Daft Punk - Random Access Memories

Today, Daft Punk, the French electro duo known for producing hits such as “One More Time” and “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger,” released a preview of the group’s new album “Random Access Memories” via iTunes; the full album will be released next week. While this may seem like a tiny announcement in the lead up to the launch, it’s actually heightened the momentum and buzz that the duo has created over the last month.

Random Access Memories has been one of the most highly anticipated albums in recent memory, and from a PR perspective, one of the best launches that I’ve ever witnessed. What’s crazy is that the product hasn’t even shipped! As I listened to the album this morning, I tried to break down why the launch has been so successful. Here’s the timeline of what’s happened thus far:

• The “leak” of “Get Lucky” – Every year, there are rumors that Daft Punk will play a spontaneous set at Coachella, arguably the most popular of the U.S. music festivals. With the launch date of “Random Access Memories” announced prior to the music festival, the rumor reached a fevered pitch. While the duo didn’t make a live appearance, they played a short clip of the new album’s first single “Get Lucky” at Coachella on Saturday, April 13. And later that night, a one-minute ad of “Get Lucky” ran during Saturday Night Live (SNL). Social media buzzed about this launch and there have been hundreds of YouTube videos ripping, remixing and looping the Coachella and SNL versions.

• Select interviews – Daft Punk rarely does interviews, but as of late, the duo has been holding court with the most influential radio shows in the world including BBC Radio 1 with Pete Tong and Australia’s Triple J Radio. While all artists speak to press prior to a big release, it’s worth noting that the duo is known for being mysterious and aloof. They usually don’t do any interviews and both members wear trademark robot masks during all performances including a cameo in “Tron: Legacy Era.” No new tracks were released during the interview, but it did provide insight into what went into making the album and heightened the anticipation for the release.

• Soft launch via iTunes – Today, the group allowed people to stream and pre-order the album via iTunes. I’ve already seen multiple Facebook posts linking to leaked files. In addition to the soft release, Daft Punk has been holding silent disco-style listening parties in both Amsterdam and London (apparently, phones were taken away at the door to preempt recording devices, and attendees were provided with headsets of the album).

• Official release date of the album – “Random Access Memories” will be officially released on May 21.

The results have been phenomenal thus far. Many pundits are calling the single “Get Lucky” the song of the summer, and it’s already a foregone conclusion that “Random Access Memories” will go platinum multiple times. From a social media perspective, “Daft Punk” and “#RAM” are trending right now on Twitter. Kudos to the agency/PR exec that launched this album. Whoever it is will certainly win a LOT of awards.

Its my pleasure to announce that the good people at Bulldog Media have once again recognized Bateman Group with not one, not two, but THREE awards for excellence in media relations for 2013. This year, our work for long-time client Recyclebank entitled “Share Responsibility for the Planet – Visualizing the Impact of Eco-Action” garnered a Bronze for Best Green Campaign. This is the second year in a row the Recyclebank team in Brooklyn and San Francisco has won over the judges with their consumer PR brilliance.

Not to be outdone, the App Annie team in San Francisco scored two awards for our work with that red-hot mobile app store analytics start-up. The very clever campaign launching App Annie’s service for Google Play entitled “Game of Phones” walked away with a pair of Bronze awards for Best New Product Launch – Business and Best Technology Campaign – Business. The full results can be found here in this press release issued on Friday, April 19th.

We love the Bulldog Awards because winners are chosen exclusively by working journalists from hundreds of entries representing the very best strategic and tactical prowess that PR/corporate communications has to offer.  Campaigns are judged by a team of working journalists, who assessed the submissions on the basis of their ability to achieve extraordinary visibility and influence opinion, as well as on their creativity, command of media and technology, and tenacity. With Bulldog Media, the size of the agency and the amount spent on advertising or sponsorship are never factors influencing award decisions. The best work rises to the top, period. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for other awards programs in the PR industry.

Please join me in congratulating Recyclebank, App Annie, their hard-working account teams and the rest of Bateman Group on these well-earned awards!

Until recently, I was a professional journalist. And Like most reporters, I had a healthy cynicism about the public relations industry. There’s an “us” versus “them” mentality in newsrooms that casts reporters as noble warriors in the battle for the truth and PR people as the minions of corporate clients who conflate news with marketing. The sentiment can be summed up in one word: flack. That’s journo shorthand for PR rep and it’s usually said with more than a hint of derision.

 

Elinor Mills, Director of Content and Media Strategy

Now that I’ve gone to “the dark side,” I’m seeing how unfair many of the generalizations are about PR. Here are five myths that I’d like to expose:

1. PR is all about schmoozing
This is one of the most common misperceptions about this industry, and I’m guilty of believing it, too. In one of my interviews for this job, I actually said (and I cringe to think of it now), “I can work in PR; I’m good at schmoozing.” Of course, it was slightly tongue-in-cheek. But after seeing what it’s really like, I’m truly humbled. The work is intellectually demanding, requiring PR reps to be an expert in their chosen sectors and a master of a range of strategic communications functions – corporate brand building, thought leadership, product awareness, among others. They do this behind-the-scenes with little to no recognition or respect. Sure, they know how to throw a party, but that is only one small part of what they do.

2. PR people don’t understand news
When I was a journalist, I received a lot of pitches that had absolutely no news value. Usually the PR person realizes the futility of these pitches. Any PR firm worth its salt pushes back against clients that demand this “spray and pray” approach. Reporters can help minimize these types of pitches by offering polite feedback that can then be passed on to the client. That’s good karma. We’re all just trying to do the best we can, regardless of which side of the pitch we’re on.

3. PR people are lazy
I’ve heard journalists complain about lazy PR people and make comments like “a monkey could write a better press release.” I’d like to meet that monkey. Seriously though, yes, there is a range of quality and competence in any industry, even among journalists. What I’m seeing in PR is people working really long hours, thinking creatively, writing well and diplomatically juggling the demands of clients and stressed reporters. I’m also heartened to see that the art of quality writing and editing has not been superseded by the need for speed, as it has on many news websites.

4. PR is for sell-outs
It sucks that reporters are not adequately compensated for the work they do, particularly investigative journalists who are all but extinct. But given the shrinking market and decline of old-school journalism standards like, oh, reporting, for instance, jumping to a field where good writing is still valued and well compensated is completely understandable. I made the change because of burnout from more than two decades of covering breaking news and the opportunity to work a flexible schedule. The truth is despite the job losses in traditional media and lower pay, there will always be people who want to be journalists. The more serious problem, in my opinion, is the disproportionate voice big companies have compared with public interest concerns — a systemic problem as evidenced by the power lobbyists and corporate financed PACs wield. Meanwhile, consolidation continues to hinder the ability of media outlets to be independent of corporate influence, even in the technology sector. (For more on this read: PR Industry Fills Vacuum Left by Shrinking Newsrooms)

5. PR is evil
According to a recent Gallup poll, only one-quarter of consumers surveyed rated journalists as “high” or “very high” in honesty and ethical standards. (PR was not among the options.) There’s no question there are unethical tactics used in PR — reading Toxic Sludge is Good for You! will boil your blood. But you have to consider who the clients are, what their practices are, and how transparent they are. Even the news industry is not immune; just look at the “phone hacking” scandal of News International. The majority of tech PR work is not about “spin” or restricting access to the facts. It’s about helping companies craft their “story” and stand out from all the noise. Isn’t that what everyone wants?

No doubt I’ll be accused of being naive and having drunk the Kool-Aid. So be it. This is just the perspective of a person who is walking in someone else’s shoes now.

(This is the final article in a three-part series, preceded by: How I Became a’Flack’ and Goodbye News, Hello PR.)

Elinor Mills is director of content and media strategy at Bateman Group. She joined the firm last year after working as a journalist at Associated Press, Reuters, IDG, Industry Standard, and CNET.

Elinor Mills, Director of Content and Media Strategy

I recently left journalism to work in public relations at Bateman Group, and I often get asked how I like PR. The short answer: is “I’m enjoying it.” The longer answer is: “It’s got its advantages and disadvantages, but overall I’m very satisfied and glad I made the jump.”

Before I made the career switch, which you can read about in the first installment of this three-part series, I had a vague sense of what this change would be like. Clearly, my role would be vastly different; rather than writing news articles, I’d be helping companies craft their stories for the press and public and gauge the newsworthiness of their announcements. Beyond that, I wasn’t really sure what it would be like on a day-to-day basis. Well, after six months on the job, I definitely have a better idea of what it’s like to make this transition. Here’s a list of the benefits and drawbacks I have found to working in PR as compared to journalism:

Cons:

1. Meetings. In PR, customer service is hugely important, and that means a lot of meetings with your client. As a reporter, meetings were avoided because they disrupt the flow of covering breaking news. I would meet with sources face-to-face, but most days I was head down, on the phone reporting or furiously typing away until the stories were filed.

2. Timesheets. News is a very deadline-oriented business. There is no having to account for how your time is spent as a reporter except that the faster you file, the happier the editors are. Now, I have to keep track of time in 15-minute increments. This is tedious, but necessary because PR hours are billable.

3. Not writing news. For a reporter, nothing gets your adrenaline going as much as covering a big national story, like the Anonymous activist computer attacks. In PR, there are a lot of different types of writing, but not actual news stories. And there’s work behind the scenes getting clients in the news, and when they get in a headline, you feel proud. But it’s not the same as having written the article.

4. Lack of access. One of the best perks of being a reporter is the press pass. It gets you into Apple events, into press rooms where there are plenty of outlets and connectivity, and to the head of the line at conference sessions. If I want to go to an event now, the firm or client pays full price, and I wait in line with the rest of the world. No fun!

5. Anti-PR bias. If journalists are Brahmins, PR reps are untouchables. The balance of power is overwhelmingly tipped, further inflating already big egos in the news world. No more being wined and dined just for my byline.

Pros:

1. Respect, as a former journalist. When you tell people you are a reporter, their eyes light up, especially if they work in PR. And when you work in PR after being a journalist, they give you all kinds of credit that may or may not be due. People think you are smart and they listen to you.

2. Teamwork. While reporting is often a solo assignment, PR is very team-oriented, including a lot of collaboration with colleagues and clients. There is also a lot of work on longer-term projects and strategic thinking, which stretches the mind in new ways.

3. Editing. I’m still doing plenty of writing in my PR gig, which is great. And I’m getting lots of editing, which is also great. I know some writers complain about editors mucking with their copy. Not me; the more eyes the better.

4. Less stress. Meeting daily deadlines — and now hourly and less — does take its toll over time. In PR, I’m out of the news grind, and I have much longer lead times on projects. I’m also not constantly tethered to Twitter and other services watching for news tips and monitoring competitive sites. I feel like I can breathe.

5. Freedom. Attending industry events is truly a pleasure now. I can listen and watch for fun without having to file a story right away. And I can take lunches without worrying about missing an important phone call or email. I’ve traded the intensity of the newsroom for the more laid back atmosphere of the PR office. And it’s done wonders for my attitude.

Coincidentally, a survey was released today that lists News Reporter as the worst job for 2013. I guess I got out just in time!

Elinor Mills is director of content and media strategy at Bateman Group. She joined the firm last year after working as a journalist at Associated Press, Reuters, IDG, Industry Standard and CNET.

When I received a master’s degree in journalism in 1990, the legend of Woodward and Bernstein was still very much alive, the Berlin Wall was coming down, and South and Central American countries were mourning their dead and disappeared at the hands of US-backed dictators and military regimes.

I looked up to my professor Jacqueline Sharkey, who had won awards for her coverage of the Iran-Contra scandal, and Stephen Kinzer of The New York Times, who was trying to report what was really going on in those countries. I learned Spanish and wanted to be a foreign correspondent someday. Public relations wouldn’t have crossed my mind as a job prospect. But I didn’t anticipate the changes in journalism that have since come about, nor the changes in me.

My first paid writing job was with the Associated Press, which I considered a perfect vehicle for eventually getting overseas. I covered general news for four years (Phoenix, Louisville, Boston, Providence, RI) and then got a call from a friend looking for a reporter to cover technology in San Francisco for an international wire service called IDG News Service. I didn’t know a kilobit from a kilobyte but loved the City by the Bay and figured they’d need a South American bureau chief soon, so off I flew. Little did I know that in 1994 I’d get a front-row seat to the Internet revolution.

The San Francisco bureau grew from one to four people by the time I was bureau chief and left for the sunnier pastures of The Industry Standard where dot-com fueled excess was paying for opulent parties in City Hall and rooftop parties with lines down the block. Within a few years, that luxury liner was tanking, and Reuters was my lifeboat. When an opening in Lisbon came up, I applied (I studied some Portuguese in college) and finally accomplished my dream of being a foreign correspondent. Granted, covering European Union politics, soccer culture, and Fado was a far cry from Central American insurgencies, but it was still exciting and challenging.

When I returned to the US in 2005 to work for CNET, things had changed quite a bit. The scrappy search engine Google was becoming the new Internet powerhouse. Meanwhile, the newspaper publishing world continued to decline, with print pubs unable to compete with online sites for reader eyeballs and ad dollars. Bedroom bloggers were all the rage, writing pithy, short posts that appealed to increasingly short attention spans. In the haste to break news, bloggers uniformly rely on the “post first and confirm later” approach, breaking long-held rules in journalism that require getting independent confirmation of published reports and seeking comment from both sides. Twitter ratcheted up the pace even more. Now, a random tweet could lead to a feeding frenzy and false reports of “news” that gets picked up and repeated across the Web ad infinitum.

And who needs editors? Much of what passes for news on the Web has had just one set of eyes on it — the writer’s — before it is published for the world to see. Often readers serve as after-the-fact editors in their comments. That’s embarrassing for an old-school journalist trained to write clean copy and used to being edited. This is common at traditional news sites now, as well as blogs. Then there’s the death of long-form journalism. Ex-CNET News Executive Editor Jim Kerstetter, who is the reason I stayed in journalism as long as I did, fights the good fight for well written, enterprise journalism. (He left CNET last week to be deputy tech editor at The New York Times.) But that can be a losing battle in an industry obsessed with chasing the latest Apple rumor of the day. It’s easy to get caught up in the follow-the-fad coverage, particularly when everyone is doing it. CNET was a great place to work and definitely had higher standards than most other places, and I adored my colleagues there. (Since I left, CNET has been the subject of controversy, though. In January parent company CBS decided to interfere with an editorial review of a legal adversary’s product, prompting at least one reporter to leave.)

I remember exactly when I decided I wanted to get out of journalism. It was about a year ago when I was at the RSA Conference, the industry’s biggest computer security show. I had been feeling burnt out from covering breaking news for 22 years, tired from being on constant deadline and frustrated writing the same old “Web site gets hacked” stories year after year. I needed a change. I needed to get out of the rat race. But how? I realized I wanted to do work related to my passion — animal welfare advocacy. The non-profits I looked at want people with PR experience, so that was out. A former editor introduced me to the Bateman Group, which was looking to expand its editorial bureau and was willing to give me a flexible schedule for volunteer work. Bingo!

So, here I am at Bateman Group learning the ins and outs of PR, still writing and editing and giving the team an inside perspective on how a journalist thinks, and enjoying it. So far this mid-life career crisis has worked out for me. As the number of journalism jobs shrinks and pressures and expectations mount on reporters, I predict there will be more defections. Oh, and, did I mention we’re hiring?

(Updated to include Jim Kerstetter’s move to The New York Times.)

Elinor Mills is director of content and media strategy at Bateman Group. She joined the firm last year after working as a journalist at Associated Press, Reuters, IDG, Industry Standard, and CNET.

The Bateman Group’s Rod McLeod showed his mad cocktail mixing skillz when the drink orders backed up. Rumor has it he’s great with “On Background.”

Every day, we at the Bateman Group are on the phone with journalists, sending them emails and chatting over IM. But we all know there’s nothing like a face-to-face over some drinks to break the ice.

Last week we held the first ever Bateman Group Reporter’s Happy Hour at Harlot SF in SOMA and let’s just say ice was broken. A bunch of CNET reporters and editors (and my former colleagues) — Charles Cooper, Leslie Katz, Seth Rosenblatt, Daniel Terdiman, Donna Tam, Josh Lowensohn, Casey Newton and Jennifer Guevin Krazit, walked the three long blocks to the bar from the headquarters of CBS Interactive.

Other journalists included Don Clark of The Wall Street Journal, Miguel Helft of Fortune, Mark Boslet of Reuters, Bob McMillan of Wired, David Hamilton of ReadWrite, Jack Clark of The Register and Matt Rosoff of CITEworld. And Owen Thomas of Business Insider brought the most anticipated guest of all, his faithful dog Ramona.

The trusty bartender, “Z”, reports that although there was a full bar, the three specialty cocktails were in high demand:

• “On the Record” — Ginger Rickey (gin, ginger ale, lime)

• “On Background” — Maker’s Mark Manhattan (bourbon, sweet vermouth, bitters, maraschino cherry)

• “Off the Record” — Boilermaker (shot of Jameson and a beer)

This was just the first of these happy hours we’ll be hosting for our friends in the media. Stay tuned.