industry, from energy to agriculture, finance, government, human rights, defense and more. This commercialization and heightened access to global big data will make satellite imaging, data, and communications less expensive and more prevalent, thereby enabling almost anyone to explore our world in ways that were previously not possible.
Spaceflight Awarded First GSA Schedule Contract for Satellite Launch Services
Earlier this year, Spaceflight became the first launch services provider to be awarded the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Professional Services Schedule (00CORP). As a recipient of the contract, the federal government recognized Spaceflight as a preferred launch services vendor fully authorized to conduct business directly with federal government agencies. As a result, the company will provide its services to federal agencies at a pre-negotiated fixed rate, enabling them to quickly and easily secure small satellite launch contracts online and cut through red tape to receive services faster, ultimately saving a significant amount of time and tax-payer money.
Spaceflight has enjoyed a long, successful history of providing innovative launch services to federal agencies, including NASA and the U.S. Air Force. However, as U.S. government agencies such as NASA and the Department of Defense increasingly look to commercial satellite companies to support their missions, Spaceflight sought a way to streamline the vetting process and secure preferred vendor status with the GSA. In order to receive the GSA Schedule contract, Spaceflight had to undergo an extensive and rigorous approval process, including the negotiation of fair and reasonable prices, as well as ensuring its services are in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.
Deploying the News
Communiqué PR understood that securing the GSA Schedule contract was not only a significant endorsement for Spaceflight, but for the next generation of launch providers dedicated to helping more organizations increase their understanding of our world. As such, we believed there would be strong interest in the news within space industry and developed a strategy to inform the industry and drive awareness of the new contract with readers of government trade publications.
Our approach involved developing a targeted press list focused on journalists covering the space industry as well as those tracking government contracts. We also worked with Spaceflight to finalize a press release that expressed the significance of Spaceflight’s role as the first launch provider to receive the GSA Schedule contract and communicated how the contract will reduce administrative costs and enable federal agencies to quickly and easily order a CubeSat or MicroSat launch online. We then offered the news under embargo to targeted media in order to ensure accuracy and drive coverage around the news.
Coverage Lifts Off
Within two days of crossing the wire, Spaceflight’s news was covered by 16 media outlets. Here is a list of the coverage secured thus far:
- Xconomy, “Seattle Week in Review: Space, VR, Machine Intelligence”
- Financial News, “Spaceflight Awarded First GSA Schedule Contract for Satellite Launch Services”
- SpaceRef, “Spaceflight Awarded First GSA Schedule Contract for Satellite Launch Services”
- SpaceNews, “Spaceflight offers smallsat launch services on government contract schedule”
- SpaceNews, “Mold contamination delays Orbital ATK cargo flight to ISS”
- Satnews, “Spaceflight Awarded First GSA Schedule Contract For Satellite Launch Services…Easy… Order CubeSats Online”
- Law360, “Spaceflight Wins 1st GSA Contract For Easy Launch Orders”
- Space Daily, “Spaceflight Awarded First GSA Schedule Contract for Satellite Launch Services”
- Executive Biz, “Spaceflight Added to GSA’s Consolidated Professional Services Schedule”
- Northwest Innovation, “Spaceflight Industries Gets GSA Contract”
- Seattle Times, “US approves Spaceflight for simplified satellite-launch deals”
- GeekWire, “Spaceflight’s online price list makes it easier for the feds to buy a launch”
- Parabolic Arc, “Spaceflight Awarded First GSA Schedule Contract for Satellite Launch Services”
- Puget Sound Business Journal, “Spaceflight lands major contract with federal government”
- Room, “Spaceflight Awarded First GSA Schedule Contract for Satellite Launch Services”
- NewSpace Watch, “Spaceflight Industries gets GSA Schedule contract for smallsat launch services” (article behind paywall, link to RSS feed)
We congratulate Spaceflight on this significant achievement and look forward to telling its story as it continues to lead an innovative era of space exploration that fosters a better understanding of our world.
Innovation occurs daily in the technology sector. To tackle complex social challenges, global foundations look to the tech sector to help deliver as many powerful tools in their arsenal as possible to design novel and useful solutions. Identifying innovations, nurturing innovative capacity, and supporting innovators are mechanisms to support ideas for the public good.
Guided by these principles, Siemens Stiftung created the “empowering people. Award” as a way to not only recognize and reward innovations, but provide the resources necessary to help organizations further the development of solutions to help solve global challenges.
A sampling of previous award winners include:
- A prosthetic knee designed specifically for conditions in the developing world and costing at least 90 percent less than similar alternatives
- Clean drinking water right at the tap so residents of poor, rural communities can cook, clean, bathe, and wash dishes with clean water, minimizing contamination pathways and preventing fatal diseases and frequent illnesses
- A low-cost, energy-efficient infant warmer that can help prevent hypothermia for infants with low birth weight in developing countries.
CPR was honored to have assisted Siemens Stiftung in promoting the “empowering people. Award 2015″ to U.S. companies and organizations. Our goal was to publicize the award to solicit entries through media coverage in various publications. Among the highlights of this project included:
- Media outreach and coverage in various trade and business publications ranging from Yahoo! Finance and The Street, to Today’s Medical Developments
- Development of a contributed article on previous award winner D-REV and the ReMotion Knee, which received prominent coverage in “Today’s Medical Developments,” a medical device trade publication, as a way to garner interest in entries among the medical device industry
- Interviews with award jurors to create blogs and additional content
Award entries have been submitted and are currently in review by the jurors, and we eagerly await the announcement to see what innovations are in the works to help improve global conditions.
“Deliver a message or an offer with a call to action; you can also insert a link and a hashtag so your target audience will see this #Twitter”
The above statement is exactly 140-characters long, which meets Twitter’s legendary length restriction for a tweet. I love Twitter because it’s a simple, intuitive tool and timely news source, especially for media professionals. Adhering to the 140-character limit is what made Twitter unique from other social platforms. Users had to be concise and to the point with their messages – but (as most things change) Twitter is said to be changing that rule.
According to an article in Re/code, Twitter is rumored to be building a new feature that will allow users the option to tweet a message with up to 10,000-characters. As someone who works to increase brand awareness, I see this as a great opportunity for messaging – and in PR, it’s crucial to craft the right message and deliver it to the right audience.
With 10,000 (or more) ways to potentially tweet a message, brands will have new opportunities to add value to their audience. Here are three reasons why Twitter’s character limit expansion will be beneficial for brands:
1.) More opportunity for thought leadership, audience building, and brand awareness. It can be extremely difficult to deliver a thorough message in 140 characters – I’m sure every tweeter has struggled with this at some point. The opportunity to provide a deeper, more in-depth perspective will establish users’ thought leadership on a topic or industry. In essence, tweets will soon be a type of long-form content where users will craft a snazzy headline in 140 characters, and viewers decide to expand and read the content. Users won’t be forced to leave Twitter to read your entire message, which can significantly increase the number of people who actually see it.
2.) An improved content marketing platform. Brands will have the opportunity to engage with their audience in new ways. With a more detailed message, brands will have more opportunity to educate, inform, and add value within the content/tweet itself. Furthermore, the tweet will still appear in 140 characters on the timeline – so tweets will still look the same as users scroll through tweets via their timeline. The silver lining is that users will not be forced to click a link and leave Twitter to get more information, which is less disruptive for your audience. Instead, the viewer will choose to either expand the tweet or click the link to learn more, which can still generate organic website traffic.
3.) More analytical data. Brands will be able to get even deeper insights into what messages are sticking. Currently, Twitter analytics show the impressions and engagements with a tweet, including detail expands, likes, retweets, profile clicks, follows, replies, and email shares. The possibilities with a character-limit expansion are sweeping, such as the number of expanded tweets, how long the tweet was expanded for, how far viewers scrolled down the expanded tweet, whether users clicked the link provided in the expanded tweet, or in the 140-character timeline view. Data is incredibly valuable to measure success.
It’s as though the 140-character “rule” became Twitter’s core essence. Since people fear change and a tweet is considered a small chirp, not a long birdsong, it is understandable why people are hesitant about the reported character limit expansion. It’ll be interesting to see if and when this goes into effect, how users react and how brands take advantage of this new opportunity.
A new client of Communiqué PR is spearheading the introduction of consumer drone services in the U.S. and the media are taking notice.
Cape Productions (Cape) is a drone video service for ordinary people who love to engage in action sports, with a current focus on capturing amazing footage of friends and family shredding the slopes at ski resorts across the country. Consumers at these locations are able to use Cape’s service to have their experiences filmed automatically via drone and edited by Cape’s professional video team. Shortly thereafter, customers receive personalized, professionally edited videos of themselves to watch and share with friends and family. Essentially, it’s like hiring a personal film crew – all you do is ski and wait for the video to be delivered.
The FAA and Regulating Drones
One of the major obstacles for many businesses to overcome (depending on their specific area of focus) is navigating and adhering to all federal regulations relating to their product. This is particularly true in the areas of healthcare or car manufacturing or heavy industry when there are genuine concerns about consumer safety and/or how the service can impact the environment. For the drone consumer industry specifically, which is still in its infancy, regulations are much less established and business and consumers alike who want to utilize drones anxiously wait for guidance from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as they pursue their drone ambitions.
There are obvious safety considerations when dealing with drone technology. As with any piece of advanced tech, sometimes the mechanics simply don’t work or fail at the wrong time. Cape not only understood this fact when creating the business, but welcomed the challenge of ensuring that its service is safe for anyone who wished to use it. It knew from the onset how important working with the FAA would be in creating a scalable business model for its drone video service and wanted to go above and beyond any regulations set forth to manage its operation.
To that end, Cape has worked closely with the FAA since its founding to ensure that it was compliant with all regulatory requirements and that their service was legal and safe. In fact, Cape has conducted thousands of flights across the globe in places with extremely harsh conditions and still has a 100-percent safety record.
Cape Granted Unique FAA Exemption
At the end of 2015, Cape received word from the FAA that they had been granted an amendment to the company’s existing Section 333 exemption for commercial drone operations. In a nutshell, the exemption is tailored specifically to Cape’s operations and makes them the first drone operator in the U.S. legally allowed to fly drones within 500 feet of customers and in an area wider than a closed set.
What does that mean exactly? In this precedent-setting exemption, the FAA is now allowing Cape to fly its drones much closer to people and outside of a closed movie set – the first time this has ever been allowed for a consumer drone service. The previous restrictions on where and how close a drone could fly hampered many potential consumer and commercial uses for drones, and this amendment is groundbreaking for the industry as it lays the foundation for different drone operations in the future. But more importantly, the exemption now allows Cape the ability to create even more stunning videos of people engaged in action sports and opens the possibility for them to expand its model into different areas where people would want to hire a drone for filming purposes. (Some of the world’s greatest athletes, including the U.S. Ski Team, have also started using Cape to enhance their training).
Communiqué PR understood that the media would be interested in this regulatory news and immediately helped Cape build a strategy to maximize coverage for when it made the announcement to the public. The process was straight forward, but had to be executed with precision: First, identify the heavy hitters and beat reporters covering drone news and regulatory updates. Second, draft a release which incorporates key messages and talking points centered on the importance of the news and which ultimately ties back to Cape and its service. Lastly, share the news under embargo with prioritized media to help seed stories and shape the media coverage when the news breaks.
As a result, media interest in the announcement has been expansive, in-depth, and inclusive of the core messaging Cape wanted highlighted. Here are a few examples of the coverage:
- Fast Company: You Can’t Use a Drone to Film Yourself Skiing but these Ex-Googlers Will do it for You
- USA Today: FAA Approves Ski-video Drones
- BuzzFeed: Drone Photography Company Wins FAA Exemption Ahead Of New Regulations
- MarketWatch: This is the First Business to (Legally) Fly Drones Around Americans’ Heads
- Forbes: Ex-Google Employees’ Drones Turn Weekend Warriors Into Ski Movie Stars
- Drone 360: Cape Productions Granted First-of-a-Kind Permission from the FAA for Drone Video Service
Communiqué PR congratulates Cape on its recent achievement and the wonderful media coverage it has received to date. This is only the beginning for a company that has ambitions to be the largest, most trusted drone video operator in the world, and we here at Communiqué PR are dedicated to making that happen.
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