Pirozzolo Company Public Relations

How the Russian Bear outfoxes Unwary American Business Execs Using Cyber Hacks and Spycraft

Business Travelers: Don’t drop your cyber guard in Russia or China and Iran

Beware Russian Meddling, Kremlin agents are cunning and uncompromising

Your host kindly greets you the minute you arrive at your hotel, casually directing the bellhop to take your bags to your room”including the one containing your laptop that is mysteriously delayed on its way to your floor.

He generously puts his luxury sedan at your disposal, with a driver whose English language skills appear to be limited so that you feel free to discuss your negotiating stance for an upcoming meeting in his presence.

Your smartphone runs out of juice, but fortunately your hotel and the local airport are conveniently equipped with charging stations. Unfortunately, the devices exchange a little bit of electricity for all of your data.
 
When FBI Special Agent James Corbett, a counterintelligence specialist, spoke to members of the New EnglandCanada Business Council NECBC, he told the group of business and financial executives that foreign governments and businesses will stop at nothing to get a competitive edge. He regularly warns Americans who travel internationally on business that seemingly innocent gestures should raise a red flag.

Agent Corbett put it this way: “In many countries respect for and an expectation of privacy is simply a foreign notion. Cleverness is respected far more than fair play,” which includes enticing executives into compromising positions.

Check out the FBI’s Cyber Security Travel Tips.

Jubin Pejman, managing director of FCM360, an internet service provider specializing in financial transactions and cybersecurity counter measures concurs. “Tablets, laptops and smart phones are so convenient and powerful that it’s easy to become complacent when it comes to securing the vast amounts of data they store—especially overseas where corporate and government spies will go to extremes to gather any information they can to gain an advantage.”

Foreign governments will piece together information from several travelers from the same company or government agency to create a composite picture that will provide competitors with your intellectual property, customer lists, passwords and more. “The bad actors are no surprise with Russia, China and Iran heading the list.” Says Pejman an Iranian native who left the country when the Shah was deposed in 1979.

To combat corporate espionage, “Sanitize all your devices before you go. Erase the memory, leaving only the operating systems and bare-bones applications. If this is too inconvenient buy a spare smart phone for foreign travel. While overseas, keep all contact information, notes, plans and documents that you need on a thumb drive and keep it in your possession at all times throughout your trip.

Do not rely on the guestroom safe for security,” says Agent Corbett, adding “When you return, have your company’s Information Security Officer examine your devices for suspicious access and spyware installations.”

  Agent Corbett warns business executives to suspect any delay—when government customs officers see a potentially high-value target they often coordinate an eavesdropping effort with covert agents at local hotels before they let you pass.

In addition to electronic surveillance and cyber theft, one can also encounter old-fashioned tradecraft when overseas. Agent Corbett confirms that there is plenty of truth to the dramatic FX TV series, The Americans in which actors Keri Russell and Mathew Rhys portray KGB agents masquerading as The Jennings, a typical American family next door. Agent Corbett emphasizes, “Beware of friendly strangers and compromising situations.”

 

FBI Special Agent Corbett's Cyber Safety Rules for Business Travel in Russia

Before you go, sanitize all electronic devices leaving only the operating system and basic applications in memory.

Keep all personal and company data on a thumb drive and keep it in your pocket.

Beware of undue delay when entering the country and when arriving at your hotel. Missing bags or your room not being ready are tip-offs that spies are at work.

Keep rechargeable power sources on hand. When you need to charge your phone, or tablet, charge up the power source first and then charge your device from the battery pack. Charge cords plugged directly into electric wall outlets are safe.

Do not use your host’s company computer to log into you’re your corporate offices back in the US; it’s an invitation to install spyware.

Cyber spies can turn on the mic in your smartphone remotely. Keep smartphones turned off when not in use and do not discuss confidential information via phone.

Clear your Internet browser after each session, deleting history, caches, cookies and temporary Internet files.

Discard thumb drives given out as advertising premiums at trade shows as they often contain malware that can automatically copy your data and transmit it the next time you log onto your company system.

Be aware that the expectation of privacy is not the same overseas as it is in the US. Expect cabdrivers, waiters, customs officials and others to relay anything you talk about to your hosts or their government.

Clean out voice mail immediately, as passcodes can become compromised when retrieving messages.

Change your passwords as soon as you return home.

By Dick Pirozzolo is managing director of Pirozzolo Company Public Relations, an international marketing communication firm headquartered in Boston.

How's Your "Issues Management Hygiene?"

PR Gurus the world over have been weighing in on the media fallout from United Airlines forcibly removing passenger Dr. David Dao from a flight as an object lesson in lousy crisis management.

It was painful to watch the smart phone videos of law enforcement agents dragging Dr. Dao off the plane while a major carrier slow walked its response from blaming the customer to the announcement of a lawsuit to a financial settlement and finally an apology by CEO Oscar Munoz.

Though CEO Munoz struck out during his first at bat, he finally connected by instituting a number of reforms. He increased compensation for bumped passengers, empowered employees to more easily resolve passenger complaints on the spot, and even provided a phone app to assist them in doing so. As consumer expert Shep Hyken pointed out in Forbes recently, “United Airlines is upping its customer service game, and it is my prediction that other airlines will follow. United employees will be on their best behavior, and so will employees of other airlines.”

 

 

Everybody wins. This time.

United’s crisis management mistakes could have been averted if the company had recognized and planned for all three components of communication management that propel companies onto the nightly news and create infuriating Twitter storms. They are:

Emergency Management

Issues Management

Crisis Management

United and the airline industry generally get A+ on only one of the three components, Emergency Management. Carriers anticipate and have detailed plans, personnel and systems in place to deal with customers, family members, the media and other stakeholders in an emergency and they know how to coordinate with government agencies like the NTSB when the most dreaded of operational failures occurs – a plane crash. And they practice.

While it’s best to routinely review and practice the fundamentals of crisis management with the CEO and review the crisis management plan periodically it’s harder to make it happen. Notwithstanding, savvy senior managers are smart enough to listen to their public relations counsel, once they find themselves in the midst of a media maelstrom.

The Department of Defense offers a solid definition of a crisis: "A low-probability, high impact event that threatens the viability of the organization and is characterized by ambiguity of cause, effect, and means of resolution, as well as a belief that decisions must be made swiftly.”

Additionally, a crisis has the ability to impact public opinion and trust in an organization and devalue its brand equity. Look no further than the massive Yahoo customer hack that reduced the company’s value by $350 million in its bid to be acquired by Verizon.

While United, with some expert PR counsel, eventually moved on from the crisis, the game is not over for the private airport security firm that, acting on orders from the airline, dragged Dr. Dao down the aisle creating the viral video sensation in the first place.

Issues Management: the neglected stepchild of PR Planning

While the value of Emergency Management and Crisis Management principles and practices are valued and well understood, organizations fail most often when it comes to Issues Management practices, which often stems from a firmly held belief among senior management that “our organization is different—special, better, even unique.”

Military leaders, for example, certainly read the newspapers and watch the news about issues involving Second Amendment rights and their relationship to workplace and gun violence, changing attitudes toward sexual harassment at work, decriminalization of drug possession and the epidemic of opioid addiction, legalization of Marijuana, immigration policies and so forth. All too often corporate leaders convince themselves that the problems associated with these hotly debated issues cannot possibly impact the people I manage because we’re different, more disciplined, prouder, more cohesive.

iPhone Apps empower flight attendants to take care of passenger problems immediately

And then stories, seemingly out of the blue, emerge about Marines passing around nude photos of their female colleagues and an Army major goes on a murderous armed rampage at Ft. Hood. Everyone is caught off guard because of an it-can’t-happen-here culture.

Same goes for the airline industry. News outlets are filled with reports of customer angst over outdated crowded airports, overbooking, flight delays, burdensome TSA procedures, and burgeoning checked baggage fees. Flying is miserable, getting worse every day and the customers are doing a slow burn.

Yet, United couldn’t see this? Other airlines as well had to wait until Dr. Dao was dragged off a flight before examining their own customer relations practices? No one saw the pressure cooker of public discontent was about to blow its lid?

A smart statistician once told me: gather a mere 300 people at random and over time every human condition will present itself: drug abuse, divorce, death, alcoholism you name it, it happens and it doesn’t happen to other people. Organizations need to bear this in mind and practice Issues Management Hygiene to stay tuned into the early warning signs of a crisis before it spins out of control.

Let’s look at the fundamentals. Issues are what you find yourself discussing with peers and press most of the time. Most issues develop over time, and they can generally be seen developing if one pays attention. Issues offer professional communicators the most time to put a management plan together that addresses emerging concerns and growing sentiments before they harden into rock-solid opinions. Take heed of trends and don’t be shocked when what’s happening out there happens under your own roof. 

Issues have three common elements:

• For something to be an issue, whatever is being examined or talked about must have two or more strongly opposing arguments being made about it.

• For something to be an issue, a large number of people must be emotionally involved with whatever is being discussed.

• Finally, issues typically involve a concern people are experiencing about a decision they see as having an impact on their lives or the smooth functioning of society.

As a professional communicator you will find a variety of issues facing you and your organization; environmental issues, medical issues, social issues, gun lobbying issues, and consumer protection issues are but a few.  In many cases you will have a position on those issues that impact your organization, say zero tolerance over sexual harassment and age, racial or gender discrimination. But intensity can build rapidly, consider how quickly the town hall meetings with US Representatives and Senators over healthcare policy turned rancorous.

Smart PR pros are tuned into emerging issues, responsive to public opinion shifts and intensity, prepared with a clear message and willing to advocate for a shift in organizational behavior when the tide of public opinion is going against you.

By Dick Pirozzolo, Managing Director 

Pirozzolo Company Public Relations

Emergency, Issues and Crisis Management services and training since 1981

www.pirozzolo.com 

Contact: dick@pirozzolo.com or 1-617-959-4613

 

Written in part with input from DINFOS the DOD's Defense Information School for public affairs professionals

Boston Global Forum Airs Cyberwar and Fake News Issues During Latest Symposium at Harvard University

 

John Savage

Some of the world's leading experts on cybersecurity and fake news convened in Cambridge to discuss the growing threat of computer warfare—more specifically, computer hacking, the intentional spread of “click-bait” fake news, and the political and personal motives behind them.

The symposium was held at the Harvard University Faculty Club in connection with the 2017 Boston Global Forum G7 Summit Initiative titled:  Prevention of Cyberwar and Coping With Fake News.

Brown University Professor John Savage discussed the importance of tracking computer hackers in order to prevent cyberwar and stated without equivocation that Russia was resposndibe for hacking the DNC.

  Mikko Hypponen, Chief Research Officer at Finnish computer security company F-Secure presented five types of computer hackers and how he tracks them and their Internet crimes.

Mikko Hyponen

They are:

White hat hackers who help corporations and government agencies identify and eliminate vulnerabilities,

Hactivists who break into computer systems as a form of protest,

Organized crime, which is motivated by greed and responsible for some 400,000 daily attacks,

Governments that engage in espionage, considered acceptable Internet behavior while hacking foreign corporations to steal intellectual property is frowned upon, and

Extremists, such as ISIS, the use the internet to cause harm as well as to recruit sympathizers.

Hypponen pointed out that cyber criminals are often undone by their own vanity, pointing to the alleged Toronto-based Yahoo hacker Karim Baratov, who was tracked down after showcasing his lavish lifestyle on Facebook by openly posting images of his luxury cars and watches.

The Yahoo subscriber hack cost the company $350 million in the sale of its assets to Verizon.

Thomas Patterson

Similarly the emergence of fake news, threatens global stability and democracy in the digital age. Harvard University Professor Thomas Patterson observed that even though the idea of “fake news,” was popularized by President Donald Trump, it has been around for a some time. During the 2016 presidential election, fake news circulated on Facebook exceeded real news coverage of the election.

According to Patterson fake news has become such a phenomenon because it is rooted in our deeply divided partisan political culture in this country in which people look for information to support their own biases and political beliefs, rather than being open to opposing stories. The unconscious engagement in selective perception allows members of both political parties to solidify their own worldview and maintain sometimes-blind partisan loyalty by voters who do not bother to check the “facts.”

Fake news is flourishing due to diminishing source credibility. Fewer people subscribe to legitimate newspapers, while more people are getting information from online posts on social media that are both true and false. This increased reliance on the Internet reliance contributes to public distrust of traditional media outlets. When the voters do not trust the media, they are more willing to trust alternative sources.

Repetition enhances the impact of fake news. The more individuals are exposed to a story, true or false, the more likely it is that they will believe it to be true. When fake news goes viral—often achieved by “like farms,” where people are paid to “like” fake news stories on Facebook to get them trending—people are exposed to the same link repeatedly, and as a result, are more inclined to believe it.

Fake news is spread by professional social influencers backed by their own political motives working every day to intentionally mislead the public and therefore influence voting and opinion polling outcomes. Patterson underscored the importance of nipping fake news at the source. Most fake news is generated by small, illegitimate websites, that are driven by online robots or “bots” that permeate the Web with the falsehoods. Patterson suggested that, as a society, strengthen the voices of reliable, sophisticated, news media, while encouraging bipartisan voices because fake news flourishes in a polarized political environment.

Dick Pirozzolo, a member of The Boston Global Forum Editorial Board and coauthor of "Escape from Saigon-a Novel" set in Vietnam during April of 1975 noted, "The novel underscores how cumbersome and slow news gathering and dissemination used to be. Forty years ago all Americans depended on only three national TV networks and at most two national newspapers creating a commonality of information.  Cable news and the explosion of media outlets is only hinted at in the novel that focuses attention on the media during the Vietnam War—dubbed 'America's first television war.'"

Gov. Michael Dukakis, Boston Global Forum chairman and cofounder  with Tuan Anh Nguyen, opened the session with honored guest Nicola De Santis, Consul General of Italy in Boston. 

For additional observations on Cyberwar and Fake News visit: THE BGF-G7 SUMMIT INITIATIVE

The Boston Global Forum was established in 2012 with the purpose of identifying threats to global stability and forming realistic solutions among academics and experts. According to the Forum’s website, its mission “is to lessen tensions, promote peace and security, and foster conditions that lead to greater social justice and broader economic prosperity.”

 

On Letting Go - to Move Ahead by The Rev. Sarah Robbins-Cole

It was a distinct honor to have been included in the Easter Sunday homily at St. Michael's Episcopal Church, in Holliston, Mass.

Earlier last week, I was chatting with Sarah—my friend and neighbor—who is otherwise known as The Rev. Sarah Robbins Cole. She told me she was working on her sermon for Easter Sunday, the theme was letting go. I suppose the idea is there cannot be rebirth without letting go of those things that tie us to the past.

"Any thoughts?" she inquired. 

Not missing a chance to plug "Escape from Saigon - a Novel," I mentioned that "letting go" is a theme running loosely throughout the story.  

The struggle with letting go is voiced by Billy Freda, the high school friend, who has to let go of the moment he scored the winning point in the championship game, US Ambassador Graham Martin who cannot let go of South Vietnam that had become intertwined with his identity, the reporters who devoted their youth to covering the war and have to find a new life elsewhere, and of course, the two Vietnam veterans who wrote the book—myself and Michael Morris, who saw combat in the Vietnam War as a young soldier in 1967.

That war ended on April 30, 1975—42 years ago on the last day this month.

Here is what The Rev. Sarah Robbins-Cole, Rector of St. Michael's Episcopal Church in Holliston, Massachusetts told her congregation about letting go on Easter Sunday Morning 2017.

 

 Easter 2017

Marie Kondo of the book The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing is perhaps one of the best known books that has come our way from the field of decluttering and home organization. If you have not read the book, the basic premise of the book is to get rid of things that do not spark joy. Marie Kondo recommends taking out every item you own, in a particular sequence, and touching each item, and if it does not spark joy – out it goes. She has other helpful hints such as not buying more specialized storage containers to hold yet more clutter, and folding your clothes, for example your shirts, in a way that finding a shirt is as easy as flicking through record albums – because they all are standing on end.

The desire to hold on and to accumulate is as old as time and man. Perhaps it’s because we falsely equate accumulation with security. If I just hang on to clothes, household items, food, photos, books, I will never be in want. Who knows? I might need one of these things later.

Or we mistakenly believe that if we throw things away or recycle them – somehow we won’t remember or value what that item represented.

Or sometimes what is harder is we hold on to emotions and memories - something that has hurt us deeply. Maybe you are holding onto a grudge, or an imaginary contract with someone (that is, unless they do x, I will not forgive, move on, or be nice, etc.,). And somehow letting go would be to admit defeat.

When people have asked me this week what I am preaching on this week – and I tell them that I am working on a sermon about letting go – it has been interesting to hear people’s response.

When I told my neighbor Dick Pirozzolo, who has just published the book, Escape from Saigon - a Novel this year, he said, “funny you should say that”. He is himself a Vietnam Vet, but he said in his research and during his book tour, while he has encountered many veterans who live full and rich lives, he also said that he has met a fair number of veterans who live and breathe their days in Vietnam every day—even though the end of this month will mark the 42nd anniversary of the ending of that war. “After all,” Dick commented, “you are 19 years old, your friends are all back home working in a shoe store, and you are in a strange country, surrounded by people speaking a foreign language, and you are getting shot at.”

But he said, the problem is that what happens to some of us is that we get stuck at 19. Our entire identity is formed around being a Vietnam Veteran and that does not allow a new identity to form. Our lives are dedicated to remembering that time – from the stories we share to the social media platforms we belong to and contribute to.

Another friend of mine, who works with students, said to me, “that is such an important message” because she finds that some of her students cling to ideas, ideologies, and identities in ways that are unhealthy because they perpetuate their sense of being powerless victims in a hostile world.

Or another friend talked about a woman she knew who was the team mom of a volleyball team – and she did everything – she organized uniforms, social events, coaches gifts, the booster club – but at the end of her son’s junior year, at the end of season party, when he was not elected captain by his peers for the following year, she was absolutely devastated. She refused to talk to anyone for the rest of the party and her son never played volleyball again – so attached was she to the idea of her son being captain.

I am sure we all have examples from our own lives - elderly parents who cling to the idea of unrealistic independence, or children who can’t seem to quite realize they have actually reached adulthood, a parent who cannot let go of their adult children, etc., etc.,
The subject of letting go is not just a superficial self-help issue. They are deep spiritual concerns – which come to the very heart of our gospel lesson for this morning. Jesus tells Mary – do not hold on to me. Literally – do not cling to me as I am now. I am yet to ascend to the Father. Jesus is telling her that she must not cling to him because his time on earth is done. And why that is important is that first of all, after the crucifixion they can’t just go back to the way things were – and secondly, the ascension is necessary so that the work of Jesus will no longer be constrained to his little corner of Israel – but will spread to the four corners of the earth.

And it’s not just the idea of the physically present Jesus she is going to have to let go of. If she wants to share in that resurrected life of new life and rebirth – she is going to have to let go of everything that is holding her back – she may have to let go of her anger at the Romans for crucifying Jesus, she may have to have to let go of her feelings of resentment at the disciples for handing Jesus over, betraying Jesus, and falling asleep while Jesus was praying when he very clearly asked them to stay awake. She may have to let go of her bitterness toward a world that allows an innocent man to die. She may have to let go of her wrath toward her own people for their maleficent fickleness – who on Palm Sunday lauded Jesus as King – and then jeered Jesus just a few days later when he really needed them.

But let me be clear - there is a big difference between letting go and forgetting. Letting go – means having a willingness to move forward, to not be stuck in the muck and mire of past wrongs. Forgetting is pretty near impossible, and forgiving can be a very long process indeed.

What we celebrate today is the resurrection. We celebrate that when one thing ends – and when we let go and give it to God, and trust that God will do something good and meaningful and life-giving to that of which we let go – we too will live the resurrected life.

God invites us to new life each and every moment of our lives – not to cling to the past – but to be engaged in our lives right here and right now. It is just as Joseph Campbell, the preeminent expert in comparative mythology and religion who wrote: We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the life that is waiting for us.


Along with being coauthor of "Escape from Saigon - a Novel" set during the final days of America's "first television war," Dick Pirozzolo is managing director of Pirozzolo Company Public Relations, an international communication firm based in Boston, Massachusetts.

 

Storytelling Can Bring Your PR Effort to Life

 Crafting a Compelling Narrative: How  storytelling can bring your PR efort to  life, by Dick Pirozzolo was published in the  February 2013 Public Relations  Tactics, an  official PRSA publication. 

A version of that article appears below.

Question: What do you know about the whaling industry of the 19th century and where did you learn it?

Answer: Most of us will immediately say, Moby Dick.

Whatever we know and remember about whaling is probably thanks to Herman Melville’s story of Ahab and the Great White Whale. We most likely didn’t learn about whaling from thick history books, newspaper accounts and certainly not  trade magazine articles in Whaling Age on the finer points of harpoon selection.

It’s the great story – the narrative ­– that makes the events and reality more vivid and the details stick in our memory.

What does this have to do with public relations?

Consider the value of using the principles of fiction to tell our clients’. Consider the NASA space program for example. Sure, we saw and read about plenty of Space Shuttle launches and have seen scratchy news footage of the Mercury program and the lunar landing. But we got our feeling for the camaraderie, the teamwork and the danger from the stories we read or movies we saw such as The Right Stuff or Apollo 13. Likewise, Tom Wolfe made the roots of NASCAR come alive in his account of Junior Johnson, “The Last American Hero”, that he wrote for Esquire www.esquire.com. Spies? Ian Flemming and John Le Carré made the intrigue — and tools of the trade come alive for us.

The list goes on. “We remember a wealth of details and identify with the heroes because the events are knit together by the narrative, the story. As children, we even learned important life lessons about planning, prudence, trust and self-reliance from the three little pigs, Goldilocks and Little Red Riding Hood,” says veteran TV journalist Barry Nolan, a former Hard Copy anchor.

Explains Nolan, “A compelling narrative makes stories stick. A love of stories and the ability to recall narrative is probably hardwired into our DNA. Cavemen hunted bison and afterwards told stories of the hunt around a smoky fire. If a group was lucky, it had a good storyteller who retold the story of the hunt and helped spread valuable information about what worked and what didn’t. Remembering the details of the successful hunt would mean the difference between survival and starvation.”

Add emotion to a story, and the details are even stickier.

Too bad PR professionals so often chuck "story" and instead sell the blah, blah, blah benefits of new products or services in ho-hum announcements and press releases with contrived quotes when a great story can make their message so much more powerful.

Let’s consider the power of "story" to pitch the media on behalf of the organizations we represent. Think of the memorable corporate stories. They are about Jobs and Wozniak, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill and Melinda Gates, Jack Welch.

We can incorporate the elements of “story” that made Apple, a Vermont Ice cream company, Facebook, Microsoft and GE come alive by making sureour pitches have the same elements that make fiction so powerful and — memorable

Character - who are the people and what makes them interesting? I want to get to know about the iPhone 5, not because it is thinner, but because of Steve Jobs’ legacy. Is your client a Steve Jobs or Richard Branson ready to be unleashed on the public? Don’t hold back, make cultivating personality part of your strategy.

Story Arc - is there a beginning a middle and end? Is there continuity? If so it will support your brand and build equity. What would the Trump brand be if it were nothing more than another developer slapping his name on another skyscraper?, The Trump brand is inexorably tied to Donald Trump, a character whose saga continues to evolve and surprise us. Love him or hate him, we see him get knocked to the canvas a few times, and come back with a right hook. We keep watching, wanting to know what’s next for The Donald.

Conflict - where is the tension in your story? Jobs’s and Wosniak’s conflicts made the Apple story even more compelling. And if anyone in PR thinks we can only tell good news, be mindful: all art – literature, music, sculpture – is the resolution of conflict and with conflict comes suspense and surprise. That’s what sucks us in till the end. As Nolan calls it, “a reveal.”

Relationships – every movie is at its core a love story. “Casablanca’s” Rick and Ilsa have endured for over 70 years. Why not find the love story in your client pitches?  Bill and Melinda, Ben and Jerry, Barack and Michelle are three examples that make us want to know more about these people because love is such a universal emotion.

How does it end - do you have a happily ever after? How were the problems of the Volt or the iPhone 5’s maps resolved? Who solved the problem? What was their vision? Who stood in the way? Don’t shy from conflict and problems. It makes your story and your characters real and your organization respected.

Think Visually – “All media, including print, are becoming more visually driven than ever before,” Nolan reminds us. How did we know how hard Rocky trained? Because they told us? No. We know, because we saw him pounding a side of beef into hamburger in that classic meat locker scene.

Props – In Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie the props – the glass animals, the fire escape, the portrait of an absentee father ­– drive the story and reveal the characters and their development. How do you set the stage for your CEO’s press exposure. For examples, consider the White House beer summit or how burgers, subs, corn dogs and your name it make presidents and politicians look and feel like just plain folks to their constituents.

 If you still think “story” and a great narrative do not matter, remember, without story Casablanca would be but a pushpin on a map, and Ben & Jerry’s would be just another ice cream stand. 

###

 Dick Pirozzolo, APR is the founder of Pirozzolo Company Public Relations in Boston, Massachusetts He delivers seminars on public relations practices to executives in the US, Malaysia and Indonesia. Pirozzolo Company figured significantly in fostering reconciliation and the opening US trade with Vietnam.

 

 

TV Newsman Barry Nolan Offers Media-Training Plus Media Coverage Program with Pirozzolo Company

Veteran newsman Barry Nolan and Pirozzolo Company are teaming up to offer a unique concept in media training for corporate and not-for-profit CEOs and executives – media training plus media coverage.

 Nolan-Pirozzolo clients get six hours of training in on-air media interview skills, plus an edited video to post on their Website or use for presentations. The media coverage includes a minimum of 36 major online media outlets such as Reuters, Market Watch, USA Today, major market TV news, and CNBC plus a news release distributed to the nation’s 900 biggest TV, newspaper and magazine decision makers.

“Executives master effective message delivery in a wide variety of real-world media situations,” explained Nolan. The media coverage focuses on getting the executives’ point of view across on an industry issue that impacts their organization. Topics include government regulation, public policy, the economy, climate change, small business financing, and international trade.

 An a la carte menu is also available.

 Nolan, a regular on CNBC and NPR, who has worked for ABC, Fox TV, and syndicated fare such as Hard Copy, added, “We help clients figure out how they differ from the chorus of voices that line up on one side or the other of a current issue and develop their own voice – one that distinguishes them from the pack and resonates with their customers and stakeholders."

                                                                                                                       TV  Newsman Barry Nolan

His decades of experience in news and programming, as well his work on Capitol Hill as a senior staff member of the Joint Economic Committee, gives him hard- earned insights into what it takes to be successful on TV, "We helped an anti-terrorism training expert respond to remarks by presidential candidates Rick Santorum and Herman Cain. With our help he was able to take timely advantage of a news event to get his message across on FOX TV.”

Pirozzolo Company founder Dick Pirozzolo said, "Most media training deals only with TV performance. Our approach identifies issues with which clients can ally themselves, shapes their message to support organizational goals, and helps the clients develop the on-air chops needed to make their point with real impact.” 

 Said Nolan, "If you channel surf the 24 hour news and business outlets on any given day, you will see corporate and not-for-profit organizational leaders in a variety of media settings: one-on-one interviews in studios, on-line conferences, live remotes from a satellite facility, ambush interviews on their doorsteps and at formal news conferences. Our clients get the training they need to handle every one of these situations with ease.”

 Nolan is quick to add, “I can give you a good argument for careful preparation in just two letters – BP. Tony Hayward spent his entire career at BP, but sadly for him, he will be most remembered for a two-second sound bite: 'I’d like my life back.' "

         Antiterroristm expert Todd McGhee of PHI at Fox 25

For details contact Pirozzolo Company at: 781-235-9911 or email dick@pirozzolo.com

 

 

Terror Expert Todd McGhee Speaks on Bombing Suspect Rezwan Ferdaus for Fox 25 in Boston

Todd McGhee has the knowledge to comment on antiterrorism methods in the US and has also acquired the on-air TV skills that make him a superb expert guest.

When Fox 25 needed an expert to comment on a recent terrorist threat, Todd McGhee appeared on the Boston TV outlet to comment on the arrest of Rezwan Ferdaus. Ferdaus is the Ashland, Massachusetts resident who was allegedly plotting to fly explosive-filled radio controlled aircraft into the Capitol and Pentagon.

McGhee is a 24-year veteran Mass State Trooper who served as a specially trained officer and trainer of the Anti Terrorism Unit at Boston's Logan International. In the wake of 9/11, Todd co-developed new anti-terrorism methods and training for Logan, TD Green Airport and the MBTA.

His company, Protecting the Homeland Innovations, has trained NYPD, Washington Metro, New Jersey Transit and other agency security people to spot, analyze and respond to behaviors that indicate a potential terror threat. In 2007 PHI became the only private firm to be approved by the Department of Homeland Security to train behavior analytics to federal grant recipient agencies.

 

Kim Carrigan interviews Todd McGhee on Fox 25.

For a clip of the broadcast please visit:

http://www.myfoxboston.com/dpp/morning/technology-and-terrorism-20110929

It’s been 10 years since 9/11.  Are we safer?

We’re being smarter about spotting potential threats by looking for and analyzing the kind of behavior that could spell trouble. Instead of relying increasingly on technology, we teach security people how to engage passengers in tactical dialogue – asking simple, friendly questions and looking for responses that could mean trouble – the poker player’s tell.

 What can the public do?

The slogan If you see something say something needs to go further. PHI is now working  with the transportation industry to educate the public on how to spot suspicious behavior and to report  activity that is out of step with the norm – the passenger who hangs back when everyone is in rush or carries bags into the baggage claim area at the airport. Trust your instincts and notify authorities, but do not alert the individual, advises McGhee.

 What about stopping the lone wolf terrorist?

Grass roots policing and responses by law enforcement are key. The lone wolf terrorists are individuals who are disconnected with society. It has nothing to do with relegion, they just want to belong to something and will find a nefarious cause to connect with. It's also a myth that people from a poor socio-economic background are more likely to become terrorists.

                  

                    Gene Lavanchy interviews Todd McGhee on terror threat and suspect arrest.

McCain Tweet Shows Social Media not Just for Kids

 

A few days ago, US Sen. John McCain tweeted his support when Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed a "birther bill" that would have required presidential candidates to show their birth certificates.

“Proud of @GovBrewer for her veto of the ‘birther bill’ -- it was the right decision,” he posted on Twitter.  His tweet was picked up on MSNBC and dozens of political blogs.  

More telling, this party stalwart chose social media  to drive a wedge between the GOP leadership and birther crazy talkers. 

McCain is not alone. Do a keyword search for "tweet" on Politico (http://www.politico.com/) and you'll see that dozens of political figures and Presidential hopefuls, rely on Twitter to present their case – Haley Barbour, Newt Gingrich, Chuck Schumer and the the undaunted Sarah Palin to name a few.

So much for Social Media being a playground for 18-25 year olds and so much for its dubious impact. Even the less-well known have discovered the ripple effect of Twitter.

Point --  social media cannot be evaluated using the same rubric as TV Nielson ratings or newspaper circulation figures Doing so is a losing proposition. It puts social media at a distinct disadvantages and misses several benefits of participation in Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Blogs.

Consider these benefits.

Social media is often used by TV audiences and readers of the old media to pass along stories, which implies their endorsement. Studies show that I am more likely to read and act upon an article if I receive it from a friend who I consider a leader in the field. It's the two-step communication model being played out in public.

Social media allows us to bypass the gatekeepers -- sometimes you need to get your message out now – unchanged, modified or interpreted by the editors or talk show producers. This is something we used to achieve with mat services that provided press-ready articles to newsrooms around the country.

Social media frees us from putting enormous effort into communicating routine news. For example, in the dark ages, we used to spend an inordinate amount of time on executive hire news releases, striving to get the  "Who,What,Where" editor to run a line or two of a 300-word release. Now, we simply post these releases online and on social media sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn where the handful of people who matter will see it. And the editors are freed up too because they don't have to waste time sorting through, "I'm so exited to be joining Bloviation Incorporated..." releases.

Social media gives us fast feedback -- best bargain in market research and far more instantaneous than the old days of Broadway when the stage manager and actors waited around for the reviews to come out in the early edition of the Times.

Social media sites such as YouTube, democratize video by giving smaller companies the opportunity to demonstrate complicated products without incurring high production costs. And... the value of positive video produced by customers showing our products in action is priceless. We once worked with a defense contractor who sent DOD officials, YouTube postings by soldiers in Iraq who were using its product because the customer produced video demonstrated "force protection" benefits in such a personal way. Powerful stuff!

Social media puts us all in the conversation. The CEO who posts to his own Blog items gets direct feedback from customers --  unvarnished by PR or marketing staffers.

Social media gives the old media – as well as emerging new media outlets – ongoing access to us and our clients. The amount of time I spend calling editors (outgoing messaging) to pitch stories today is less than a tenth of what it was in the old days.

Today my job is to get the editors to come to us and I use social media to do that job.Editors who are looking for story ideas and sources troll social media sites for what they need when they need it. The more we establish our presence, the more calls we get from reporters looking for a source. It's simply the Internet version of Woody Allen's advice about showing up.

Lastly, we don't know where Social Media is going or how it will develop as a way we communicate with one another any more than we could predict the impact of the Xerox machine, Faxes and PCs during the 80s and 90s. I bet Public Relations Founder Ivy Ledbetter Lee and his pals debated the efficacy of carbon paper and the telephone when PR was in its infancy. About this there can be no debate: it is our job to be experts on communication strategy, tactics and emerging tools and that includes social media.  

And besides, social media is fun, so like the old Alka-Selzer catch phrase... "Try it. You'll like it!"

 

Statue of President Barack Obama at the grammar school he attended when he lived in Jakarta, Indonesia. Children at the school today. © 2011 Dick Pirozzolo