Law And More

Kentucky - Branding Shift from Coal to Tourism

In a proactive move during this era focused on climate change, an organization in Kentucky is shifting branding from coal to tourism.

In Odwyerpr.com, Kevin McCauley reports that Eastern Kentucky Pride, formed in 1997, is searching for a public relations firm to promote The Kentucky Wildlands.

If the promotional campaign is successful, it could provide the platform for Kentucky to shake off its Appalachian image. Although that ethos may play in nostaglia about the old days, it doesn't resonate with The Professional Class seeking out cool locations to live which are still affordable. That demographic is experimental. They have been willing to exit the once-prestigious coasts to try out where land is cheap and the neighbors friendly.

Tourism is a good place to start the reimagining of Kentucky. In fact, pent-up demand is so strong that MarketWatch reports on a possible shortage of hotel rooms in certain parts of the U.S.

But Kentucky doesn't have to worry about not being able to provide enough lodging space. It can embed in its tourism message how welcome Recreational Vehicles are. RVs represent their own kind of boom in wanderlust. In addition, the American Dream is changing from owning a house to being able to tool around in the RV, usually used. Work can be picked up along the way. Children can be homeschooled. Animal companions can find happiness.

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Reputation Restoration and Goldman Sachs - Now a Wrap for Image-Fixer Jake Siewert But New Branding Challenges Emerge

"Jake Siewert, who guided Goldman Sachs’ reputational recovery in the aftermath of the global financial meltdown, is joining Warburg Pincus." - Kevin McCauley, Odwyerpr.com, April 16, 2021.

In 2010, in Rolling Stone Matt Taibbi had positioned and packaged Goldman Sachs as "The Great American Bubble Machine." Taibbi contended:

"From tech stocks to high gas prices, Goldman Sachs has engineered every major market manipulation since the Great Depression ..."

Siewert took that on. His strategy was essentially to make Goldman Sachs transparent and to humanize its executives. Tools for that included podcasting and social media. Most of Wall Street shuns such openness. Siewert also healed relationships with much of media and with policymakers.

Now Siewert is moving on.

But new kinds of reputational trouble have arisen for Goldman Sachs. The media and internally its employees are focused on its culture. The rot is within.

In a recent edition of Vanity Fair, William Cohan turned over Goldman Sachs' ugly underbelly.

Within the organization, the beefs range from overwork to frat-boy values. In regard to the latter a former intern Patrick Blumenthal filed a lawsuit in 2020. In that lawsuit "Blumenthal v. Goldman Sachs, et al.," the plaintiff claims harm from hazing.

This could bite the leadership in the butt, just as it had in Deloitte UK and KPMG UK. Because of the contentions about a toxic culture, one executive stepped down from that particular position, another resigned from the company.

In western economies there is a movement against all forms of workplace bullying. 

Obviously, the Goldman Sachs' brand is in play, yet again. Heads could roll.

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Peloton Tread+ - Consumer Product Safety Commission Issues Urgent Warning about Danger to Children

Crisis management experts might have questions about how Peloton is responding to the danger warning issued today by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) about the Peloton Tread+.

As CNN Business reports, Peloton has not taken the Peloton Tread+ off the market. In addition it has not indicated that it is taking corrective action in how that fitness equipment which retails for about $4,295 operates.

The press release CPCS issued today starts off this way:

"The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is warning consumers about the danger of popular Peloton Tread+ exercise machine after multiple incidents of small children and a pet being injured beneath the machines. The Commission has found that the public health and safety requires this notice to warn the public quickly of the hazard.

"The urgent warning comes less than a month after Peloton itself released news of a child’s death by a Peloton Tread+ and CPSC’s announcement of an investigation into that incident."

The CPSC is aware of 39 incidents. Essentially, when the Tread+ is activated children can be sucked in by the rear rollers. In addition to the death there have been fractures and abrasions. As the press release says, pets are can also be in harm's way.

CNN Business notes:

"Peloton (PTON) blasted the CPSC in a release Saturday, calling its warning 'inaccurate and misleading.' Peloton said there's 'no reason' to stop using the machine if safety instructions, such as correctly using its safety key, are followed. It also said that the Tread+ should be kept away from children under 16 years old and pets 'at all times."

The future of the Peloton brand and the revenues for the business could depend on how this crisis is managed. So far, Peloton seems to not be following best practices in crisis communications. As the old adage hammers: It isn't what happens, it's how you handle it.

Those in the loop of both public relations and personal-injury law will be following this closely. 

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Prestigious NYC Prep-School Niche Disrupted - Push-back on Idelology, Tuition, Behavior by Leadership

"Head of elite NYC school Dalton [Jim Best] resigns after parents complain about 'obsessive' and 'wildly inappropriate' antiracism agenda that included reenactments of 'racist cops' in SCIENCE classes." - Jennifer Smith, Daily Mail, April 17, 2021.

Dalton in not alone among the prestigous private schools in New York City in which parents perceive liberalism has gone too far. There has also been push-back at Grace Church and Brearley. At Grace a math teacher went public in objecting to the ideology. At Brearley a father yanked his child out of the prep school because of that same thing.

But the issue of ideology may only be the tip of the iceberg. Parents are also enraged that the sticker price for tuition - over $50,000 - hasn't been reduced even though there haven't been in-person classes since March 2020. At universities there have been class-action lawsuits filed by students requesting discounts. They allege that remote instruction has been subpar.

In addition, in the prep-school niche there has also been turmoil because of alleged sexual misconduct. The head of Regis high school Rev. Daniel Lahart has stepped down. This had inflicted another blow on the branding of Roman Catholicism. Since the Boston Globe broke the story of clergy sexual abuse of boys in 2002, the Church has struggled with reputation restoration.

Why this disruption in the prep-school niche matters is because those prep schools are feeder pools for the next generation of leadership in capitalism. The graduates will stop off at elite universities for undergraduate degrees, then elite professional schools and eventually assume the power positions in American institutions. 

Now, there could be the beginning of a reconfiguration of where the current ruling class seeks socialization and an edge for their offspring. Other launching pads could replace the prep schools. 

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The Ranking Game Has Come to This: Temple Online B School's Former Dean Moshe Porat Indicted

"The indictment unsealed Friday charges Moshe Porat, 74, the former dean of Temple’s Fox School of Business and Management, in Philadelphia, with conspiracy and wire fraud for allegedly providing phony information to U.S. News & World Report between 2014 and 2018." - Patrick Thomas, The Wall Street Journal, April 16, 2021.

Two of Porat's subordinates at the time were also indicted. They were each charged with one count of conspiracy related to committing wire fraud.

Porat denies that allegations.

The cooked-up data about the online M.B.A. program focused on:

Number of students who had taken the Graduate Management Admission Test exam

Average work experience of students

Percentage of students enrolled part-time.

In 2018, the school notified U.S. News & World Report that the data had been manipulated. Soon after that, Porat was forced to leave. There were then federal and state investigations.

However, as the sayings go in law: The bell had been rung. The egg had been broken. Before this disclosure by the school, for four consecutive years that online program ranked number-one in the U.S. News & World Report ranking system. 

Students who enrolled in that particular program because of that ranking then had to deal with the reality that their alma mater was involved in a front-page media scandal. That could reduce the brand value of their degree. 

Anything to do  with rankings in higher education is big news, That's because higher education is in essence BigBusiness.

When rankings slip for any professional school, be it business or law, those in leadership could lose their jobs. When rankings increase that usually results in higher quality students applying, brandname professors accepting positions, more research funding and larger donations from alumni.

The pressure is intense. Therefore, if it is proved that Porat and his team fudged the numbers or if they take a plea deal, that would be no surprise. Rankings represent a high-stakes game.

Ironically, the ranking game itself had gotten into a pickle this year. That happened with how U.S. News & World Report ranked law schools. As Law.com reports, three times it had t0 change the rankings of law schools. That threw shade on its own branding. It also opened the door wider on a discussion of the ranking game itself. Should it be allowed to continue?

Earlier several elite business schools refused to submit data to a ranking organization. They claimed that COVID had disrupted too much for the numbers to reflect any reality.

Reflection: Is the ranking process itself in play?

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Liberty University Sues Its Former President Jerry Falwell Jr.

More shade is thrown both on the branding of conservative Liberty University and its former president Jerry Falwell Jr. 

That's because media outlets such as The Hill are running with the University's filing of a lawsuit in Virginia state court yesterday against Falwell. That University had been founded by Falwell's father in 1971. It stood as a symbol of the best of American conservative thought and behavior.

The litigation contends that Falwell withheld pertinent information from the board of trustees when negotiating his contract in 2019. The lawsuit has three counts: breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and statutory conspiracy.

The alleged concealment involved two matters. One was the extortion plot by the pool caretaker Giancarlo Granda who threatened to disclose details about an affair with Falwell's wife Becki. The other was about Falwell's alleged impairment by alcohol. It is contended that Falwell anticipated a scandal would break and he wanted to ensure a hefty severance package. 

The suit seeks $10 million in compensatory damages. In VA that can be tripled. There is also a request for punitive damages. 

Before the suit had been filed Falwell had resigned from his job. More recently so did his son Trey, who had served as vice president. The University is making no comment about the latter resignation.

What a branding mess.

The University looks foolish for getting into this high-profile pickle. 

Falwell probably is finished as a conservative leader. Among his errors of judgment had been appearing on a boat with his arm around a female not his wife and his trousers unzipped, with the underwear visible. 

Along the way in this saga, Falwell has sued the University of defamation but dropped the lawsuit, without explanation.

At one time he had extreme influence in the conservative movement. It has been said that he was able to motivate evangelicals to support the political aspirations of Donald Trump.

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Inept Attempt at Reputation Restoration - Hunter Biden's "Beautiful Things"

America is the land of second chances.

That ethos kicked in when that bunch of misfits from the old country came to New England to have another try at acceptance and material prosperity. Along the way those Puritans developed what was to be for centuries the most powerful economy in the world. 

So, it was predictable that the reputation-restoration niche would thrive in America.

O'Dwyer Public Relations published my article on how suspended Yale Law School professor Jed Rubenfeld could rebrand. Every now and then I receive calls from official reputation restoration firms about how I might help their clients. 

However, for every success - such as how Jimmy Carter repositioned and repackaged himself - there is plenty of failure. 

Among the latter could be First Son Hunter Biden. It might have been a mistake for him to use the strategy of publishing a book for redemption, forgiveness and a second chance. That was "Beautiful Things." As Daily Mail reports, in the first week of sales, only 10,638 copies have been sold. Future sales don't seem promising.

What Hunter should have done was something more hands-on activist and noble. Carter threw himself into global good deeds. Hunter could have organized a team and built irrigation facilities where there were none in a desolate part of planet earth. That should have proceeded on a low-profile basis. Then, 18 months later an international journalist stumbles upon the project. 

This inept book tactic, of course, makes Hunter's transformational work more difficult. 

In general, the odds are against salvation through book publishing. Not only does that approach tend to be inefficient. For instance, there is too much of a lag between conception and publication. In addition, social networks, social media and podcasting are where personal branding is made, destroyed, course corrected and reimagined. 

Small changes can trigger big success in your career and your business communications. Swing by for a complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

Law Firms Loop in with Clients' Values - Dawning of the ESG Era

Capitalism is softening, finally.

More and more corporations are going on record that their values transcend the bottom line. This is sometimes referred to as "The Triple Bottom Line."

It truly could be the coming of the ESG Era - that is, factored in are stakeholders such as employees, vendors, communities, planet earth and overall governance. Nerd Wallet provides an introduction to ESG investing. 

Part of that macro movement are micro initiatives such as Utah's Regulatory Sandbox. The big news in that is the launch of Law on Call, owned by non-lawyers. It makes legal services more accessible and affordable. That can be perceived as a threat to the traditional delivery of legal services in America. Providers ranging from BigLaw to solos could be affected.

Of course, venturing into social values is risky. That's what corporations such as Coca-Cola have discovered.

So, it's predictable, as Law.com reports, that law firms would loop into this corporate embrace of values which might be controversial. Some have already developed ESG practices. The focus of them is to help guide corporate clients through the maze of the legal, financial, public relations and political issues associated with a broadening of the stakeholder base. 

Blooomberg reports that PwC predicts that 60% of mutual funds will be ESG by 2025.

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Yale Law Professor Amy Chua aka Tiger Mom Needs Guidance in Crisis Management - The Urban Cockroach Phenomenon Dominates Her Brand

As many know, brandname law professor at Yale and iconic expert on parenting (Tiger Mom) Amy Chua had been reprimanded last week by her employer.

Essentially it had been a slap on the wrist: being stripped of the assignment to oversee a group of 1Ls next semester. Small stuff. 

Had Chua been trained in crisis management or had contracted with a public relations firm to position and package that negative development in her branding, she would have done two things. They are fundamentals in reputation restoration. 

The two musts in effective crisis communications are:

• Admit any part in what has been contended or proved to have transpired. The mea culpa humanizes. 

 

• Unless there is a need for continual briefings, lay low. Most negative developments blow over. Someone else or some other organization will be screwing up.

Instead, Chua sprung into a defensive mode. She issued this letter to colleagues. One would have expected someone trained in law - a profession that operates on language and nuance - not to have transmitted such as document.

Among other things, she contends she felt "bullied." In the Zoom meeting she demanded with the Yale Law powers that be she indicates she felt "degraded." 

Of course, as crisis-communications experts worth their salt would say, those moves following her lightweight censure have worsened the situation.

For example, influential Abovethelaw has run with these latest developments. Google loves ATL.

In short, what could be called the urban cockroach phenomenon has taken place. As anyone who has grown up in New York City or Jersey City, New Jersey knows, once one "roach" enters the space, many more will follow. Often it's impossible to "get rid of the roaches."

In this situation, alumni have come forward to refute Chua's defense. Expect more constituenices to creep onto the surface from where they had been in a safe resting state.

Here is the article I published in O'Dwyer Public Relations on how her husband Jed Rubenfeld could restore his own reputation. He had been suspended from teaching at Yale Law for two years. The reason had been alleged sexual misconduct. 

Likely, Chua will also require that kind of process of reputation restoration. Her brand is in play. It could be rescued if she takes the right steps. It could lose its entire equity if she continues making some very bad moves. 

Reflection: As Dan Goleman hammered, cognitive IQ has less to do with success that emotional intelligence.

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In Bridgegate, Bridget Kelly Got Off the Hook - Big Implications, Legal and Political

"In the New Jersey scandal known as Bridgegate, the high court ruled last year that a political-retribution scheme that involved crippling a town with traffic jams didn’t constitute federal fraud. The decision already has prompted the reversal of most charges in a high-profile insider-trading case, and could hurt prosecutors’ efforts to preserve convictions in a case that exposed ethical failures at one of the Big Four accounting firms." - Dave Michaels, The Wall Street Journal, April 12, 2021.

That U.S. Supreme Court ruling reversed the conviction of former aide to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie - Bridget Kelly.

In an earler trial she had been found to be a key player in the traffic jam on the George Washington bridge, created for political retaliation. However, amid all those legalities Christie himself had not been prosecuted. That made the Bridgegate scandal all the more high-profile. There was also sympathy with Kelly as a mother. It was difficult to buy in that she had orchestrated the plan without input from above. What political aide has that kind of authority?

SCOTUS had reviewed whether unsavory behavior constituted criminal fraud. What was determined had been this: Federal criminal fraud can only be ruled when the behavior is intended to obtain funds or material goods in a underhanded manner. 

As the legalities currently work their way through the legal system, the whole matter of the 2013 Bridgegate has been resurrected to bite Christie in the butt. His current political comeback can be derailed. For example, on "This Week" he attacked U.S. Joe Biden's infrastructure initiative. 

In response, reports Keith Griffith at the Daily Mail:

"Chris Christie has accused President Joe Biden of 'lying' about the contents of a massive infrastructure spending proposal -- but quickly faced questions about his own credentials on infrastructure from critics who recalled his infamous 'Bridgegate' scandal."

The social network Twitter went wild with pushback on Christie. Again, he may have become radioactive. This is at a time when the GOP is struggling with its post-Trump Administration identity. Also, with the Democrats in control of the White House and the U.S. House, myriad constituencies are focusing on making friends and influencing the liberals. In itself, that could leave a yesterday politico like Christie out of 2021 looping. The media outlets could begin ignoring him. The focus will be the new GOP players.

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