I have a pair of rose-colored glasses. I keep them in my car in the too-convenient junk compartment between the front seats. I found them while driving into work today - dusty, but otherwise usable. Here’s why. When I take them off and look with my own eyes will I still see it this way? Maybe? Thoughts?

Anyone who’s ever been deeply involved in the freight transportation industry knows that it’s not only about tractors and trailers. Whereas that is where, excuse the expression, the rubber meets the road, a lot of creativity - in all its manifestations - is involved in the process of getting freight from point A to point B to customers’ satisfaction. Engineering, industrial design and, yes, marketing, are all part of the equation.

Con-way Freight used a bit of all these things to create TrueLTL, a new way of thinking about the way companies ship heavy freight. TrueLTL is game-changing. Not only does the service dramatically reduce shipping costs for heavier freight, it also reduces waste (meaning not-so-full trucks), which is good for everyone. TrueLTL represents a fundamental rethinking of the core assumptions the industry has been working under for decades.

And like all revolutionary things, there’s a blog dedicated to it. And like all good blogs, it includes new, interesting and entertaining ways to discuss the topic at hand, in this case trucking. In it you will read references to ketchup, Federalism, summer camp, kiwi and clown cars, to name a few. (Reminder to readers: this is a blog about freight transportation!) And why not?? Con-way Freight, appropriately, is amping the dialogue in the industry. It’s learning to talk to, and sell customers in innovative ways. And that’s how you win.

So in that spirit, here’s the latest TrueLTL blog posting. Think Bon Jovi. If you don’t feel like linking over, here are the new-to-you lyrics of (You Want To) Make A Memory. Slow dancing is permitted.

Hello again, my consignee

We will be there between 1 and 3

Your shipment’s fine, and we’re on-time

And we promise no surprising fees.

—

We’ve been calling on you for a while

Have we earned your trust in this trial?

We’re working hard so we can be

The big winner in your RFP

—

If you don’t know if you should place

All of your business with Con-way Freight

You can just, leave the waste out of your network, you see

You wanna build some density.

—

I dug up this old pricing tariff

Look at all those fees we had

We didn’t want your larger freight

‘Cause we thought we couldn’t operate

—

If you say now “What’s the catch?”

If  you’re wondering “Hey, Who else will match”?

You wanna build some density.

—

You wanna drive fewer miles.

When we all collaborate you’ll see

All the waste we’ll eliminate

You wanna build some density.

—

If you don’t know if you should place

All of your business with Con-way Freight

You can just, leave the waste out of your network, you see.

You wanna build some density

—

You wanna drive fewer miles

When we all collaborate you’ll see

All the waste we’ll eliminate

You wanna build some density

—

You wanna build some density

This is a post about the three basic rules of crisis communications and how a week just doesn’t go by these days (or so it seems) in which we aren’t witness to either complete disregard for, or blatant violation of, these PR basics.

The rules are:

1. Tell the truth

2. Tell it all

3. Tell it now

Easy to remember. Easy to say. Not so easy to follow, evidently. I haven’t cared much about some of the more recent and notable examples of companies, politicians and athletes (and their PR firms) who don’t seem to know or remember these rules because, frankly, a Governor disappearing on the Appalachian Trail or to Argentina or to the moon or wherever with his mistress just isn’t that interesting to me.

That was until last week. Last week was a sad one for Red Sox Nation. Boston Red Sox DH, clubhouse leader, ninth-inning hero, and all-around mensch David Ortiz was implicated as a user of performance enhancing drugs in the 2003 investigation led by Former Secretary of State George Mitchell. Big Papi was on the list! NOOoooooo …

[pause here to gather myself]

See, I’m a sports fan. Among professional sports I am a baseball fan first. And to me there is only the Boston Red Sox. I am a lifelong citizen of the Nation. My family is multi-generational that way. My grandfather, an immigrant to this country in 1919, embraced baseball and the Red Sox almost immediately as a way to Americanize himself. Both my parents grew up in Western Massachusetts, a stronghold of the Fenway Faithful. My wife’s family is from Boston’s South Shore … ’nuff said. If nothing else, damn it, my kids are going follow suit. My first live experience with professional baseball was at Game 2 of the ‘75 World Series (my father, grandfather, cousin and me — Sox lost 3-2 with a long rain delay. Didn’t care. At all.) We live in Red Sox country and most of us at KG Partners are fans. Yes, sadly, we have a few followers of the soulless, evil empire (the one with the new soulless, overpriced stadium a couple hundred miles southwest of here). For this we make them feel pretty bad about themselves. That’s a matter of policy (see chapter three of our employee handbook).

Speaking of the Yankees, the same thing happened to Alex Rodriguez earlier this year. That was a big deal too, but it was tempered by the fact that most baseball fans already see A-Rod as, well, a punk. Guilty before proven innocent. That’s what happens when you go on “60 Minutes”, deny it, then get caught and have to admit it. Manny Ramirez, Papi’s teammate and partner in their 3-4 power combo for all those years was also implicated in the same leak last week. But, nothing but a collective yawn could be heard in New England after that news (Manny left Boston last year on not-so-friendly terms with fans and was caught red-handed for steroid use earlier this season.)

But Ortiz? How could this be? He’s one of the good guys. A straight shooter, right? Never pimped his run around the bases no matter how dramatic the homer. Never mouthed off. Never complained about playing hurt. It is very, very (very) hard to become a “favorite” sports figure in Boston, but Ortiz was able to pull it off — something to do with helping his team win not one, but two World Series titles after an 86-year drought.

Now they have me. I’m paying full attention to this scandal. I rifle each morning through three newspapers for more reporting and analysis on the story, watch local, national and cable news, scour the Internet … maybe waiting for the report to be rescinded by The New York Times (riiiiiight). And, did I really think the hometown hero would actually stand up and: a. tell the truth, b. tell it all, and c. tell it now? I was kinda hoping….

Back to Earth.

Only David Ortiz (and maybe his lawyers and suppliers) know for sure what he did or did not do. It’s simple - he either did or he didn’t take steroids. It’s one or the other. No third choice. David Ortiz, just like every other player in the same situation, has only two options: tell the truth and come clean, or don’t. If he took steroids but says he didn’t then he’s lying (see rule #1). If he didn’t take steroids, then there’s really no lie to be told and he should volunteer to take an immediate drug test and be done with it (this is close to what he suggested to the media about steroid use in MLB before the season began this year … oops).

But here’s the thing: at a point in any crisis — which happens in about the amount of time it takes a baseball to get over the Green Monster — what really happened doesn’t quite matter. At that point, we all assume he did it. In fact, we’re sure he did and we get more convinced every time he opens his mouth and says something other than, “I didn’t do it and I will take a test right now to prove it.” Or, alternatively, “I did it, I’m sorry, and I will take a test right now to prove that I am now clean.”

Either way, this is how a PR crisis moves to its conclusion faster and with a much better result for all. That way we will all re-learn how to feel good (even great) about him, Baseball and ourselves. Any statement, especially the long ones, that says anything else only prolongs the issue (we want it to go away), ensures that the media will pay closer attention for a longer time (again, make it go way), and makes it harder to dig out of a reputational hole.

This is an issue that sports, government, business and our free-press society will be dealing with for a long time. Crisis victims and perpetrators alike all wish the media wouldn’t dwell on their misfortunes, mistakes and mismanagement as much as it likes to. We can help ourselves, however. Remember the conversation with your mom or dad when the baseball, Frisbee or, in my case, basketball went through the window? Even on that level we knew the outcome could be either unhappy but quick, or really unhappy and really long. It all depended on our choice to tell the truth, tell it all and tell it now. Or not. How soon we forget.

-Dave Goldberg

…comes in a convenient value pak along with 500 mg Karma tablets. Hypoallergenic too, which is good since no one wants to break out in hives while experiencing thier awakening.

“Manhattanhenge” is the biannual occurrence when the sun aligns with the east-west streets of Manhattan’s main street grid. Here’s the sun setting on July 13th down 42nd Street near the Chrysler Building. The term was coined by astrophysicist, author and visionary Neil deGrasse Tyson. Just something to get you thinking.

Photo is a Wall Street Journal Photo of the Day

Once in a (great) while we like to pat ourselves on the back. This is one of those times.

For the fifth year in a row, KG Partners walked away a big winner at the Transportation Marketing & Communications Association (TMCA) Annual Conference & Expo, held this year in La Jolla. This year we took home five TMCA Compass Awards for the work the agency produced with our client, Con-way (NYSE:CNW).

The Compass Awards recognize members of the North American transportation and logistics industry that have created innovative, results-oriented marketing and communications programs.

We must admit we’re starting to feel a bit like Roger Federer in that NetJets commercial…except for the jet part, we don’t have one of those.

Hardened criminals. Wounded soldiers. Cute puppies.

It’s one of the most incredible ideas. Ever. And a PR opportunity that you could wait an entire career for. Our client FetchDog, a fast-growing purveyor of dog products, dog advice and all-around good karma for dogs and owners, hooked up with Puppies Behind Bars (PBB), a non-profit that teaches prison inmates to train service dogs, specifically dogs that help rehabilitate returning soldiers with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), TBI (traumatic brain injury) and other injuries.

Q: What would happen if FetchDog sells a special Chewy Shoe toy … that looks like the sole of an army boot … that’s made by Vibram, the company that actually makes army boots … that’s colored red, white and blue … that raises money to train more dogs, rehabilitate more inmates and relieve the pain of more wounded soldiers?

A: Dog Tags, an almost inconceivably good program that actually makes us all feel a little better about the world we live in, and makes a number of very special citizens of our Republic feel a whole lot better, period. And not in some hard-to-imagine, theoretical way, but in a real, demonstrative and profound way. Money from every Chewy Shoe toy sold from the FetchDog catalog or on the FetchDog website goes to PBB to fund Dog Tags. If you don’t believe me, here’s a clip on Oprah.com — it’s a portion of a 20 minute segment from the show Oprah dedicated to the cause on May 15th, featuring longtime dog enthusiast and supporter Glenn Close. Watch it and the other Dog Tags clips on Oprah’s website or the PBB website, and let me know its impact on you.

KG Partners was thrilled to do this work for FetchDog and on behalf of PBB, an effort that also produced coverage on PeoplePets.com (literally the “Facebook” for dog owners), Military.com (the resource for service members, military families and veterans), and dozens of other outlets. We used a combination of traditional media relations and social media practices (here’s the SMR — social media release) to bring this story to life in a way that earned hundreds of millions of high-value impressions, started the Chewy Shoe toys flying off the shelves, and got thousands of dollars (and counting) flowing into this impressive program.

- Dave Goldberg

…but we all knew that shelling out billions to GM was a bad idea, didn’t we?. Check out my post from last November. Here’s today’s letter from Chairman Kent Kresa to shareholders. Shares are up today (as of 1:25 in the afternoon). They’re now worth $.87.

Is this good marketing or not?

Have you seen the Chevy Silverado ad on TV that ridicules the tailgate step on the Ford F-150? It has been running a lot lately during network prime time. The step is an optional piece of equipment on the Ford. It folds down from an open tailgate to help people get up onto, or down from, the bed of the truck (see the picture below right). It looks like a useful innovation with a hint of gimmick thrown in.

The :30 spot stars Howie Long — former Raiders defensive lineman, NFL Hall of Famer, commensurate pitchman and all around stud — a guy’s guy. The ad is set in what seems to be a lumberyard. The spot starts with Howie loading the back of his Chevy Silverado while noticing an overweight and not very surefooted guy scampering down from the bed of his F-150 using the aforementioned retractable step. It’s awkward. It’s a bit pathetic actually. If you saw this in real life you might feel compelled to lend him a hand. The whole scene makes you think of the fat kid on the playground. After stepping down onto the ground, he starts walking toward the cab of his truck when Howie, standing tall, says, “Hey buddy, you left your ‘man step’ down” in a sarcastic and patronizing tone. He may as well have said, “Hey fat wimpy boy, can’t climb down off the jungle gym??” The now-embarrassed Ford owner stops and again scampers back to the tailgate to fold up the step. The scene ends with Howie slamming shut (with emphasis) the tailgate of his truck. The gritty truck-ad voiceover then asks viewers if they’d rather have a Ford with a man step or (be a real man and) get a Chevy. Generally undifferentiated product attributes follow until the spot ends. Now that you’ve heard my long description, Here’s a link to the ad.

I can’t decide whether this ad is brilliantly targeted at guys who may in fact be the “Ford fatty” but desperately want to associate with the Howie Longs of the World, or simply low-road, schoolyard bullying? Is Chevy targeting bullies or the bullied? The ad taps into the currently popular vein of guy humor that sarcastically calls out feminine behavior or traits — all in good fun and usually reserved for bonding around the backyard grill, the pool table or ESPN. Example: “Hey, that’s a nice shirt, do they sell mens’ clothes there, too?”, or “I’ve always wanted a manbag like that.” Funny stuff, I have to admit. Calling the Ford tailgate feature a “man step” is the same thing … kinda funny.

But in this ad, the guy on the Ford isn’t portrayed as some yuppie suburbanite who owns a pickup because he’s playing to a working man’s hero self image. To the contrary, he’s portrayed as a guy who’s been working hard all day. He’s wearing work clothes and gloves and is clearly doing some heavy lifting. This guys works for a living. His problem, however, is that he’s not Howie Long (actually, Howie Long isn’t very much Howie Long these days either … look closely). He’s not six-foot-whatever and didn’t record 91.5 sacks over his career. Basically, Howie is being a $#!!&. I know that Howie is a paid actor here, but is this what Howie really wants his personal brand to stand for? If not for the man step, I think this guy would have fallen off the truck and broken a rib or something. I feel bad for the guy, not just for being “that guy” but for being ridiculed for it (by Howie who, I guarantee, hasn’t personally loaded his truck at a lumberyard since forever.)

So is this good, smart strategy on GM’s part, or will it backfire? Seems there’s a lot of that at GM these days.

- Dave Goldberg

When I was a little kid I used to visit my father at work from time to time. He’s an oral and maxillofacial surgeon (retired) in Hartford, Conn. There was a pharmacy (Gillette Pharmacy) on the first floor of the professional building where he had his office at the time. He’d take me there for lunch (remember the lunch counter?). I distinctly remember that upon walking in he and the pharmacists would greet each other warmly. There was a relationship there. As a physician, he valued the pharmacist for his part in what we today call “the health care continuum” — in this case the natural triad of patient-doctor-pharmacist. This made sense since my father more often than not would refer a patient, for whom he had just written a prescription, to the pharmacy downstairs. Remember, back then there were neither drive-through windows, nor on line or phone ordering…just illegible handwriting on prescription pads. These were his patients. Knowing and trusting the pharmacist who would dispense drugs and provide advice to his patients was natural (today we call this a “best practice”).

Fast forward 20 years and I’m visiting my soon-to-be father-in-law, a pharmacist (retired), at his pharmacy (Colonial Pharmacy) in Cohasset, Mass. While I’m there I’m watching him engage with his customers. Not just in a friendly way, but in a manner that conveyed that a strong patient-pharmacist relationship was present, even if he didn’t know them personally. He took his job seriously. These customers came to him because they trusted him and his staff to fulfill not just a bottle of pills, but a promise that their health was in good hands.

Ancient history you say? Not really.

The pendulum is swinging back. We’ve all become accustomed to the pharmacy-as-department store model of care. Twenty thousand square feet of, well, everything. This is where you can pick up your amoxicillin — and on your long walk back to the entrance — a case of Slim-Fast, a beach chair, Halloween candy (in season) and some windshield washer fluid. These stores are built for your convenience and that’s not a bad thing. But ask the person working the pharmacy counter (who may or may not be an actual licensed pharmacist) a question such as, “should I take these with a full stomach?” and (this happens to me all the time) the person pulls the bottle out of the little white bag, lowers the reading glasses and scans the bottle’s label for the answer. I can read, too. Try a more complicated question about drug interactions or nutritional support and, well, you get the picture.

Trained, licensed pharmacists are all capable of doing an excellent job based on their extensive schooling, annual continuing education requirements and good ‘ole experience. They are all competent professionals who are taught that patient care is their prime directive. The issue isn’t the pharmacist but, rather, the pharmacy. Modern, big-box pharmacies are less about patient health than about selling higher-margin products, as well as measuring sales per square foot, customer conversion rates, inventory turn and other retail metrics. The actual pharmacy, not so conveniently located more than a Randy Moss touchdown catch away from the entrance, is a loss-leader. Margins on prescription drugs are slim, if not negative. Unfortunately, therefore, a pharmacy counter configured for high-volume, quick-turnaround, low-cost customer interactions follows.

Enter KG Partners’ client Apothecary By Design, a Pharmacy that is rewriting (or perhaps renewing) the book on the category. Their model, at its core, is simple: put the patient first and provide products, services and advice that puts pharmacies back in their rightful and necessary place in the aforementioned triad — but in a very modern way (we’re not talking about Mr. Gower’s pharmacy here from “It’s a Wonderful Life.”) Apothecary By Design is a pharmacy built to work with today’s realities. That is, today’s health concerns, lifestyles, medical establishment, payor structure and, as it turns out, expectations of convenience.

They are a pharmacy that puts patients first, offering proactive advice about anything within the realm of the pharmacists’ training, which is extensive. They offer nutritional advice as well as nutriceutical products that fully support patients’ drug regimens (their pharmacists are cross-trained in nutrition, as a matter of fact). They have a state-of-the art compounding room to fulfill the resurgent demand of both physicians and patients for these services. They also have one of the best coffee bars in Southern Maine — a new take on the lunch counter concept. And, like the pharmacy I used to visit with my father, they are on the first floor of a major medical building (the “InterMed” building in Portland.)

Apothecary By Design is planting a flag and taking the world of pharmacology by storm. They are smart, they are dedicated and, guess what … they are busy! This is working. We’ll all be the better for it, too.

-Dave Goldberg

Here are a couple of ads we’ve created for them: