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Turn on any of the so-called investigative shows like Dateline or 20/20 almost every night and you can still see the classic PR drama unfold.  Some slimeball suspected of bilking old ladies out of their nest egg is hustling toward his car as a sweaty cameraman and frothing reporter chase close behind. “No comment. No comment” he says, hiding his face with one hand and searching for his keys with the other. 

Guilty or not, this guy’s fate is sealed. Who in their right mind would hire him after seeing that PR nightmare unfold? Sure, there are plenty of times when it’s in the client’s best interest to refrain from comment, or at least say very little. But the fact is, the days of mumbling ‘no comment’ as your best PR strategy are over.

Good PR today is about transparency.  Let’s look at a few celebrity examples on both sides. Meet your PR team of Bonds, Craig, Grant and Rose.  (That’s Barry, Senator Larry, Hugh, and Pete). These guys have a powerful PR message to deliver, so sit up straight, sharpen your pencil and pay attention.

I know, I know…believe me it’s not an easy thing for a guy to make a serious Hugh Grant reference. That’s why I’m throwing in a Pete Rose blast later. So what in the world can the dramedy player Grant teach us about PR? Truthfully I felt no need to make the connection either, until it was forced on me. It’s not like I spend free time thinking up new Hugh Grant angles. But the Mrs. and I cozied up recently to watch the latest installment in his cookie cutter collection, and then it hit me. This guy is rich. The ladies love him. He’s A-list Hollywood and a box-office cinch.  And as I said to my wife “Isn’t he the schmuck who got busted having sex with a prostitute in a parked car back in the day, while he was dating one of the most elegant women in the world?” Why wasn’t he relegated to the Surreal Life like all the other degenerate d-listers?

Because he did what so many fail to do…he owned his mistake and he saved his reputation. People are more likely to forgive the loveable screw-up than the bitter liar. He took his lumps and didn’t try to talk his way out of it (see Senator Larry Craig and his “wide-stance” story).  Grant protected his marketability.

He knows perception is truth in the marketplace. Look no further than Barry Bonds and Pete Rose, arguably the best two hitters in baseball history. Bonds just broke the most hallowed record in all of sports, and few people care, because he’s allowed himself to be branded a liar and a cheat. Some say he’s the greatest player ever. So why no funny commercials like Peyton Manning and LeBron James? Because no one likes him. His own team let him go, adios to one of the top five players in history just a couple of months after he became the new Home Run King. He’s not marketable outside of San Francisco, not because people think he took steroids, but because they think he hasn’t been honest about it.  Same with Rose, one of the most liked and respected guys in the game now just a trade show autograph hawk. Why? Because it took him 20 years to admit what everyone already knew, and in the process he lost any shred of respectability.  When he finally admitted that he bet on baseball, even then people were suspicious of his motives and the truth. Rose would be in the Hall of Fame today, and probably in a broadcast booth calling games, had he owned the mistake from day one. He didn’t lose his chance because he bet, he lost his chance because he lied.

Good PR no longers means thinking up 101 different ways to say the dog ate my homework. Good PR means using basic communication skills, a dose of common sense and technology to help bring positive attention to your story…be it launching a company or saving your reputation.

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