David Politis

When I began my first professional job in public relations in January 1984 at Tycer-Fultz-Bellack in Palo Alto, California (then the largest high-tech ad/pr agency west of the Mississippi River), we had to write or type our news releases by hand and then give them to a secretary who would get them “word processed” for us.

If we needed to get a news release or a pitch letter to an editor fast, we used a courier to have it hand-delivered (assuming, that is, that the journalist lived in the same metropolitan area). Typically, however, fast delivery meant using the U.S. Postal System.

There were no fax machines, no personal computers, no desktop publishing, no FedEx, no cell phones, no email, no Internet (at least not that the general public knew about), and certainly no World Wide Web.

Broadband connectivity? What was that.

BlackBerries? Don’t you find them growing on vines out in the country?

Apples? Yeah, they grow on trees. One supposedly fell off a tree and bonked whats-his-name on the head.

And Web 2.0? Is that the name of the sequel to “Charlotte’s Web?”

A lot has come and gone in the 22+ years since I started working in the field of PR, but one thing has not changed.

If you absolutely, positively have to make an impact in Public Relations, particularly if you’re talking to management, you had better figure out how you (and your PR campaign/strategy/tactics) can positively impact the bottom line. Otherwise, you might as well go off and flip burgers for a living.

Simply put, it doesn’t matter how many people you reach or products you introduce or product evaluators who write favorable reviews or great speeches you write or stories you place, etc., etc., etc. If you can’t frame the discussion within the context of bottom line impact — leads generated, revenue growth, return on investment, market share increase or what-have-you — you will not succeed in the long run.

Your PR plans (and their projected results) have to be concrete and such results have to be measurable. If not, you will always be fighting an uphill fight with the bean counters in the room who demand quantitative results.

For about the 15-billionth time, Politis Communications took at least one of its clients to a ShowStoppers Media Reception at a major trade show. And once again the results were awesome!

This year, we had three clients at the Showstoppers-produced event — HandHeld Entertainment, HobbyTron.com and ifrogz – which was held for the second year in a row at the Wynn Resort & Casino. Very classy!

Showstoppers lined-up roughly 100 companies as co-sponsors of the event, which was crazy enough. But at last count, Showstoppers had more than 1,000 RSVPs from tech journalists and analysts prior to the event.

For its part, Showstoppers put on a fantabulous event. The food was wonderful and plentiful, there were plenty of watering holes placed throughout the ballroom, and they had even gone to the trouble to make arrangements to broadcast the NCAA D-I National Championship Football game between Ohio State and the University of Florida on screens hanging from the ceiling in the middle of the hall. A nice touch for college football fanatics like myself.

At the end of it all, each of our three clients made great contacts at the show, with several nice stories already published/broadcast.

At the end of the day, I will continue to A) recommend media receptions for clients as a very cost-effective and efficient way of meeting a lot of journalists and analysts at one time, and B) definitely recommend Showstoppers as my favorite media reception producers.

Good job, Showstoppers!

The people running CES (the Consumer Electronics Association) did something right in a BIG way this year.

I got to grab my “badge holder” at the airport. Very cool.

Rather than have to muck-around with determining where at the LVCC (Las Vegas Convention Center) I had to go to grab a badge holder (and you can’t get into CES without one), the CES people decided to make it easy on us pre-registered types and allow us to snag one at the airport. That was nice!

As I wrote last Friday (”Bad SkyWest / Delta service!“), we did not have a very good experience after my wife and I arrived in Oakland International Airport on Delta Flight #3957 as we had to wait 45 minutes for our baggage to make it to the Baggage Claim area. (Well, to be precise, we and 48 other unhappy passengers.)

So today I decided to reach out this morning to both SkyWest and Delta via the appropriate feedback pages on their respective Websites — the SkyWest Corporate Communications feedback page and the Delta Email Us page, something I did this morning.

And, as anticipated, I got automated email responses from both companies within the hour letting me know that my email had been received.

However, I received a personalized email this afternoon from Janice Street, Manager of Customer Relations at SkyWest Airlines, in response to my feedback (which was a pleasant surprise).

Janice apologized for SkyWest for the delays we endured in waiting for our luggage and let me know that she has contacted the Regional Director who oversees the Oakland operations. Janice also clarified that Oakland operations are handled solely by Delta on a contract basis and not by SkyWest.

Janice further added that she was forwarding a $50.00 travel certificate to my wife and I as a goodwill gesture, something that was totally unexpected.

This response has gone a long way towards restoring my faith and positive feelings towards SkyWest. Thank you, Janice.

On the other hand, I’m still waiting to hear from Delta. 

So for now, a tentative Thumbs Up for SkyWest and a Thumbs Down for Delta.

Lest you think this past weekend’s trip to the S.F. Bay was a bust (service-wise), let me note that the staff and management at the Oakland Marriott City Center were topnotch.

We asked for and got a very nice room with a view of the San Francisco Bay, and the overall service from everyone was very good. Thumbs Up!

Additionally, our first night in town we ate at the Caffe Verbena, which was right across the street from the Marriott and reasonably priced for a downtown restaurant.

The marinated hangar steak with salsa verde and polenta souffle was quite tasty, as was the herb roasted chicken with creamed spinach, cippolini onions and roasted potatoes.

I’ll definitely return to both establishments on my next trip to Oakland.

Thumbs Up for both!