War Stories: When Business Trips Go Bad

As a consultant, client relationships are critical. Your client relationships are always front and center. So, with that in mind, there are certain phrases you never imagine saying to a client. On a recent business trip, I checked the following off the list:

• “I know we’re in the middle of an all day meeting, but would you mind taking me to a walk-in clinic?”
• “The doctor thinks I have chickenpox.”
• “I’m quarantined in Kansas City.”

 The Q word. Never good.

Here’s how it went down…

We were in Kansas City for two days of important meetings with our client, Karen (not her real name) and a business partner. I woke up for the first day of meetings with a slight fever. No time to be sick though, so I decided to take some Ibuprofen and gut out the meetings. I made it through about three and half hours of cold sweats and fever aches, before asking my client, who lives in the Kansas City area, if she could drop me by a walk-in clinic, so I could get a prescription for an antibiotic.

She suggested going to a local minute clinic at a pharmacy not far from our meetings. Embarrassed, I told Karen that she could drop me off and I could take a cab back to the meetings or hotel. She declined politely and said, “No, I’ll wait. I want to make sure you get taken care of.”

Forty-five minutes later, I get called in to see the nurses at the minute clinic. By this time, I had developed a rash on my chest. The nurses took one look at the rash and referred me to a walk-in. Karen, expecting a quick prescription and return to the meeting, took the additional trip to a walk-in in stride. “No problem, there’s one down the street.”

At the walk-in, trying to end my humiliation, I suggested, more like pleaded, to Karen again that she could drop me off and head back to the meetings, but no dice. Instead, she offered to go pick up lunch, while I was waiting to be seen.  She returns with a turkey sandwich and water. I finish half the sandwich before getting called back to see the doctor.

The doctor takes a look at my growing rash and calls in a colleague. They scratch their heads and leave the patient room to talk. A few minutes later, the doctor comes back.

“We think you have chickenpox.”

 This is chicken pox.  

The room is spinning and I’m pretty sure I’m in shock. This is already the worst day ever.

The doctor gives me a prescription and I head out to Karen’s car, where she’s been making calls and working off her smart phone. Her passenger window is open, and I stop about five feet from the car door because now I’m worried about being contagious and I have no idea if she has had chickenpox already. Karen surprises me again.

“Oh my. Well, get in the car; let’s get your prescription filled.” She’s had chickenpox and a shingles vaccine, so she’s not concerned. We head back to the pharmacy.

On the ride over, we start talking about repercussions. We have more questions than answers.

• Do we call the people we met with in the morning and let them know they’ve been exposed to chickenpox?...Of course, I have to. We call our colleague who is still at the meetings and she lets everyone know. Thankfully, everyone has had chickenpox or has been vaccinated.
• When will I be able to fly home? I call the airline. They say I need a doctor’s note. Doctors say it could be 7-10 days before I’m cleared. Great.
• Where am I going to stay? Karen offers to have me stay in her guest room at her house. I’m blown away and ashamed because I don’t think I would have made that offer. I politely decline. My aunt and uncle live in Kansas City, and they agree to host me at their house. Best thing to happen all day.

I haven’t told my wife yet what’s happening. I don’t want her to worry, so my plan is to call her once I am at my aunt and uncle’s house and can assure her that everything is fine. While I’m in line to get my prescription, the walk-in calls my cell phone. I let it go to voicemail as I am speaking with the pharmacist. The walk-in immediately calls my wife and tells her, “This is a walk-in in Kansas City. We’re trying to reach your husband. Can you provide us with his contact info?”

I get a text from my wife within minutes. “What the hell is going on? Are you okay?” This day just keeps getting better.

My client drops me off at the hotel and I head up to my room to pack. My aunt is on her way to pick me up. It’s a few minutes after 4 p.m. and I go to the front desk to check out of the hotel.

I get the bill from the front desk clerk. It’s for two nights. I only stayed one, so I ask why I’m being charged two nights. She says it’s past 4 p.m. and so they have to charge me a second night. The front desk clerk has no idea I have chickenpox. My head is spinning from the day’s events, so I pay the bill without making a fuss and make my way to the main lobby to wait for my aunt.

A few minutes pass and I come to my senses. There’s no way I am going to expense a second night back to my client who has already had to put up with my drama. I ask to speak to the manager. The manager, a young woman, walks from the back offices toward the front desk. As she comes around the front desk with a warm smile and reaching out to shake my hand, I notice she is a few months pregnant. Chickenpox and pregnant women should not mix, so I blurt out with a concerned look on my face, “Are you pregnant?”

She glares at me and curtly confirms that she is. I tell her I have chicken pox, which is why I am checking out early. She quickly arranged a refund for my second night. As she walked away, I looked at the front desk clerk and said, “That was awkward.” She just said, “Yes, yes it was.”

This was Monday. I spent the rest of the week itching and fighting off a fever at my aunt and uncle’s house. I was finally cleared to fly on Saturday.

 Nice place to visit, but don't want to be quarantined here.

It is times like these when client relationships are truly tested. Fortunately for me, my client handled this situation with class and grace – a true testament to her character.

Have you had a business trip go bad? Does it top chickenpox in Kansas City? Please share your war story.

The Antioxidant Dilemma

From the intersection of communications, policy and food, Goldminds welcomes a guest blog post from Michael DeAngelis, MS, MPH, RD, Vice President/Nutrition Director of Porter Novelli's Food and Nutrition Practice.

********Antioxidants and Consumers: Mix with Caution

If you turn on any news program, open any magazine or click on any informational web site, you will find a story, a tip or an expose on nutrition.  As a result, there is an unprecedented awareness of nutrition topics among consumers.  Yet, according to a consumer panel at the Institute of Food Technologists Wellness 2012 conference, consumers know that they should eat more fruits, veggies and whole grains and watch out for saturated fat and sodium. 

However, while they were familiar with the terms omega-3, probiotics and antioxidants, they had no idea what they actually did that made them so healthy.  This is a shocking insight since market data shows that consumers are buying up acai, mangosteen, alpha lipoic acid and CoQ10 among other antioxidant drinks and supplements to reap their apparently unknown benefits.

Antioxidants have been met with quite a bit of controversy over the years.  First, there has been great debate about how to test for antioxidant activity, quantity and efficacy.  On top of that, tying antioxidants to a real benefit has been elusive in many instances, and that has cast a shadow on antioxidants.  The most popular activity test has been the ORAC, but this only characterizes antioxidant activity in a test tube.  Dr. Carl Keen, University of California, Davis, firmly believes that testing the antioxidants in a food before it is consumed is irrelevant and that we have to be specific about the benefits of antioxidants.  These benefits include relaxing artery walls, preventing oxidation of LDL cholesterol and even reducing inflammation.

This antioxidant discussion has significant implications for the food and nutrition industry.  First, characterizing the antioxidant activity in a test tube won’t cut it anymore.  Consumers and soon regulators will want to know how these antioxidants are active in the human body.  Furthermore, consumers want specific benefits that will motivate them to consume antioxidant products and with the recent actions of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) it is more likely that U.S. regulators will require specificity in claims. 

And, speaking of claims, the industry will have to tread lightly with making claims since the FDA will likely not agree with any company’s assertion that they have enough human data for a health claim. The message is clear; the nutrition world is changing, so how we think and communicate about antioxidants must also change. With the industry’s leadership and innovation, someday consumers will be able to say exactly what antioxidants have done for them lately. 

Sources:

What do antioxidants do? Absolutely no idea, says IFT consumer panel

Professor: Term ‘antioxidant’ should be banished from food labels

Think Before You Post: PR Fundamentals Still Apply

If you’ve never heard of the website “STFU, Parents,” I highly encourage you to check it out, even if you aren’t a parent yourself. It’s a compendium of actual Facebook postings, written by parents, about the various exploits of their children, and is submission-based (most likely sent in by the Facebook friends of these posters). The writer of the blog pokes fun at these postings, and explains it as “a site that serves as a guide for parents on what NOT to post about their kids as well as a forum for non-parents to vent about their TMI-related frustrations.”

As Facebook users (we are PR people, after all, we’re required to have accounts, right?), I’m sure we all know one of “those” parents and cringe when we read their posts about diaper blowouts and toddler tantrums. Reading “STFU, Parents” definitely has me thinking twice about posting anything regarding my own toddler son. I’ve almost become paranoid about it and will rarely post anything at all. This same paranoia should apply with clients.

Since we are often in the position of counseling our clients on what and when to share information with their Facebook fans, or acting as their community managers, it’s important to keep in mind that Facebook and other social media platforms are communications tools, so fundamental communications planning questions still apply.

1. What is your objective? What are you hoping to get out of this status posting? Do you want people to “Like” you, are you looking for more “Friends?” If you are trying to gain more followers, make sure what you are posting will ensure they will continue “liking” you and not want to hide your status posts.
2. Who is your target audience? Who are you ultimately trying to engage? If your status posting is what grabs people into following you, make it count and make it relevant for those readers.
3. What’s your message and what’s the best medium for that message? What kind of information are you attempting to post? Is it lighthearted, like a contest, fun fact, or other? Or more serious, like a product recall? Facebook may not be the most appropriate venue depending on the message.
4. If not a news announcement, is it worth posting? Is it relevant or interesting? Don’t just post for the sake of posting. Again, make it count!

Happy Posting!

Porter Novelli Brings Us the Action from SXSWi

Have you been watching? A team of Porter Novelli digital/social experts, including folks from the UK, New York, Seattle, Australia, Brussels and Prague, has made a big splash at the South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) Conference. Our team of rogue bloggers has been deep in the trenches – making the rounds, staking out the panels, events and appearances that matter, taking notes on the hot topics that have the social media world abuzz and providing insight into what has become an industry-shaping (and overwhelming!) event.  The blog posts have been fast and furious, and cover a plethora of topics. Here’s a sampling of some of my favorites:

• Helen Nowicka, UK Head of digital and social media strategist posted Guy Kawasaki and Vic Gundotra Debate Google+. She reports that while Kawasaki is a noted fan of Google+, he challenged Gundotra on user engagement and influencer feedback. http://bit.ly/ySdHW7

• In Kawasaki: Growing a Tree Takes Time, Danny Devriendt, EVP, digital and social media strategist, interviews Guy Kawasaki who talks about Google+ and his belief that Google+ is being unfairly criticized. http://bit.ly/ygoEJ2

• In SXSW 2012: 10 Things I Learned, Helen Nowicka shares her top 10 takeaways from SXSWi. http://blog.porternovelli.com/2012/03/13/sxsw-2012-10-things-i-learned/

• In Enterprise Social: C-Levels Are Ready, We Can Help, Matt Ashworth, vice president, technology from Seattle notes that organizations are realizing that their staffs can be more productive if allowed to use their mobile devices to interact on social platforms with colleagues about the work they’re doing. http://bit.ly/yKg2UG

• In Humor in B2B: The Business Case for Nonsense, Matt reported from a session by Tim Washer, a stand-up comedian and senior marketing manager at Cisco, who noted that humor has a place even in the world of B2B. http://bit.ly/wTvMxt

• Mandy Griffiths, account manager and digital and social media strategist from our Melbourne, Australia office posted Throw Away the Approval Ratings and Become a Better Brand. She attended a session from the author of The Power of the Unpopular arguing that to be successful, brands must focus on personality, accessibility, sharability and profitability. http://bit.ly/xXxn2X

• In Reports from the Periphery 2: Unicorns Are an Endangered Species, Christopher Barger, SVP, Global Programs at Voce Communications talks about measurement tools and the importance of demonstrating ROI and the continued integration of social strategy with business strategy. http://bit.ly/woeLS5

• Marta Majewska, vice president, digital and social media strategist in EMEA, attended a session hosted by author David Meerman Scott on “news jacking” – how to redirect attention and buzz from breaking news to your own brand’s advantage, detailed in her post Newsjacking: Take the Opportunity of Now! http://bit.ly/wnwbUf.

• In News Crowdsourcing 4.0, Marta talks about the newly launched news-crowdsourding app NewsiT.  http://bit.ly/wjY0Qz

• In Curators are the new Superheroes, Marta interviews Steve Rosenbaum, author of Curation Nation and CEO of Magnify.net. http://bit.ly/x5VqQ9

• In Enterprise Social: C-Levels Are Ready, We Can Help, Matt Ashworth, vice president, technology from Seattle notes that organizations are realizing that their staffs can be more productive if allowed to use their mobile devices to interact on social platforms with colleagues about the work they’re doing. http://bit.ly/yKg2UG 

• In Humor in B2B: The Business Case for Nonsense, Matt reported from a session by Tim Washer, a stand-up comedian and senior marketing manager at Cisco, who noted that humor has a place even in the world of B2B. http://bit.ly/wTvMxt

• In Pinterest: Show Me Your Board and I’ll Tell You Who You Are, Marta notes the future of Pinterest may bring new profiles, influencer identification, better content attribution and platform expansion. http://bit.ly/zFJa3U

• In Augmented Reality: Life As It Is, Only Better, Danny Devriendt, EVP, digital and social media strategist, EMEA, talks about the expanding importance of location and contextual  information.  http://bit.ly/yTAqHf

Holiday tamales and PR gab

Apparently, part of the tradition of making holiday tamales is the opportunity to gossip with family and friends during the elaborate process of making the tasty treats. At least, that’s what Chef Sharon told us as we participated in Sur La Table’s Holiday Tamale cooking class this week.

It was our holiday outing for 2011 and this little morsel of info gave the day some added relevance – a group of PR pros gathering to gossip over great food.  Who knew that masa and marcomm chit chat blended so well? And on that note, kudos to the marketing chef at Sur La Table for creating the cooking classes. They are a great marketing tool – quite a few of the class participants purchased items by the end of the day.

 Our team with Chef Sharon. Can you recognize the Goldminds authors?

Beyond the shared experience of creating some truly amazing tamales, including classic shredded pork with guajillo-pineapple sauce, Oaxacan chicken with green chile-tomatillo sauce and vegetarian tamales with poblanos and cotija cheese, we learned the proper way to hold a knife while dicing vegetables as well as a few tricks on how to blister  chiles and peel garlic using a garlic peeler.  Turned out the garlic peeler was a bit over my head though… somehow I ended up smashing the garlic to pieces every time. But, others in our group used it with great success!

All in all, a great day. Of course, the best part is none of us had to clean up the kitchen. Hope your holiday party was equally as fun and delicious!