Scott Sobel was recently quoted in Advertising Age about AT&T's lawsuit against Verizon.

When should you sue on a competitive claim?

There really are just two instances that call for the courts, according to Marc Hausman, CEO of Strategic Communications Group. One occurs when a larger player faces a serious competitive threat from an innovative but smaller, less well-financed rival. A suit can stop the latter fast in its track because it doesn’t have the deep pockets to defend itself. Legal action is also warranted when a company wants to call attention to an issue so important that litigation is the only venue that can attract any real mindshare.

Legal recourse could also be an option when a brand has to defend its reputation, and wants to make a statement that sends a message not only to customers, but vendors, regulators, and the government, said Scott Sobel, president of Media and Communications Strategies. But avoid suing on an issue that could potentially call attention to your weakness, as AT&T did.

Also be careful not to file a frivolous suit, Mr. Sobel said. “Suing for the sake of suing is a bad idea; it sends a message that you’re litigious, petty and you don’t have the consumers’ interests in mind.”

Copyright 2009 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Rail disaster put communicators’ crisis plans to the test

With D.C. mayor’s office at the vortex, how did the various entities fare in the wake of the rail collision? Our nation’s capital is no stranger to dealing with calamities. From the Sept. 11 attack on the Pentagon to the recent shooting at the Holocaust Museum, crisis communicators can learn a lot about how D.C. handles a disaster.

When two Metro trains collided this week during evening rush hour, it was time for the city to go into crisis mode—again. Crisis communicators chimed in and analyzed how the D.C. mayor’s office and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) have been dealing with the situation. Norissa Giangola, who specializes in crisis communications at Coqui Communications, says that in a disaster, "people want to know that that people are being taken care of and that authorities are in control."

Soon after the collision, Mayor Adrian Fenty was at the scene and talked to the media. He scored points with crisis communicators simply by being present. "He responded as quickly as possible," say Chris Brown, a communication consultant based in D.C. "To get from the mayor's office downtown to the Northeast side as fast as he did was hard to do. When he got to the scene, he was accessible."

Do you have a crisis communication plan?

This is a cogent reminder for all communicators: Now is the time to start planning for your own crisis, advises Gerard Braud, a crisis communication expert.

"Crisis communication plans can be written on a clear and sunny day, when you don’t have anxiety,” Braud says. “The worst time to plan for a crisis is to start planning in the middle of one."

Here’s the four-step method Braud uses when advising his clients on developing a plan:
Vulnerability assessment. List everything that could conceivably go wrong in your organization, such as: fire, explosions, accidents, or employee misbehavior. Start writing up your plan.
Conduct a writing retreat. This is the time to write templates for each possible crisis scenario. Go through an approval process of the plans with supervisors.
"When you’re in a crisis, you don’t have time to write for scratch,” he says. “Even for the best writers, it takes about a half-hour to do a press release. You don’t want to start with a blank piece of paper."

Scott Sobel, president of Media & Communications Strategies LLC in D.C., gives the district a 'B' for its handling of the crisis.

"They covered all of the usual suspect PR bases and made the mayor and others available for reassurance and to answer some questions and express condolences," Sobel says.

How could the city have earned an ‘A’? Well, Sobel would like to see these questions answered:

- How could this have happened, and what measure did you (do you) have in place to make sure this kind of tragedy doesn’t happen again?
- Will city representatives be available in person to answer questions by riders?
- Why isn’t there a city-sanctioned Web site that gives real-time information about a fast-changing situation?

Even though these questions haven’t been answered yet, the mayor’s office and WMATA were able to communicate to passengers in a variety of ways.

WMATA frequently posted press releases on its Web site about the collision.

The WMATA has an eAlert system where people can sign up to receive e-mail or cell phone messages about delays in service. Passengers were notified about the Red Line incident.

Braud applauds WMATA’s use of the eAlert system. "Anytime you can capture the e-mail addresses or cell phones of potential customers, you can communicate a crisis, but you’ve only got about 140 to 160 characters to do it in," says Gerard Braud, a crisis communication expert.

Stephanie Partridge, who lives and works in D.C., signed up for the Alert DC! messaging service at https://textalert.ema.dc.gov/. She received this text, along with several e-mails throughout the day about the collision.

Metro reports that 2 train collided and one train is on top of the other train. Metro reports massive injuries at this time. The green line and the red line are affected. Further information to follow.

"The alerts also let me know about the road closures associated with the gunman at the Holocaust Museum a couple of weeks ago,” Partridge says. “When I’m at work, I don't watch the news or listen to the radio. These alerts in my Inbox are my connection to what is going on."

WMATA has a Twitter feed, which also updated passengers about the collision. Here’s an example of a tweet:

Red Line: Disruption at Fort Totten in both directions. Trains are turning back at Fort Totten & Silver Spring due to a situation out.

But Brown says WMATA should have let people know it was a fatal collision.

"On Twitter, they always called it a disruption or a train experiencing technical difficulties," Brown says. "There was a sense that people were being lied to. It felt like they were masking the truth of what actually happened."

Even though the mayor’s office is handling the messaging of the collision, there is nothing posted on the mayor’s main Web site. Instead, there’s information posted on another site.

"The mayor's office should’ve had a front page announcement on its site," Giangola says. "People need to know what's happening, especially for victims of the families, and where they can get assistance."

How WMATA spread the news

Following is one in a series of press releases that theWashington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority issued on its Web site to inform its riders and the public at large. Two six-car Red Line trains collided at 5 p.m. today, Monday, June 22, resulting in six fatalities, including a female train operator. There were also several injuries, many serious, according reports from the scene. This is the deadliest accident in Metrorail’s 33-year history.

Metro officials recommend that people avoid the Red Line the remainder of Monday and Tuesday, or expect significant delays as the area of track involved in the accident will remain closed to train traffic.

Trains are operating between Glenmont and Silver Spring Metrorail stations and between Shady Grove and Rhode Island Avenue Metrorail stations for the remainder of the day.

Free shuttle buses are operating between Silver Spring and Rhode Island Avenue Metrorail stations to help customers get around the incident.

Metro officials are working hand-in-hand with the National Transportation Safety Board. People who believe that their relatives may have been on board the train can contact Metropolitan Police at 311 to find out which hospital they have been taken to for medical assistance. A family reunification center has been established at 501 Riggs Road, NE, in Washington.

"This is an incredibly tragic day and our hearts go out to the families of those who suffered fatalities and to those whose loved ones are injured," said Metro General Manager John Catoe. "We are committed to investigate this accident until we determine why this happened and what must be done to ensure it never happens again." Metro officials do not yet know the cause of the collision and are not likely to know the cause for several days as the investigation unfolds. Both trains were on the same track headed toward Shady Grove Metrorail station, according to preliminary reports. The female operator was on the trailing train. The only other time in Metrorail's history that there were customer fatalities was in January 1982, when three people died as a result of a derailment between the Federal Triangle and Smithsonian Metrorail stations. The only other time that Metrorail had a collision was in 2004 when two trains collided at the Woodley Park/Zoo-Adams Morgan Metrorail station, in which there were some minor injuries.

Media & Communications Strategies LLC Lands Two Hermes Creative Awards

Award-winning Public Relations Boutique Recognized for Crisis Communication and Media initiatives

Media & Communications Strategies, LLC has received two prestigious Hermes Creative Awards for its 'Saving American Manufacturing' campaign in which it utilized comprehensive communications tactics to protect the interests of a U.S.-based hand truck manufacturer almost forced out of business when an international competitor lied to and received an incredibly low tariff from U.S. trade authorities. The Hermes Creative Awards recognize outstanding work in the marketing and communication fields.

"I believe these awards honor the fact that we go on a mission for our clients and leave no stone unturned in helping them achieve their goals," said Scott Sobel, president, Media & Communications Strategies. "Our communications campaign was geared to protecting the interests of our client and, to an important degree, the interests of U.S. hand truck manufacturers operating in a global environment,"

The firm's Platinum award, Hermes's most prestigious, was for Crisis Communications. The second award was the Gold in the Media Response category. Platinum Winners are recognized to be the most outstanding in terms of quality, creativity and resourcefulness. Gold Winners exceed the high standards of the industry norm.

More than 3,700 entries from throughout the United States and several countries were judged by Hermes officials in several categories for the 2009 competition and awards are presented to the most outstanding entries in the competition.

Administered by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals, the Hermes Creative Awards, is a majestic symbol of the ancient Greek messenger. In Greek mythology, Hermes is also the Olympian god of orators and wit, of literature and poets, and invention and commerce. The Hermes Award is sculpted and cast by the Entenmann-Rovin Company of Los Angeles, the same craftsmen that produce the Golden Globe Awards.

Both Hermes awards continue an award-winning streak for Media & Communications Strategies. This year alone, the firm received other prestigious awards including two legal public relations awards of distinction from PR News for Crisis Management and Crisis Response and Media Relations during Litigation or Crisis.

White and Case's Hands-Off Approach to Scandal Has PR Tongues Wagging

Ten years ago, it would have been no more than the stuff of law firm gossip.

But in the age of e-mail, blogs and text messaging, the story of a messy affair between a Miami corporate attorney and a married mother of four has spiraled into a much bigger headache for the century-old law firm White & Case.

First came mass e-mails from the woman's husband detailing liaisons between his wife and an associate in the firm's Miami office. Then the lurid e-mails landed on a popular legal blog where more than 100,000 people have viewed them.

The associate's name is not being published by the Daily Business Review. He did not respond to a phone message by deadline Monday or an e-mail sent Friday to his law firm address. A home phone number listed in the blog material for the associate is not accepting incoming calls, and a cell number reaches a recording saying it is not a working number.

For White & Case, the unwanted publicity raises a question all law firm managers and public relations professionals should consider: If an employee's dirty laundry gets a public airing, how can a law firm respond to minimize the damage?

Asked about the matter, White & Case spokesman William Sancho in Miami offered a brusque "no comment."

Hours later, an official firm statement came out: "This is a personal matter for the individual involved, and we cannot comment on it."

Todd Templin, executive vice president of Boardroom Communications in Plantation, Fla., said he would have counseled the firm to take a different approach.

"I would make it clear the actions of the attorney are an embarrassment to the firm, and I'd make the point that they are not indicative of the values and quality legal work that the firm is known for," he said.

It's something crisis management professionals often refer to as "getting in front of a story."

"If you don't tell your story, someone else will," explained Chris Marlin, who heads the Miami office of Sitrick & Co., a public relations firm specializing in crisis communications. "It's rare that ignoring a situation that is as open and notorious as this gets you any benefit."

But Marlin, an attorney who used to manage litigation for a Fortune 500 company, also had some comfort for New York-based White & Case.

"As a former in-house lawyer who regularly procured legal services, this would not have affected my decision to hire one firm over another," he said. "This sort of gossip has much more resonance in legal circles than it does in client circles."

The negative publicity on the blogosphere comes on the heels of a lengthy New York Times article describing deep layoffs at White & Case and portraying the venerable Wall Street firm as "an endangered species."

While that piece undoubtedly reflects the firm's more pressing concerns, it's not the one that has law firm tongues wagging all across town.

By now most South Florida lawyers have likely heard the smutty saga of "Miami White" and "SexyLexus," as the lovers were dubbed by the Web site Above the Law. The husband described his wife as a porn star, but she responded on the blog, "It's a camera-site. That is all it is. I am not in contact with anybody, there is no contact between me and anybody on that camera-site." She also said she has been separated for a year and is planning a divorce.

The e-mail also has been widely circulated in South Florida legal and business circles, through a viral series of forwards.

According to the e-mail, the purported husband of "SexyLexus" was in Canada for weeks launching a new business, far from his wife and their four children under 6.

When he returned, he found text messages suggesting his wife was carrying on multiple affairs, including one with the White & Case lawyer.

"When you decided to start sleeping with my wife while I was out of town over the last few weeks (May 27 - June 7, 2009) you threatened my way of life, and you really hurt a lot of people," one e-mail stated.

In a subsequent e-mail, the man said his wife appeared on a pornographic Web site and met fans for sex.

"Can someone at White & Case please help me and talk some sense to your colleague?" he wrote.

Two postings about the alleged affair on Above the Law generated about 130,000 page views and nearly 400 comments, according to blog editor Elie Mystal. They received more than 28,000 views on the New York gossip site Gawker.

Even the Wall Street Journal's generally highbrow Law Blog linked to the entries.

The Miami office of White & Case has grown to roughly 90 attorneys since opening in 1987 and is known for corporate, banking and project finance work in Latin America.

While clients probably won't bolt over the "Miami White" scandal, it hardly projects the image of stability and discretion most law firms work hard to cultivate, said Jonathan Groner, a law firm public relations consultant in Washington.

"Any law firm these days, just like any corporation, needs to protect its reputation," he said.

Still, one public relations specialist who did not want his name used said he "wouldn't argue very hard" for issuing a public statement.

"This has nothing to do with White & Case, and it's not necessarily something that deserves their comment," he said.

Scott Sobel, president of Media & Communications Strategies in Washington, said he advises clients to be prepared with a "holding statement" to show the firm is aware of a bad situation and in control.

"The worst thing that a firm could do is ignore this kind of issue or any crisis and hope it goes away," Sobel said.

"Clients come to you to handle their most delicate issues," he said. "If you're not handling your own delicate issues well, why would a client hire you?"

What follows is an e-mail being sent by the husband of a woman who allegedly had an affair with a White & Case associate in Miami to lawyers at that firm. The e-mail has been widely circulated in business and legal circles in South Florida and through several popular national blogs.

Families, wives, young children are valuable things. I work hard to take care of my family -- a wife, 4 small children under the age of 6. It is the most valuable thing in the world to me.

When you decided to start sleeping with my wife while I was out of town over the last few weeks (May 27-June 7, 2009), you threatened my way of life, and you really hurt a lot of people -- most notably the lives of my 4 very young children.

You are a securities lawyer at White & Case, so you know how to do due diligence. Perhaps you thought it was clever or fun, but attending a school recital with my wife who you've just met and started sleeping with over the last few weeks is extremely poor judgement. Sleeping with other mens wives, is alone, perhaps the poorest taste and the worst judgement all on its own. It implies a very low moral character. Perhaps you wish to plead ignorance, but a simple search on my name on the internet would indicate that I take a great deal of pride in my family. But after reviewing the text messages between you and my wife it would appear that you did the due diligence, that you knew she was spending the summer with me in Canada starting last week, and that we had small children and you were jeopardizing my family with your actions.

I have tried to contact you numerous times this week to address the situation and ask you to step aside ... to let me address the issues now faced in our house. I have contacted your mobile at [deleted] and your house at [deleted] but you are too much of a coward to answer. You need to be made aware of your actions and the consequences they bear.

What follows below are the text messages of your affair over the last few weeks as it unfolds. I would like to especially thank those at St. Stephens Episcopal School that watched this unfold at the school concert last week, and did nothing to alert me or defend my family. That is certainly a church and a school I want my children to grow up learning from. You have all seen me drop my kids off and pick them up there every single day for the last year. Did you think to mention anything when I showed up there last Monday June 8 at my kids ceremonies? You know how important they are to me.

And for all of you that think running around with other mens wives or husbands behind their spouses backs is acceptable behaviour -- recognize that there are consequences and that many of us that will fight for our families and ferociously defend our home and children.

Background

Times have been tight since the recession hit. My wife has been home alone for 28 days in May of 2009 when this timeline starts. I am up in Canada starting a company, working very long hours and sending everything home to make ends meet. [My wife] is sending me nice messages every day, encouraging me to do well and to hurry home so we can all be together as a family. The business is going well, and I've almost caught up on the past bills in less than 30 days since starting the company. I have been working 7 days a week 15 hours days in Calgary. Now we are planning to rent a cottage near Toronto so we can spend the summer together as a family while I open up the Toronto market. I come home -- unannounced on Sunday June 7 and on Monday June 8 to make final plans and get passports for our 4 young children... I find her recently discarded blackbery phone in a drawer and plug the battery in. Here is what I found.

[The sender attached a lengthy exchange of text messages ostensibly between the wife and several men.]

Media & Communications Strategies Joins International PR Group

Public Relations Boutiques International (PRBI) has been created in reaction to a global marketplace’s demand for more seasoned and hands-on public relations counselors at firms with international PR expertise. This demand prompted12 PR “boutiques,” from around the world, with an impressive range of virtually all public relations capabilities, to join forces and take advantage of new business opportunities. DC-based Media & Communications Strategies, LLC is a founding member. Clients will benefit from very high quality service while enjoying the most competitive prices. The boutiques will benefit from having a high-quality network they can rely on to partner with on behalf of their clients.

PRBI’s founding members are located in six strategic countries and 14 cities.

The firms and locations include: Bridge Global Strategies, New York City; CampaignTeam, Sussex, U.K.; CJSW - Public Relations & Communications, Seoul; High View Communications, Toronto; Japan Public Relations Institute, Tokyo; Lang/Pan/Chan Public Relations, Los Angeles (headquarters), Shanghai and Beijing; Marx Communications, Trumbull, Conn.; Media & Communications Strategies, Washington, DC; Metrospective Communications, Philadelphia; Scott Phillips & Associates, Chicago; Shira Miller Communications, Atlanta; and Weisberg Communications Company, Salt Lake City.

Lucy Siegel, president and CEO of Bridge Global Strategies, New York, who was elected president of the group for its first year, noted that PRBI offers clients several advantages over both large multinational PR firms and other networks of independent public relations firms. “First, we are all senior counselors and offer clients the benefit of years of experience and expertise in our fields. Most of us have worked for large agencies and mid-size firms and know how business is done there. We left to start our own businesses because we enjoy hands-on work with clients and staff, not going to management meetings all day and crunching numbers for quarterly profitability reports. We believe clients of large agencies lose an incredible amount by having only junior, unseasoned people working on their accounts day-in, day-out. What’s more, the billing rates are often breathtakingly high. As boutique owners, we’re in business for ourselves and a small group of employees, not a distant group of management and shareholders.”

Added Bill Cowen, the group’s vice president and president of Metrospective Communications in Philadelphia, “Large agencies will talk about their ‘wholly owned networks’ as if that is a big plus, but actually the people in those networks have often never met each other or worked together. We know each other better than the people in those ‘wholly owned networks,’ since we get together with each other on at least an annual basis and have regular conference calls. And we are already collaborating with each other and working together on a number of different levels. The staffs at big conglomerates are obligated to use the offices in their networks to execute client work, no matter how ill- or well-suited each office may be to a particular client project. We have no such constraints. We’re free to go outside if the network member in a particular city doesn’t offer whatever we feel a client needs for a particular PR program.”

Siegel noted there are other networks of independent public relations firms, both in the United States and in other parts of the world, most notably in Europe.

Scott Sobel, president of Media & Communications Strategies in Washington, DC noted, “Where we differ is in the size of agencies in our network and the average level of experience of the people actually providing client service within the agencies.” He observed that, “Most of the other networks have larger mid-size agencies as members, agencies with 25, 50, or sometimes even 100 employees. It’s almost impossible for the senior executives at those agencies to do much client work. They’re too busy managing people, selling more business to feed them, and working on financials to do that. You can’t blame them – that’s just the way it is in a larger company.”

PRBI will increase its membership to fill geographical gaps that will help provide seamless client service to an ever-expanding marketplace. “We will not rush to fill those gaps, however,” emphasized Siegel. “Our bylaws require that each new member be approved by every other member, and we are placing the bar high for approving new member applications. We are all acutely aware that the members we vote to accept now are the people we will rely on later to help us serve our clients.”

Other officers elected by the group for the first year included: Secretary: David Watson, president of CampaignTeam, Sussex, U.K.; Treasurer: Ann Gallery, president of High View Communications, Toronto; and Member at Large: Nancy Choi, CJSW Public Relations & Communications, Seoul.

Scott Sobel quoted in The Washington Post.

Speaking about Steve Jobs and his statement to the press concerning his health issues:

"He's walking a fine line here," says Scott A. Sobel, president of Media and Communications Strategies, a D.C. firm that often deals with high-profile clients. "There's a big difference between saying, off the cuff, 'Hey, I'm going to be fine,' and saying something that satisfies all the legal and ethical details that are required but that could still be seen as being misleading." In publicly traded companies, Sobel adds, these little notes are "vetted by the legal department." view the full article