Koroberi Blog

Buying something without a review feels a bit like buying blind.

Decision time: there’s a sale on a GPS at what seems like a decent price. There are bold, red letters letting me know that this item runs a “high sellout risk.” Do I pull the trigger? Not quite yet.

I need to hear the experience of others. I want to know first-hand if someone is pleased (or displeased) with their item. First I check the reviews on the site. Then I try the reviews on Amazon, followed by a quick Google search for other opinions. Finally, I check the warranty and return policy and, if comforted by my findings, make the purchase. If a $200 GPS warrants this amount of research, I can’t imagine the effort put into making purchases in the thousands or higher.

I’m not the only one that likes to hear it straight from the horse’s mouth. I was recently speaking to a client who commented that customers are always asking for first-hand examples of the company’s capabilities in specific target markets. This particular client’s sales staff, however, was hesitant to ask their customers for a short testimonial or participation in a case study.

This unwillingness to share customer information is understandable, though it can’t be the end of the discussion. The biggest hurdle is the ladder of buy-in. It’s our job as PR and marketing professionals to support the internal marketing team in communicating the importance of the satisfied customer voice. We need to get the sales staff and their supervisors on board and ensure that they understand the powerful influence that a testimonial can have. We’ve seen success through internal communications and reward programs that incentivize staff to push just a little harder to get customers to participate.

Case studies and testimonials are marketing gold. They allow a company to showcase a success story while controlling the content. A case study, unlike unmoderated, user-driven content, ensures a positive message that is peer-driven and promotes sales.

Not only is a case study handy in the sales room - it’s also a key part of a PR professional’s toolkit. It’s like an Ace up my sleeve – if an editor is hungry for content, a case study is almost always a welcome addition to any publication or web site. If customers are looking for case studies in the dealership, they’re most certainly looking for them in magazines or online. We can always squeeze a few more placements out of a case study, use the selected images or pull quotes for an upcoming editorial piece.

When looking to create a piece of collateral, it’s advantageous to produce something that has almost infinite uses. The case study, applicable in the salesroom, the boardroom and the newsroom, is that piece of the puzzle that reinforces the high level of quality, service and support that are the foundation of a brand.

On February 9, Dow Chemical registered the website URL www.BanAminopyralid.com. This is a bit questionable since the company actually produces a product called aminopyralid. The domain sits dormant without content and is merely a placeholder - for now.  For UK gardeners last year, and for US gardeners this year, aminopyralid - a hormonal herbicide used to kill weeds in hay and straw fields - has become a nightmare.

Here’s the deal: in the tightly-knit coven of commercial-chemical and -seed producers (often one and the same), agricultural extension services, and growers/producers, the work of the farm gets done via something called a “producer program.”  A “program” consists of soil amendments, herbicides, pesticides and seed stock genetically modified to flourish in this chemical bath. You plant the right seed, you spray the right chemicals and everything comes up roses.

But unintended consequences have a strange way of showing up where you least expect them. In the case with aminopyralid, when hay and straw produced using the chemical was sold to local horse and cattle farms, the chemical was passed along in the produce. Horses and cows eat the hay and sleep on the straw, creating a manure-and-straw-bedding mixture that is then composted, left to cook for a year or so and then sold to compost packagers and vegetable gardeners.

Then something strange happens. The local extension service (find yours here) begins to get calls about twisted tomato vines with curly leaves, wilting eggplant and droopy potato plants. Strawberry producers loose a season’s crop. Suburban gardeners report wilting zinnias. And then you suddenly realize – the herbicide that was in the manure has now contaminated the soil, and may continue to contaminate the soil for years to come, which is just one of many worries, as no one completely understands the full effects of the pesticide.

Recently banned in the UK for its devastating impact on vegetable and flower gardeners (Dow UK has its own reactionary website, this one called www.ManureMatters.co.uk), the true impact of aminopyralid is only just now being felt in the US. While there were some reports of impact last year, they are becoming more frequent this year, in reaction to the application of aged compost by farmers. We appear to be running a year behind the UK in our cycle, but the spring of 2009 will be remembered by many local farmers and market gardeners as the “Spring of Aminopyralid” as they witness the unintended consequences that follow its use.

So when Dow registered www.BanAminopyralid.com, they were undoubtedly anticipating competition for the domain. Or perhaps they were simply being good corporate citizens, preempting the public outcry. What next? As this is America, the likelihood of a class action lawsuit is probably greater than the likelihood of a ban on the chemical. In the meantime, beware of putting any compost on your garden, whether from a plastic bag or from a local farmer in the back of a truck. Buy local, but buyer beware, Dow Chemical’s slogan, “bringing good things to life,” is not necessarily referring to the life of your produce.

Advertising and PR firms are often the canaries in the coal mine when it comes to economic indicators. Because we work on the cutting edge of production and consumption, we often see, and are affected by, economic downturns and upturns earlier than more general service industries. So for all the folks who thought we were crazy talking about a downturn back in late 2007, oh well….

But now that we are all here, let’s talk about survival.

Surviving in a downturn means taking the same medicine as our clients - controlling costs, being fiscally responsible, and providing value for money.

The first responsibility is to stay solvent. If this means cutting agency travel, perks and even staff, then you just have to bite the bullet. Observing the impact of some recent agency bankruptcies provides well-managed companies a chance to capitalize on Koroberi’s history of fiscal responsibility, good credit and strong cash position - credentials and references that are of equal importance to good work. Nobody wants their trusted business partner to go under, and even less so to go under owing money already paid by the client in good faith.

But in addition to sound financial management, you’ve got to proactively provide clients with more for less. Don’t wait for the budget cuts, they are going to come. Instead, look at ways you can help your client succeed in spite of the budget pressures they face.

If you are able, offer to assist with client cash flow management through delayed or accrued billing.

Keep negotiating with publishers and other vendors for better deals and discounts, and pass these on to the client. Of course, you need to have great credit and a good paying history to get these discounts, which reinforces the need for sound fiscal management mentioned earlier.

Develop program and package bundles that allow you to pass on savings in return for longer term client commitments. We are all in the same boat, so be open about what you are doing and why. Publishers, media companies and printers intent on survival would all rather have some business at some price than no business at too high a price.

And finally, don’t be afraid to ask for help. There is nothing like sharing the bad times to build relationships.

With a little help from our friends, we can all survive to thrive another day.

Although it’s likely not a topic of interest outside the writing professional’s circle — and possibly of waning interest even there — the serial comma and its usage are nevertheless of abiding interest to this long-in-the-tooth copywriter.

Also known as the Oxford comma or Harvard comma, the serial comma is the comma used immediately before a grammatical conjunction that precedes the last item in a list of three or more items. Having started down my career path back in the days when pencil, legal pad, and a copy of Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style were the basic tools of the trade, I’ve undoubtedly passed the millionth serial comma usage milestone several times over.

But, alas, there’s a conspiracy afoot to banish my hard-working little friend. Aided and abetted by the wankers behind The Associated Press Stylebook, the assault on the serial comma extends even into the ranks of the young. One of our interns, an earnest, committed, and eager-to-learn English major, reports that profs at the UNC School of Journalism regularly rail against the serial comma. Although I have no idea why journalists are so repulsed by the diminutive and ever-so-useful character that they’re willing to sacrifice clarity of expression for paucity of punctuation, I’m incensed, outraged, and just plain hopping mad at the blatant abuse of authority teachers of journalism display when dealing with an impressionable audience.

As an integrated agency engaged in both pr and advertising, Koroberi has adopted a schizophrenic policy regarding serial comma usage: press releases, magazine articles, and other material intended for publication toe the AP line (as misguided as I believe it to be) and are produced sans serial comma — albeit reluctantly on my part. But when it comes to everything else, the serial comma reigns supreme, sublime, and, I hope, eternal.

Thanks largely to the infectious influences of mass media, technology-induced shorthand, and a language- and vocabulary-challenged commander in chief, proper grammatical usage is in a state of rapid decline in the USA, with the quality of both spoken and written communication overall becoming ever more abysmal — even among the ranks of so-called professional journalists.

That’s why it’s time for all writers who truly care about their craft to draw a line in the sand, throw down the gauntlet, and confront the enemy in his own backyard. Only by being steadfast, determined, and unwaveringly committed to preserving the sanctity of the serial comma, will we succeed.