bin Looney & beheadings - titanic PR flare-ups in high chatter week

Although the New York Post dismissed him as “bin Looney,” Osama bin Laden managed to hijack the global political agenda last week with a rant against America that was calculated and effective PR. Republicans were ecstatic dissecting bin Looney’s psycho-political analysis and rambling exhortations because it sounded like he was spouting the Democratic Party agenda, warning about taxes and the evils of sub prime mortgages, encouraging us to embrace Islam as a way to avoid the terror of a recession. All that was missing was an endorsement of Hillary Clinton.

Fred Thompson, new to the Presidential fray, was philosophical about it all, saying that bin Laden “is more symbolism than anything else.” Giuliani and McCain and Romney, sensing weakness, pounced swiftly and mercilessly and by the end of the day Thompson was salivating testosterone like a contender - bin Looney must be hunted down and killed, Thomson and the rest of the pack agreed. After all, bin Laden was controlling the message and demanding media attention at their expense.

It is believed that an American, Adam Gadahn, 28, wrote at least part of bin Laden’s speech. Otherwise known as “Azzam the American,” Gadahn is probably part of Sahab Media, the al Qaeda media arm that is increasingly releasing longer, higher quality videos that are meant to appeal to the M TV masses and counter infidel propaganda. Mainstream media (MSM) always refers to nefarious terrorist web sites where the “chatter” might indicate a new al Qaeda video is about to be released. Annoyingly, MSM does not link to these sites and they cannot be found through a traditional web search.

I did find the site Terrorist Media and that is a revelation. Check it out, sit back and absorb raw footage of mass killings, ambushes, roadside bombs, beheadings and the like. The video of the Mujahideen attack on a supply convoy in Diyla is accompanied by repetitive, hypnotic singing that builds as the gunmen hide in the tall grass waiting for the convoy to come through before they open up with crude weapons and let out with blood curdling rebel yells. It looks like a VNR for the jihad optimized for the web.

This week General Petreaus and Ambassador Crocker will deliver their well scripted reports on the progress of the Iraq occupation to a politically polarized Congress and a highly skeptical public. More than 53% of the American public believes that the General will spin the truth to make things look better than they are, and only 39% believe he will tell the truth, according to a Washington Post poll. MoveOn.org is reportedly taking out an ad in the 9/10 New York Times dismissing “General Betray Us” as a less than credible source, while the White House runs interference. War PR will be ratchetedd up to a high level alert this week.

Rudy Giuliani, who tried to patent the rights to 9/11 and supposedly market tested a new cologne called Terror For Men, will of course take part in 9/11 anniversary activities. Although he is increasingly being criticized for trying to capitalize on the 9/11 tragedy while not being accountable for the toxic clean-up of ground zero and his slights to NYC firefighters, Rudy is adopting the mantle of global warrior tough on terror. Giuliani was a tough prosecutor and a didactic, polarizing Mayor who became a folk hero frozen in time after 9/11. He’s not about to let some two bit terror loon hiding in a Pakistan cave steal his air time.

Mark Rose is editor of PRBlogNews - a web publication focusing on public relations practices in the digital age.

The black arts infiltrated Strumpette last week with a fascinating posting on the “Dark Side of PR 2.0” – nefarious activity that uses Web 2.0 tools to warp the minds of the masses. The day that appeared the mainstream media (MSM) reported that the CIA is now using Facebook in its operations. Later in the week The New York Times reported on ‘Surge Spin,’ the intense PR battle underway for the hearts and minds of Americans to decide the future of the Iraq incursion. The head surge spinner, of course, is President George Bush, who is rewriting history (we lost Vietnam because we left too soon, not because we got our asses kicked in a war that never should have been) for the benefit of an out of control war machine that passes from generation to generation.

PR is the practice of driving messages to sway others to form opinions and take action. In the world of PR war is no different than lipstick. Both need to be packaged, prettied up and sold. Maybe with Web 2.0 human beings can be virtually cloned to spout nonsense that develops an audience that feeds on its own drivel to drive us to madness. Maybe that is the only explanation for Steve Rubel, the shiny head incessant gadgeteer and author of the blog ‘Micro Confusion’ under the auspices of Edelman Worldwide.

Take the Rubel post of 8/24: “Today I am posting to Flickr, del.icio.us, Twitter and Facebook. I also have tons of other less active accounts too - digg, Blogger, MySpace, YouTube, MSN Spaces, Yahoo 360, Jaiku, Pownce and on and on.”

What is he saying? Besides his blog he is posting to at least 12 other social media sites. But alas, that is not enough for a true Twittermaniac. Now he has discovered Tumblr where he can create a tumblelog on his personal domain so all his postings can be aggregated through RSS into an “aggregated lifestream.” This turns out to be the weekly Rubel “next big thing.”

He writes: “Aggregated Lifestreams could be the next big thing on the web, particularly as community expands. I am also thinking about how this might be coupled with services like social networks, Twittergram, Spock and OpenID.” Where does this lead? “Next step: turning my lifestream into a Steve Rubel widget,” he writes. Oh boy, just what we need, a Steve Rubel lifestream widget.

It is obvious that Rubel has gone insane and someone should mercifully intervene to de-widgetize him. But that does not explain the 24 comments and 23 Technorati links to this post alone, and the huge traffic for his blog, not to mention the other avenues of his ‘aggregated lifestream.’

What does any of this have to do with PR? He does not say and you have to dig hard to find the answer but I believe it has to do with a Night of the Living Dead digital version of the future. The love of gadgets has replaced real conversations with any substance and Twitter has become the false God of narcotized gear heads hijacking our minds. Through all this mumbo jumbo Rubel injects messages of Edelman clients who are inevitably involved in ‘the next big thing.’ That is the essence of ‘black PR.’ With that power you can sell a war – the next big thing - the same as you sell lipstick. You roll it all up into your aggregated lifestream, widgetize it, tag it, give it RSS, throw in some SEO and the next thing you know zombies are knocking at your door and shoving an AK 47 in your hand.

On the traditional PR front we see the Presidential race heating up, front runners emerging and messages being honed. I believe that Hillary Clinton will be the nominee for the Dems and Rudy Giuliani will ace it for the Republicans. This sets up a rip roaring full out all-New York battle between two combatants who have been itching to get at each other for years.

This week Hillary upped the ante by warning the Dems that they need to seize the homeland security issue. If there is another attack, it benefits the Republicans (read Giuliani) she said, and she is best to deal with these issues because she is battle tested by years of merciless right wing attacks. Expect the nastiness to escalate markedly as we get closer to primaries, followed by the ugliest Presidential campaign we have ever seen, to be won by the last man/woman standing.

You can bet that much of Hillary’s messaging and posturing is emanating from Burson-Marsteller’s CEO Mark Penn, who The Economist posits may be the next Karl Rove. Besides her husband, Penn is probably Hillary’s closest advisor and touted as a polling genius. How will B-M clients benefit or be hurt by the Penn-Clinton alliance? Is it pure coincidence that Harold Burson’s last blog post is a defense of lobbyists? All sorts of political intrigue as the summer winds down and we gear up for the Autumn PR offensive.

Mark Rose is editor of PRBlogNews - a web publication focusing on public relations practices in the digital age.

A big moment occurred on Strumpette this week with the either/or piece by Marcia Silverman, CEO of Ogilvy Worldwide. Special thanks to Ms. Silverman for violating the unofficial PR CEO August hiatus on conversations about the conversation and finding the voice to speak. Ms. Silverman made a definitively ambiguous statement -- a title like “Digital Media: Yes! And No!” does not promise singular impassioned fervor -- but a statement nonetheless, more than we get from most other PR agency CEOs.

Ogilvy PR, according to its web site, has more than 60 offices worldwide and handles clients like Bristol-Meyers Squibb, DuPont, Merck, Motorola, Microsoft, Novell, Sony, Verizon. Ms. Silverman is a lifelong Ogilvy-ite. In 1981 she was one of the original employees of Ogilvy & Mathers Public Affairs. That’s more than 25 years steeped in the traditions of the business to rise to the top position of a major global PR firm. I am sure that change does not come easy for Ms. Silverman and all this mishigoss about a PR revolution is somewhat amusing.

Still, I would like to have seen Ms. Silverman engage Strumpeteers as they reacted to her yin yangism. Making a proclamation and then disappearing is precisely what PR 2.0 is not about. Control vs. non-control was a prevailing theme of the 15 comments to Ms. Silverman. Does she have an opinion on the comments? Is this CEO outreach by Strumpette a series of lectures or an ongoing dialogue?

“What happens if some bad, bad, motherf**kers want to do this (social media)? The government? The Rand Corporation? Terrorists?” Loren Feldman says in the 8/8/07 Strumpette TOTAL RANT: Outrage for the Flies. I have to say, first thing in the morning, before the first cup of coffee, Loren’s dark unshaven face and dark pit eyes breaking through the monitor while he rants “You don’t know what the f**k you’re doing, do you?” really jump starts the day. Dis is why New York City is da media capital of the world. Cause dis is how we project. Katie Couric may deliver da evening news, barely, with perfect diction for $10 mil. Loren Feldman will give you the lowdown for free, and he doesn’t even speaka da language.

Nothing like a rant to force perspective and take the concept (social media, in this case) to another level, project the future, break through the bull and get your attention. What da f**ck is he talking about? And what’s with Loren’s sister in the revolution, Amanda Chapel? They’re two placard waving doomsayers about the dark forces of widgets and the social media contagion that is turning us into sheep about to be slaughtered. We’re talking a Facebook “Zombie” widget here, not Al Qaeda sleeper cells in Newark. Why the Armageddon-watch?

It took me several months of hard questioning, private emails with Amanda, serious examination of some of Edelman’s social media offerings, and maybe the Feldman rant to finally ‘get’ the beauty, simplicity and deviousness of social media for mass manipulation. In many ways social media is the prefect public relations platform and the discussion about it is born of pure manipulative PR double-speak. PR professionals, trained to be subservient, non-questioning, and totally obedient to client whims and ignorant bosses, are the perfect implementers of social media.

Social media breeds confusion and fear among clients, and that leads to billing opportunities. There’s business there. Crain’s New York reported recently that Edelman employs 40 bloggers and the practice is growing, along with Edelman’s Me2Revolution, accepted as the vanguard Special Forces in creating the need for and fulfilling the desire for social media under the PR umbrella.

Social media is ill-defined, non-regulated, and incredibly invasive. Its purpose is to engage users, have them enlist new friends in their passions, hobbies and work, and go out and propagate a network with new friends and prove how influential they can be by gathering even more friends – a sort of pyramid scheme of false influence based on mass psychosis. Edelman and others (word of mouth, viral marketers) constantly issue reports about how effective an individual endorsement is for a product or service, and how to turn the individual into an influencer or evangelist. In other words, how many propagandists can you create who will do your bidding and convert others to your cause?

Some PR Double Speak about social media:

Wisdom of the Crowds really means Imbecility of the Masses. Since Edward Bernays we see that people can be tricked to give themselves cancer for tobacco company profits and politicians can be marketed like lipstick, and we can fabricate ‘verifiable’ justification for war. Social media offers the tools to intensify, broaden and speed up the process of spreading rumors as fact. Who was Al Baghdadi? He was a fictitious character the terrorists cooked up to fool the Americans, who made him public enemy number one in Iraq. This hoax was concocted and perpetrated through the Internet.

The blogosphere is self-correcting really means we’ll push the limit until we get caught and then we’ll pull back until we find another way to cheat without getting caught. MWW CEO Michael Kempner is an unrepentant cheerleader for blogola (with the willful participation of swag-hungry bloggers) and Edelman masked its participations in a Wal-Mart blog and gave away Acer Ferrari computers on behalf of Microsoft, until they got caught. Well, the more you do something, the better you get at it. Web sites, blogs, Twitters, widgets, podcasts, video - are easily accessed and available tools for real bad guys to do really bad damage.

We can’t control messages anymore, it’s all about the conversation. This is the line you hear often from Edelman and others. Actually, if you examine their offerings they are usually tightly controlled, highly manipulated, walled off propaganda machines that are meant to game search engine results and overwhelm an argument on behalf of a client. PR will never be altruistic and open to free and easy conversation. Get real.

Last week The New York Times asked its readers online about what social media sites they belong to and what they use them for. Most were on Facebook and MySpace and most used them for fairly innocuous business or personal matters. The simplicity and naiveté of the 128 responses illustrated how easily they, and by proxy millions of others around the world, could be willing hosts for digitally perpetrated ugliness that can do real harm. What will be PR’s role in that doomsday scenario, and what steps do we take to guard against it? To begin to answer those questions we need to first accept the new realities of the business we are in. We are still a long way from that critical, first step.

Mark Rose is editor of PRBlogNews - a web publication focusing on public relations practices in the digital age.