My morning started with a bang. Literally. A squirrel decided to eat some electrical wires coming out of the transformer across the street from my house. Needless to say, at 6:20 a.m., I was not impressed.

Today, I am going to do a roundup of stuff — stuff that I find interesting and that is somewhat germaine to what it is the PR Girlz do.

• In today’s Toronto Star, Bruce Campion-Smith reports how the Harper government controls its communication policies. It is the first report in the Secret Capital series from the newspaper. Harper’s communications policies are anything but open and stand in stark contrast to the federal rules for open access to information.
• Festival de Cannes ends today. Norm Wilner from NOW has been blogging the event from the French sea-side town. Check out the reviews now — you might be able to save yourself from wasting time at TIFF. [For the life of me, I don't know what Lindsay Lohan was doing there, though. Beyond Mean Girls (brilliant writing) and Altman's swan song (she was cast well), has she done anything deserving of Cannes recognition?]
• I want to play a bit with a Google lab release called Google Friend Connect. The server keeps crashing on me.
• Grant Robertson at the Globe and Mail reports on Wikipedia’s business plan and its desire to remain not-for-profit.
• Tim O’Reilly had a funny post on the weekend about Microsoft’s obsession with search.

Last week, I saw an article in AdAge that suggested that one of the world’s most famous ‘touch up’ artists, Pascal Dangin, had a hand in making the women in the Real Beauty campaign look gorgeous. Even though Unilever and Dangin have made statements denying the reports, AdAge maintains that it will still “go down as a footnote in advertising history or rate among its biggest scandals, alongside Campbell’s marbles in the soup.”

Really.

Since the success of their Evolution campaign, Dove has been the viral video darling of the marketing world. Everyone wants their online efforts to come out smelling like 1/4 moisturizing lotion. But that sort of success can’t be plucked out of the cosmetics aisle and let’s face it - everybody’s a bit jealous. And my feeling is that, last week when this rumour emerged, a lot of people would have gladly seen Dove go on trial for their alleged mistake.

Even if they did do skin tone touch ups or got rid of minor blemishes on the Real Beauty models … would that really make their campaign somehow bogus? For me the idea is the most beautiful thing about the Dove brand and their recent marketing efforts. Some readers of AdAge’s coverage of the ’scandal’ agreed:

Several readers commenting on Ad Age’s Thursday story saw the controversy as a tempest in a teapot. “The issue is being massively blown out of proportion,” said one. “Retouching to adjust skin tones, remove shadows, or combine two or more photos from the same session for the sake of shot composition is commonplace and completely ethical.”

“I think we are losing sight of what this campaign is really about — loving your own body,” said another reader. “Even if the photo was retouched a bit, it still conveys the fact that all women are beautiful, no matter what size or shape.”

Another great follow up story that looks at how Dove/Oglivy/Unilever could have dealt with the situation can be found here.

We are on cloud nine around the office all because “our” Terry Fallis has been named the winner of the 2008 Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour. Terry, a guy with a biomechanical engineering degree and a love of words, decided to write about what he knows best — politics, engineering and people – in his first novel “Best Laid Plans”.

The thrill of seeing someone you know and work with honoured with this medal is, well, more than we all would have expected. Considering we spend much of our workday dealing with the media on a full range of stories, finding Terry on cbc.ca today after popping up in the likes of the Toronto Star on the weekend is amazing. And we didn’t have to send a pitch or pick up a phone.

This was no mean feat for Terry to achieve. When he couldn’t find a publisher for his idea he podcast the book, chapter by chapter, and then figured out how he could publish it himself. Once he managed to get it into some bookstores and on to Amazon.ca and Indigo.ca he was amazed that people actually bought it. He even seemed surprised to have so many people tell him they found the story charming and interesting.

Congratulations from the Girlz and everyone else at Thornley Fallis. Now, can we get you to sign our copies? Oh, and what about that sequel?

Report by Kyra Aylsworth, Special Correspondant, PRGirlz.com

I found my notebooks and camera at the MaRS centre this morning. It was with great relief that I started my day. Now that I have my notes, though, I feel like I have too much material. I’ll try to keep it simple.

Today has been especially exciting here at mesh. The first keynote featured Richard Edelman, Global CEO of Edelman Public Relations, the world’s largest independent public relations agency. The second keynote of the day featured Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster.

Rather than try to sum up everything that was said during those first few hours, I’m going to post my favourite topics and related answers from these two influential thinkers:

Richard Edelman

How do you define success in public relations today?

Public relations is about telling a story. It is not the black arts. Public relations people need higher standards than before. Ad equivalency is not adequate - it’s fallacious. The power of free media is more valuable than purchased media … Some people are prepared (to enter into Web 2.0) and some are reticent. They’ll pitch to CBS and ABC and think ‘I’ve done my job’. We’re not salesmen. It’s better to have 3 to 4 quality interactions [than to 'hit' everyone with the same pitch and vehicle].

Would you ever counsel a client against using social media? What happens if you/your client loses control?

Even in a situation where a client might be walking into an arena of ridicule, the organization will still need to communicate their messages and to tell their side of a story. In the case of Chevy Tahoe, they benefitted by letting the humour run its course. You have to think ahead - about what sort of situation you’re getting into - but if something goes wrong, it’s important to let it happen. If Chevy had ‘put their fist down’ and tried to stop the conversation, it would have been much worse.

Three things to take away:
1. Make your stories visual.
2. Don’t be defeated by setbacks.
3. Don’t let clients say ‘here’s your little box’ (here are your set of conditions). Be bold.

Jim Buckmaster

My 7 favourite quotes:
1. We’re making enough money for all of our needs.
2. The way we do things is actually more fun than worrying about making more money.
3. That’s the benefit of not going public.
4. We only do things that our users want us to do.
5. Craigslist is a site where people connect through basic human needs.
6. We don’t have business meetings.
7. We’ve never lost a tech person in twelve years.

Our colleague Terry Fallis of Inside PR was called on by the CBC to comment about the recent fiasco at the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation. A couple of months ago I mentioned how frustrated I was when communications professionals “lawyered up” but this is a case in the extreme which will apparently cost tax payers about $425,000 in OLGC revenues which had to be directed to pay lawyers fees. An example of corporate insensitivity and well, dare I say, pig-headedness in this situation? Worse, this is being talked about as a PR issue and that drives me nuts! This is an example of bad decision-making and a text book case for students in business AND PR.

In a nutshell…the revealed facts: an elderly gentleman from small town is fleeced out of a winning lottery his ticket by the local store clerk who then is allowed to collect the $250,000 win by OLGC. He may be in his late 70’s (at the time) but he’s suspicious because as a regular ticket buyer he knows what a real win sounds like on the lottery terminal. But no, the OLGC ignores the nice but persistent gentleman in spite of the fact since-revealed documents confirmed he was not a liar or going senile.

Yes, he had made a call to the OLGC the day his suspicions were piqued. Of course his lawyer had to get the phone records from Bell Canada to confirm this but that didn’t deter the OLGC from claiming all he did was call, they may not have answered. Yes the OLGC did have a memo from their internal investigations unit noting he was likely correct. However this note was apparently ignored by those who knew better how to maintain a good corporate reputation. Yes police did have enough evidence to charge the store clerk involved. But no, the OLGC decided they were standing on higher ground and dragged the gentleman through almost four years of legal wrangling before settling with him and then putting a gag order on him, too. His lawyer was worried he wouldn’t live to see the end of this mess.

Now, here’s a guy who just wants to make sure that people know he’s not a liar. He is standing on principle to clear his name, to the point that even his family is a little worried. And then the media comes the rescue. Not often I can say that with confidence but the 5^th Estate investigative program on CBC took this one on, laid bare the OLGC and created a folk hero out of a small town guy. I know this because I have a country home not too far away from Coboconk where Bob Edmonds lives. As I was going about my business this past weekend I could hear snippets of conversation in the local V&S, drug hardware and grocery store. Things like, “Poor guy, who would put someone through that”, “You think they would have had more sense, particularly since they knew the truth” and “Always thought there was something odd about that since the beginning.”

But the saddest moments were those when the OLGC spokesperson was left on the firing line to answer for the mess – not the CEO or the lawyers who dragged poor Bob through the wringer. I’ve been in this position lots of times and it’s not pretty, particularly when the corporation has to make tough decisions (think lay-offs). I’m sure others have similar grim stories. But that’s what we get paid to do, give a voice and hopefully a human face to our companies during the good and bad. What about looking down the long, dark corridor of a bad decision – one that is insensitive, lacking humanity, devoid of the possibility of positive contribution to the bottom line or corporate reputation?

Well, as PR professionals we are also getting paid to push for the best business decisions. If we feel they aren’t happening then we have to map out the pro and con, demonstrate the value of other options that enhance bottom line value and have reputational value. Maybe someone else has found this but once you map out potential outcomes there is usually a new, more appropriate path that can be found that let’s everyone save a little face while delivering the tough messages. Of course, there is also the outrageous idea of actually saying “we goofed but we have learned from this and intend to do much better from now on”.

Bob did receive his apology after the fact and the OLGC did lift the gag order and call off the lawyers. Really too little too late don’t you think? Especially since Bob, after paying lawyers fees, still came out with less than he should have if he’d just claimed his lottery winnings. However he is also a lesson in graciousness, thanking the OLGC for the apology, making it clear he didn’t want the person who wronged him to go to jail but, most of all, just happy to know people believed him five years later.

Anybody listening?

Yesterday at a junior college (CEQEP) in Montreal a man with loaded firearms apparently walked into the cafeteria and started shooting. At least one female student and the person identified as the gunman were dead when it ended. Several more people remain in hospital with life-threatening injuries. This event forces us to look at ourselves and our society and initiates a heart-wrenching outpouring of support to the victims and their families. A big part of the news story is the gunman’s blog. Images of him in his goth and other outfits, guns in hand were splashed in the media by this morning. The Toronto Star was typical in its coverage. It reminds us how public this seemingly impersonal method of communication really is.

For those unfamiliar with the positive power of social media, looking at these images will cause many to think about the blogosphere as a sinister, creepy place. Those of us who see ourselves as part of a new world of conversation and information-sharing wonder if our efforts to engage the broader audience will be adversely affected. And what about potential blogger participants who might become more cautious or hold back on joining the conversation?

Related and also in the news this week was an update on the lawsuit of a Canadian doctor that centred around comments on another blog. I’m sticking my neck out here but if anyone thinks this isn’t a public forum in the same way as hard copy publishing, television or radio, give your head a shake. We have a responsibility to ensure our blog comments are clear and meets the reasonable guidelines and, yes, could face a legal test.  I say if you think transparency means you can say what you want, when you want fine, don’t complain about the outcome if one of the subjects of your commentary doesn’t agree with you. People have been talking about libel chill for years. While I think it is real in some instances I have yet to be convinced it has cut down on good and fair criticism and comment.

I don’t want blogs to get a permanent and pervasive “black eye” simply because there are a few bad apples in a very large orchard.

Being a browser of many news sources is a hazard in the communications business. It also means we get exposed, often from several different perspectives, to odd and unusual news stories. Or sometimes stories that are news and really shouldn’t be.