I was standing in the middle of Grant Park on the first Tuesday in November in 2008. I was crying and hugging people I'd never met. I had no idea who they were but I didn't care. I loved them and they loved me. We'd won. When the new president came out to address the crowd, we were all one in every way. He was "our" president and "we'd" won. It wasn't about Obama. It was about us.
That's how the best PR works. And it's what PP is doing, and doing well. Read this:
http://www.soapoperadigest.com/content/prospect-parks-rich-franks-message-fans
Prospect Park co-chief Rich Frank tells Digest that a big advertising push will help attract viewers to the relaunches of AMC and OLTL on April 29th ("You'll see ads in print and on television") but hopes that fans will help spread the word, as well. "We would hope that all of them would call their friends to make sure they watch them! The way to ensure that this is going to work, because we're really totally advertiser-supported is, is that we've got to get the eyeballs to be watching this. They've done it before; it's just a matter of rallying the troops and getting them to watch. That's all I could ask them to do at this point. We're going to try to give them the best we've got and if they will support us and tweet and Facebook and use all the social media and everything just to make sure that everybody knows that on the 29th, we're going to be back, that would be great."
You see PR is about an attempt to generate good will on the part of your "public". You need to foster a two way communication experience with that public. Often, PR people use a "top/down" model, meaning they present a message and expect the public to take it and believe it and that's that. That's outdated and ineffective. If the Obama campaign taught us anything, it's that the "old" way of putting out a press release, schmoozing the press, and expecting the best impact is passe. It's not working. The times have changed and so has the public.
What the Obama campaign did was work from the "bottom/up". The campaign appeared to be a movement but it was all coordinated. It's called the Two Way Symmetrical Model. It creates a balance between the organization and the public. They're on an equal footing. The public is in the trenches with the organization and part of the process. They're more than engaged- they're invested. This PR method looks to focus on the relationship, not just persuasion or their goal. They make the public part of the goal. Then, when they win, the public wins, as well, and they're with you for the long haul.
That's what PP is doing. They're bringing the fans into the process. They're showing how the actors are all sacrificing and working together as a "family". But they're also showing how their shows are all about the bigger family, about how we grew up with them and they're a part of us. Watch this:
You see these people are my friends. They made a hardass like me cry like a baby when I saw Joe and Ruth and Nick and Mona and Charles. They're part of my past and I have a stake in this. I need to help.
They're playing this beautifully. They're showing how the fans worked for this and now have to stay engaged. They're making this "our" show, not "their" show. Unlike the Frons era, the fans are not there to be "trained". They're there to be involved and active and, most importantly, respected.
This is where ABC is failing. Frank Valentini would love to see himself as some great benefactor "saving" soaps and the jobs of three actors, but his way of doing this is flawed. Sending out the "press" as your watchdog doesn't work. Sending out interns to post on sites doesn't work. You need to get the fans in the process and feel as if they're heard. This isn't happening.
GH fans seem to not be working for them, for the most part. Many seem to not hate the show but what they're being given. They don't care about these actors- one of whom seems happy to be back with the other show- as they have their own Vets who are being neglected. They don't want new characters. They want their characters. This is becoming more and clear every day- this is a power play by Valentini. While PP is Obama. They're building a bridge with the fans and forming a "movement". Valentini is McCain or Romney- outdated, out of touch, and arrogant. And we know what happened to those guys.
There's been this attitude on the part of many in broadcasting for years now that fans are there to be manipulated and "played". They are not the enemy of the producer, so to speak, but the plaything. The fans should be engaged, no matter what, and negative attention is as good as positive attention. If they fans hate you for what you're doing on screen, no big thing as they're still engaged.
I don't get that. Never did. I've seen this split form on the part of the fans and TPTB that I see, as a fan but more of an outside observer, as counter productive. If the fans hate you, they want you to fail. They may be willing to walk from your show to make YOU pay. You see, if you don't give them what they want, they go elsewhere. There is, then, an almost adversarial relationship between the "show" and the fans. The actors and the characters being split in the middle- both sides claiming ownership.
Maybe it's old fashioned but I think you're supposed to make your public like you. I was trained to work on the sales floor of Marshall Fields. I was taught that the customer is always right- even when they're wrong. I was raised by a salesman who was always being threatened with litigation if he didn't do right by the customer. Even if you have to eat shit and sometimes lose money, you'll get a repeat customer in the end. The fans, it seems, are the customers. Where's the logic that says pissing them off is a good thing? I don't get it. Maybe it's the old adage Deep Throat said in All the President's Men that I haven't used in a long time. "These guys just aren't very bright".
Or maybe they're just stuck in their ways and don't know how to get out. Whatever it is, I don't care. I'm writing this. Guess why? Because I'm giving support and am a team player. I lost those shows and I missed them. If I need to get on a soapbox for a minute, no skin off my nose. Besides, it's kind of fun. And I'm invested. I'm engaged but it's more than that. I want something and I have to do some work to get it. I learned that in 2008. It wasn't about just voting. It was about being part of the campaign and no one can win unless we all try. And it worked. And we won...twice.
I don't think I'll cry as I did when Obama won. But he won twice....what does that tell you? I always like to back a winner. I'm with progress. Dinosaurs need not apply.
No comments:
Post a Comment