The uproar over US Olympic uniforms made in China

USA Today editorialized about the recent controversy regarding US Olympic uniforms being made in China rather than in the good ol' USA.

It is amazing how difficult it is to find products made in the USA but Olympic uniforms are symbolic and steps should have been taken to find US manufacturers.  It is estimated that the result would have been not only over $1 billion staying in this country but heightened awareness about ways to stimulate US manufacturing growth.

The US Olympic Committee and Ralph Lauren would be best served by seeking public relations counsel.

Editorial: Olympic uniform uproar goes from dumb to dumber

In the annals of public relations, Ralph Lauren's decision to have the United States Olympic Team's opening ceremony uniforms made in China will someday be a case study in what not to do.

For a company that hopes to promote its brand and sell a boatload of the snappy outfits, Ralph Lauren instead managed to anger significant parts of the American public. It takes a particular tone deafness to national pride to outfit the squad representing the United States in Chinese-made duds, not to mention French-looking berets. Ralph Lauren has admitted as much by saying the 2014 team's uniforms will be made in the USA.

But, as avoidable a fiasco as this has been for one fashion house and the U.S. Olympic Committee, it is some of the critics who come off now looking even sillier, starting with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who went so far as to say that the uniforms should be burned.

Does Reid recall when members of Congress took sledgehammers to Toshiba products on the steps of the Capitol in 1987 in a fit of Japan-bashing that was replayed endlessly overseas? Torching the Olympic uniforms on the eve of the London Summer Games would create about as much international goodwill, and have even less impact on outsourcing jobs.

For decades Americans, congressional leaders included, have been voting with their pocketbooks in favor of cheap imported clothing over more expensive domestic wares. This has prompted the majority of textile mills in the USA to close, continuing a process that started when mills from New England and expensive labor markets moved to Southern states, and then overseas.

Countering this trend would be all but impossible. Punitive tariffs on textile imports would have disastrous consequences on the whole economy as other countries retaliated against American-made goods.

True, the United States Olympic Team has symbolic importance, as do the uniforms it wears. But in a globalized economy, the athletes still will need foreign-made products to compete. That's why no one is talking about banning imported track shoes, swimsuits or skis.

The good news is that U.S. manufacturing — principally in more sophisticated areas than textiles — is seeing something of a rebound, thanks to low natural gas prices at home and rising labor costs and increased hassles in places such as China.

If lawmakers wanted to to do something more useful than bellyaching about uniforms, they would focus on how to nurture and sustain this encouraging trend. That would truly be an Olympic achievement.

Cohn Inducted as Brattleboro Rotary Club President

The Brattleboro Rotary Club recently inducted Newfane resident Martin Cohn as its 63^rd club president for the 2012-2013 year.  Cohn is president of Cohn Public Relations, a full service public relations firm based in Brattleboro.

Rotary club members serving as officers with Cohn this year are President-Elect Stacy Kristas of Stacy Automotive Center, Secretary Jeff Hagstrom of Newton Business Supplies, Treasurer Jolene Belair of Hampton Inn, Vice President June Howe of Raptor Trading and Immediate Past President Liz Harrison of Nutrition Education Services.

Cohn has been active in the Brattleboro Rotary Club since August of 2005, serving on the board for the last 4 years.  Last year, he was named a Paul Harris Fellow by the Brattleboro Rotary Club. The Paul Harris Fellowship Award, named after the founder of Rotary International, is one of the highest honors Rotary can bestow upon a person. Recipients exemplify the highest ideal in Rotary in placing "Service above self."  He produces the Club's annual film festival, which raises funds for international projects, as well as chair the Annual Indoor Mini Golf Tournament.

Martin has been practicing public relations for over 35 years for a wide variety of clients. Martin received his BA in psychology and MS in public relations from Boston University. He is immediate past president of the Brattleboro Area Jewish Community and served on the board of the Arts County of Windham County.

Martin is married to his wife of thirty-four years, Yael, and has two daughters, Rachel and Jessica. 

                         PHOTO: Martin Cohn (left); Immediate Past President Liz Harrison

Why Public Relations for Non-Profits?

What comes to mind when you hear the term “public relations?”

I have been a public relations practitioner for over 35 years, yet I’m still surprised that most clients think of public relations in the same outmoded way: merely old-fashioned publicity or, even worse, contrived sham “stunts.” I hear the term misused as a catch-all for anything from marketing and advertising to surveys and free samples. And, folks still think that a public relations campaign requires a big budget agency.

None of these perceptions are even remotely accurate.  Yes, public relations does focus on publicity, but it includes community relations, media relations, and government relations.  And, it strives to develop good professional corporate citizenship.

These elements of public relations can be particularly effective at local and regional levels.  Therefore, they are especially useful to non-profit organizations. However, good public relations is still an art form of sorts and requires some research and planning.

Let’s start with a good, clear definition: public relations is accurate, consistent and timely communications that convey the right message to the right organization.

When beginning a public relations effort, there are three simple steps.

1. 1.     Identify your audiences. An audience is an individual or group which has any interest or stake in the activities of your organization. Beyond your “customers”, audiences can include but not be limited to your employees, vendors, regulators, legislators, neighbors and local media. Remember, in today’s communications environment, audiences have the ability to get and communicate information about you.
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3. 2.     Create a public relations plan. Identify your goals and decide how you want to be perceived by your audiences. Also, you need to prioritize the most important facts about your organization.  Then, you determine a strategy for accomplishing your goals using the available communication tools, such as articles, presentations or special events.
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5. 3.     Develop a good relationship with local media. Local media need to cover local organizations and always need fresh stories. However, they don’t work for you and are not required to cover your organization.  Get to know your local media so that they get to know you.

Public relations is all about building relationships with your audiences. Effective public relations must be consistent and ongoing. And, it takes time to establish and maintain.

Finally, be enthusiastic and passionate about your cause and organization. Don’t just focus on the how you do public relations but always remember the why.

George Orwell is wrong

The following picture is circulating on the Internet.

As a seasoned public relations practitioner, I adhere to the rule not to lie.  However, this is different than being obligated to tell the truth.

Former President Clinton White House spokesman Mike McCurry once described his job as “telling the truth slowly” and I suppose that aptly describes what I do.

Obviously, I have an obligation to my client – and disclosing the unvarnished truth is rarely the first consideration in a crisis. The obligation to the media and public is simply that you never say anything knowingly false. However, there is no obligation to do the job of the media for them by proactively exposing the truth.

That said, I often counsel my clients that the best strategy is to reveal the whole truth sooner rather than later when the facts are embarrassing or incriminating.  Postponing the inevitable rarely works as a viable option.

What do you think?

Jewish Medal of Honor Winners

As we get ready to celebrate Memorial Day, this is a very timely article by Marnie Winston-Macauley of Profiles of some of the many Jewish Medal of Honor recipients.

We Jews: Medal of Honor Winners

5 corporate writing tips from Winston Churchill

A speech he gave during WWII provides important lessons for corporate writers everywhere.

By Clare Lynch | Posted: May 11, 2012

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I’ve talked before about Winston Churchill’s gift for language. Here’s a great example of an inspiring speech he gave to get Great Britain behind its leader:

“The news from France is very bad, and I grieve for the gallant French people who have fallen into this terrible misfortune. Nothing will alter our feeling towards them or our faith that the genius of France will rise again.
“What has happened in France makes no difference to British faith and purpose. We have become the sole champions now in arms to defend the world cause. We shall do our best to be worthy of that high honor.
“We shall defend our island and, with the British Empire around us, we shall fight on unconquerable until the curse of Hitler is lifted from the brows of men. We are sure that in the end all will be well. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be freed and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands.
“But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new dark age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science.
“Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves, that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, This was their finest hour.”

Here’s why it works:
1. He gets straight to the point.
“The news from France is very bad.” Imagine if every corporate writer with bad tidings was as upfront as Churchill.
More typical is the CEO whose email announces 1,400 redundancies and begins with this cheery bit of corporate speak:

“Today we announce a multi-year program that will enhance service excellence and innovation, help achieve greater operating efficiencies and position us for accelerated growth.”

Lesson: If you have to deliver bad news, don’t warm up to your theme. The wait only makes things more painful. Worse, never try to make the news seem good.
2. He doesn’t flinch from the truth.
Churchill is direct about what lies ahead and the consequences of defeat:

“The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us.”

A corporate writer would probably fudge a scary message like that. He or she might say:

“There is a significant and meaningful risk that we will be adversely impacted by the dynamic competencies of our competitor.”

Lesson: If you want to get people on board with your strategy, it pays to be honest.
3. He paints a picture.
Take a closer look this part:

“If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be freed and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands.
“But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new dark age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science.”

It might not be particularly original to use light and dark imagery to contrast the good (“broad sunlit uplands”) with the bad (“the abyss of a new dark age”). But such visual imagery offers no doubt about the consequences of giving in to Hitler.
What’s more, Churchill then does something rather ingenious: he turns the visual metaphor on its head. The oxymoronic “lights of perverted science” is pure poetry.
Compare it with this bit of abstract biz-babble from the 2010 annual report of a now-defunct company that, ironically, sold visual images—Kodak. Like Churchill’s speech, it talks about the consequences of failure, but in a much more abstract way.

“If we fail to identify and complete successful transactions that further our strategic objectives, we may be required to expend resources to develop products and technology internally, we may be at a competitive disadvantage or we may be adversely affected by negative market perceptions, any of which may have an adverse effect on our revenue, gross margins and profitability.”

Lesson: Be concrete, not abstract. Use metaphors to get your message across.
4. He uses short, simple words.
I ran Winston’s speech through an online tool that measures readability. It highlights any words with three syllables or more in blue. Here’s what it looks like:


Here’s what the abstract biz-babble from Kodak looks like:


Incidentally, the tool also gives you a Gunning Fog Index number, which tells you the age at which someone would have to leave full-time education to understand the text. Churchill’s figure is 9.698. The figure for Kodak is 26.95.
Lesson: Run your text through the Gunning Fog Index and replace as many long words as you can. Pitch your writing at the primary school level, not that of a PhD.
5. He makes his verbs do the work.
Churchill peppered his prose with simple, yet powerful, verbs that convey an intense struggle:

• Grieve
• Fall
• Rise
• Defend
• Fight
• Break
• Stand up to
• Fail
• Sink
• Brace
• Bear

Notice how there’s not a single “drive,” “deliver,” “achieve” or other overused, overly abstract verb from the corporate world.
Lesson: Break out of the corporate language rut and ditch dead verbs.
Listen to the speech.
Clare Lynch is chief business writer and trainer at Doris and Bertie, a U.K. communications agency that helps businesspeople ditch corporate-speak and talk like human beings. Follow her on Twitter @goodcopybadcopy.


http://www.ragan.com/Main/Articles/44874.aspx

Brattleboro's Strolling of the Heifers Locavore Index goes national

Back in November, I was approached by Strolling of the Heifers who was interested in getting some national publicity. 



I suggested that a "Strolling of the Heifers Locavore Index," an indicator of how states compare in their commitment to raising and eating locally grown food. could be created that would garner the interest of media across the country.  The index was produced and given to Associated Press in Vermont.  

The story came out today on the AP Wire and is generating attention nationally.