Golin’s six reality rules of PR

By Yeoh Siew hoon

SINGAPORE – Al Golin , PR legend and guru, was trying to persuade his 13-year-old grand-daughter to go to a symphony with him over watching Indiana Jones when she cut him off and said, “Get real, grandpa.”

“For her, Indiana Jones was more cultural than the symphony,” he told the audience during the Global Brand Forum in Singapore.

That’s when the founder of GolinHarris, the Chicago-based PR agency whose claim to fame includes holding the McDonald’s account for more than 50 years, had a reality check.

“The public relations and communications industry is facing challenges I never dreamt about,” said Golin, who began his public relations career as a field press representative with MGM Studios in 1951.

“In the old days, you could influence a large part of your audience with a well-placed story in the mass media – all you had to do was spell the name right and maybe you could even stretch the truth a little bit.

“Now anyone with a point of view can influence anyone.”

The reality today – a fragmented media landscape and a new generation with new media consumption habits.

So Golin came up with his six Reality Rules which he shared at the GBF.

1. Make real connections

His connection with Ray Croc, founder of McDonald’s, goes back 51 years. In 1957 he placed a cold call to Kroc. Kroc asked him to come over and meet with him. An hour later he began working for McDonald’s for a retainer of US$500 a month. More than 50 years later, Golin/Harris is still working for McDonald’s, but Golin admits, “the monthly retainer is a bit more than $500.

“Our role was to communicate with two audiences – franchises and customers. He couldn’t afford advertising so we had to use PR to create awareness. It was a maverick strategy then.”

Asked later what the secret was to the longevity of the relationship, Golin quoted Kroc as saying, “You always treated us like you just got us.”

“You can’t take anyone for granted,” said Golin.

2. Fix it before it breaks

“Most people say, if it ain’t broke, why fit it, but Nintendo chose to fix it before it broke. They identified a previously untapped market for video games – older adults – and they found that older adults were becoming increasingly savvy and were looking for hobbies to occupy their time.”

So Nintendo introduced Wii, its video game, for older adults and gave it to18 retirement communities “and it became the next big thing in gaming.”

Since that introduction the Nintendo Wii “is taking the boomer and elderly market by storm. Senior centres, adult day cares, assisted living facilities and even nursing homes have been reaping the rewards of this innovative game, whose benefits are much greater than you might expect,” says a post on the Gilbert Guide.

GolinHarris won Campaign of the Year by PRWeek Awards for the Nintendo: Wii launch this year.

3. Keep your customers close

“Understand what you are good at and know what your customer wants and deviate only if you can bring them along,” says Golin.

He cites the example of Coca-Cola, which tried to launch the new Coke. “The public was outraged and three months later, the new Coke was pulled off the market,” he said, quoting Donald Keough, Coca-Cola’s president, at the time, “We did not understand the deep emotions of so many of our customers for Coca-Cola.”

4. Be genuine

Golin cites the Dove Real Beauty campaign as one that shunned the tradition of selling soap with supermodels. “They understood the needs of real women and sales increased 40% to $500 billion. They also addressed a very real issue of women feeling insecure about their bodies and changed the view of beauty.”

5. Celebrate your workforce

Keep your staff at the heart of the brand, said Golin. Citing the example of Dow Chemical, which was trying to shake off the ghosts of its past, it drew up a 10-year sustainability goal using chemicals and science to improve the human condition.

The main objective of the campaign, called Down Human Element, was to build employee pride in Dow.

6. Reality starts at the top

The style of an authentic organisation has to start at the top, said Golin. “Some of today’s CEOs are arrogant and have an imperialistic way of running the company. CEOs who have a total disregard for the people and the companies they ran – they let success go to their heads and some have landed in jail.

“To practice humility even when you have plenty to brag about is hard. A good company cannot exist without trust.”

Catch Yeoh Siew Hoon every week at the Transit Café – www.thetransitcafe.com