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Learn to pitch better stories in just two minutes

2010-07-18T02:09:00.002-04:00

Great video of AP reporters sharing what they expect from a media pitch.

What is the best day to send out a release?

2010-07-15T11:40:00.004-04:00

What's the best day to send a press release? That's the question posed and answered (sort of) by Jeremy Porter on Ragan.com.

Like the answer to most general questions on PR, the answer is "it depends." And that's basically the answer Jeremy received, based on the wide variety of responses to his Twitter poll on the topic. Jeremy includes 10 great tips to help you make your decision.

My favorite: Figure out where you'd like your news to appear. I think that is one of the most overlooked considerations. If you are targeting dailies, the question is what time of day. If you are going after weeklies, what day of the week. Monthlies... Monthlies? If you're considering a monthly is it really news?

In addition to his advice, I would offer that it's best to know the deadlines of your target outlets and build in time for the reporters to react. Most will need to do some additional reporting before writing on your pitch. They won't be inclined to invest the energy if they are up against a deadline.

Another option to consider is the pre-release. Depending on the news value, you could offer your story to a publication to cover before you issue the release. Make sure you have an agreement on when they would publish their story. Most people go for the same day of the release or maybe even a day before. The exclusive news scoop is always appealing to journalists. Another benefit of the pre-release, when the story runs, other (non-competing publications) might be inclined to give your release a second look.

Finally, with most releases and stories living forever on the web, the day it crosses the wire might not be as important as making sure it can be useful over time -- that includes content as well as keywords.

Action Plan - Using your media list of favorite journalists (I'm sure you have one), ask reporters for their deadlines and when they need information to consider it for publication. I'm sure you'll see some trends emerge for your industry. In other words, consider your audience. That's the best way to determine any communications decision. Other than that, I'll have to go with 'it depends.'

Why blaming your customer is a bad idea (Yes, I actually have to explain this to CafePress)

2010-07-06T16:12:00.004-04:00

This is a rant disguised as PR advice.

I presented CafePress.com with a problem, and they responded with their policy. That’s poor PR and a pet peeve from my perspective. Alliteration aside, here’s what went down and what we might learn from it.

I have a store at CafePress that sells my awesome framed pictures. :-) Just the other day, CafePress congratulated me on a sale, but I noticed it was at a lower price than I’d offered. A quick search revealed that I had the same product in two locations, one at my price and another at a lower price. Guess which one was selling? (No, the problem isn’t my pricing. I choose not to give my work away.)

I asked CafePress ‘what gives?’ Here’s a synopsis of the response I received from Crystal R:

CafePress started a new marketing structure that takes shop owners' products and sells them in a different part of the site for less money. Naturally, we’ll earn the commission on the lower-priced sale.

Here’s the part that got me: Crystal “apologized if I missed the notice that was sent to all shopkeepers when this policy change was implemented.”

I was dutifully accepting my chastisement for not reading my emails when I found this nestled deep in the new policy:

“We realize that different pricing for the same product in the Marketplace, and in your shops, could cause customer confusion. We are working on a solution for customers to quickly see, within the Marketplace, other designs and products you offer. Look for these changes in the upcoming months.”

There's the problem, Crystal!!! (I hate exclamation points, but I had to...cuz I’m actually screaming) It’s not that I missed your notice, it’s that your policy created the problem. Shouldn't you have found a solution BEFORE you rolled out your new Marketplace?

In all fairness, Crystal did open her email by apologizing for any confusion they caused... before sending me the policy that acknowledges the policy could cause confusion.

It’s like my other pet peeve -- businesses that put you on hold and apologize that you called when there is a high volume of calls. The problem isn’t high volume, it’s inadequate staffing. If you know that there is a high volume of calls between 12-2, hire enough employees to handle the surge. I don't care when anyone else calls.

Ok, enough with the rants. What can we learn from them?

As a PR practitioner, I often found myself drafting responses to disgruntled customers. Here are a few principles I picked up along the way.

1) Answer the question. I asked why the same item in my store was selling for two different prices on the site. I’m sure I received a blanket response that they send to every similar complaint. I remember doing the same thing when I was in her shoes. I’d march my extremely well-written response (I thought) into my boss and wait for her obvious kudos and approval. She’d then ask, ‘what was the question, Lynford? Did you answer the real question?’

The question isn’t always explicit. You sometimes have to dig beyond the words to find the real pain point. My complaint wasn’t with CafePress’ change in policy. I was annoyed because they lowered the prices of my products and left it to me to opt out of their decision. A response that doesn’t address the real customer problem won’t be satisfying. You'll check the box but miss the opportunity to solve the problem.

2) Customers don’t care about YOUR policies; we care about OUR problems. I’m sure you’ve studied the complaints, identified trends and implemented a new solution. When you present it, always remember to frame it in the customer experience. That is how we relate to your product and services. Policies should be for internal use, not as a shield for poor decisions.

3) Don’t make customer opt out of important decisions. Haven’t we learned this from Facebook and AOL yet? If it affects my money or my privacy, let me make the decision to opt in. You earn no loyalty from sneaking me into a situation I would not have chosen.

Bottom line: if you create a policy that pisses me off, I don't care that it's your policy. I don't care that I missed the email, and I certainly don't care that you apologized for something *I* did.

How a Rolling Stone crushed the general, tips to help you avoid getting squashed, too

2010-06-28T22:19:00.008-04:00

He shoulda seen it coming. That’s what I thought when I learned a Rolling Stone feature cost Gen. Stanley McChrystal his job. You probably thought it, too.

Why didn’t the general or his staff see warning signs that were just a Google search away? They forgot the basics of media relations. Perhaps these simple tips might have helped.

TIP -- Always do background research on reporters -- especially those you don’t know.

Even Michael Hastings, the author of the Rolling Stone feature Runaway General, agrees. In October 2008, Hastings wrote an article for GQ titled Hack: Confessions of a Presidential Campaign Reporter.

No more than six paragraphs into the article, he drops these gems:

Objectivity is a fallacy. In campaign reporting....reporters aren’t just covering the story, they’re part of it--influencing outcomes, setting expectations, framing candidates--and despite what they tell themselves, it’s impossible to both be part of the action and report on it objectively.

But that’s not the good part. Hastings displays the kind of candor you expect from tell-all books.

You pretend to be friendly and nonthreatening, and over time you “build trust,” which everybody involved knows is an illusion. If the time comes, if your editor calls for it, you’re supposed to f@#k them over.

Nice.

They shoulda known better. That’s what Hastings told Howard Kurtz on CNN’s Reliable Sources.

I’m pretty transparent right? I wrote a piece explaining what journalists do. All they had to do was read that piece... I’ve been pretty transparent with my methods, and it was pretty easily accessible.

TIP --  Answer the obvious questions: Who is the reporter? What is her beat? What’s the tone of his articles? Any trend in her last five articles? What’s the reputation of the publication? Who is the publication’s audience?

Let’s call these questions the BFO (Blinding, Flashing, Obvious) Hastings Test.

TIP --  Find out how much the reporter knows about your topic, and do some basic educating before getting into the interview. Get this -- it improves the likelihood of an accurate story.

TIP --  Always provide background and context to reporters in writing. Stick fact sheets and overviews into their hands. Make it easy for them to get it and get it right.

TIP --  If a reporter isn’t invested in your industry or subject matter, she is more comfortable going for the sensational story.

I’m willing to bet that the general said similar things in front of other reporters -- they were just focused on reporting the war.

Lara Logan, CBS News chief foreign correspondent, admitted as much when Kurtz asked if there is an “unspoken agreement” that you’re not going to embarrass the troops by reporting insults and banter.

“Absolutely,” she said. “Yes... there is an element of trust.”

TIP --  Limit the amount of time and access you promise a journalist you don’t know. Allowing a virtual stranger to have days of full access to your principal is insane.

TIP --  Always assume you are on the record. Speaking on background and off the record should be used sparingly and only with reporters you know and trust. Even then, assume you are on the record.

Any of these basic tips could have alerted the general’s staff to potential danger. Any of them can help you get out of the way of a rolling stone.

Five questions that can keep your news release from being a dud

2010-06-24T11:26:00.002-04:00

Every now and then, a friend will send me an email with a news release attached. The note will say, “I drafted this release for blah blah blah. Would you mind looking it over and telling me what you think? Don’t spend a lot of time on it, just some overall suggestions.”

I’m sure plumbers get these kinds of emails about leaky faucets and accountants about taxes. My cousin, who is a lawyer, regularly gets them from me. “Would you mind reviewing this 50-page contract? Don’t spend a lot of time on it.”

I don’t mind the requests. I love what I do, and I love to help. (One of the reasons I started this blog.)

I usually ask my friends about five questions. They are the strategic issues that should guide you before you even start to write. Too often, they are questions the well intentioned do-it-yourselfers haven’t considered. Even so, knowing and understanding your responses to these questions are essential to effective news releases.

1) What do you want it to do?
This should be a given, but too many people invest time in news releases because they think it is the thing to do. I ask “in a perfect world, what would you want someone to do after they read your release?” Based on that answer, we can determine if we want the release to inform, persuade, or just make me aware of something. Do you even need to write a release? It might not be the right tool for your goal. Before you ever sit in front of your laptop or smugly on your iPad, you should be clear on what you want to accomplish.

2) Who are the six to 10 journalists you want to reach with your news release?
Most of us breathe a sigh of accomplishment when we see our release cross PRNewswire, PRWeb or any similar service. Put down the latte’. Your work has just begun. If you want to get news coverage, you should have identified the half dozen reporters who can best reach your audience and who are likely to write your story. Shame on you if you don’t know who they are yet. Find them and make them your best friends. In the mean time, forward your release with a note introducing yourself and your story. The reporters will say they didn’t see your email and ask you to resend. You’ll resend it, so they can actually read it. It’s a dance we have to do. Indulge them. Make sure it gets into their hands. Unless it’s breaking news, it usually won’t get their attention without your assistance.

3) Do you really need the media?
Way back at the turn of the decade, you’d craft your story, send it to every relevant journalist and pray that they’d report on it. I would regularly counsel clients in my professorial voice that if you want to reach an audience unfiltered, a news release might not be the right tool. In the generation of technology that’s evolved in the last 10 years, that rule no longer applies. The wide sweep of search engines and the omnipresent social media can help you bypass the media gatekeeper and go direct to your audience. The news release lives forever on the web, and with the right keywords, it will magically appear to people who are actually searching for what you have offer. Isn’t it a beautiful world?

4) What else can you use to support it?
We live in a multimedia rich world. Readers increasingly want pictures and videos to keep their interest. Reporters are hungry for those kinds of tools to help tell their stories. Today’s news releases can embed pictures, video, downloadable files. Find three things that help support the main message of your news release and send them out as a complete package. Don’t just tell your story, illustrate it.

5) How will you continue the conversation with your news release readers?
Today communication is about conversation. It’s cool to have people read your story. It’s infinitely better to have them choose to follow you and read all your stories. It’s better to build a relationship with them, so they will me more receptive to your continuing outreach. More importantly, it gives you an opportunity to listen. To know what is important to them. To hear what they are thinking about you. To continue what works and fix problems early. If you haven’t yet, it’s time to learn Twitter and Facebook business pages. If it makes sense, you should consider starting a blog. When you use them strategically, your news release becomes an introduction to begin a relationship. Without it, a shot into the dark.

What’s the point? Know why you are writing the release, and think beyond it.

Action plan: Create a check list of these five questions and any others you think about. Use it as you begin to plan any external communications product.

Has Toyota learned its lesson? They ask. I answer.

2010-04-20T07:46:00.002-04:00

Has Toyota learned its lesson? That's the question Ragan's PR Daily posed in this article. Toyota had just issued a statement -- they were temporarily suspending sales of the Lexus GX 460 SUV because it has an unusually high turnover risk.

Before I go any further, I need to disclose that I am a loyal Toyota driver. In the last 30 years, every car I've owned, save one, has been a Toyota. The engine fell out of my only transgression. I've been back on the bandwagon ever since. It hasn't been a blind loyalty; Toyotas have been truly reliable cars for me.

That said, it is painful for me to watch the free-fall of the brand. Things are so bad that simply disclosing another "suspension of sales" can generate the question, "Has Toyota learned its lesson?"

In Eugene Robinson's Feb. 5, 2010 commentary on the Toyota crisis, Robinson led with the example of a friend's Toyota that just would not die. In the end, his friend "drove it to the airport, removed the plates and walked away." This was the Toyota legacy.

Then there's the LA Times op-ed from Michael Fumento, whose wife broke her neck and crushed her skull in a horrible MR2 accident. If anyone has earned the right to be angry, it's Fumento. But for reasons too difficult for my mind to process, he is writing an opinion article in Toyota's defense. Michael Fumento says he bought another Toyota. God bless him. I'm not sure I'd be that generous.

Ok, Michael's account is the extreme. Agreed. It does make me wonder, however. Where are all the other stories of my fellow Toyota faithful -- those of us who have relied on our vehicles successfully for decades? Those stories might be out there, but I'm not seeing them.

Just to be clear, Toyota's ills cannot be undone by nostalgic reminiscing of us brand loyalists. Toyota still needs to recall vehicles, fix quality problems and return safe vehicles to the roads.

It'd be nice to know what steps are occurring on that front. It'd be good to see some proactive stories about how Toyota is attacking the problems aggressively -- assuming these things are happening.

I don't want to see statements released in response to a problem. I want to know how Toyota is addressing their problems before I read about a recall.

Once Toyota can assure the public that their vehicles are safe, a PR launch supporting that fact would be in order. (Oh yeah, kill the cheesy, fake factory, happy worker ads. Those are annoying and unconvincing.)

In the mean time, a statement that Toyota has suspended sales of more vehicles doesn't tell me that they've learned anything...either operationally or pubic relations wise.

I hope Toyota gets its act together soon. I'm still rooting for them, but they still have some learning to do.

Signed,

Former owner of a Carona, Carolla sport, Carolla, Camry and 4Runner. Current owner of a 4Runner Limited. Future owner of a Lexus.

Why silence was golden for Tiger

2010-04-10T17:00:00.001-04:00

I must admit that I was one of the many would-be pundits who opined that Tiger Woods made a colossal PR mistake -- he went mute after disclosing his affairs.

"Coward!" I scoffed indignantly. How is running and hiding for months an effective strategy? He's leaving a void that every armchair PR guy will definitely have to fill.

In hindsight, it might have served him well. Here are three reasons why:

1) He Who blasts last. I once heard Thom Mozloom from The M Network observe that in today's culture, it doesn't matter who screams loudest or longest. It only matters who speaks last. In that respect, Tiger could let all the experts exhaust their talking points knowing that he might eventually trump them.

2) Too big to fail. Let's face it, when you are worth a billion dollars in a sport like golf, there are a whole lotta people who literally can't afford to let you to fail. The sport of golf needed Tiger, so few were willing to go too far out on a limb to undermine him. Tiger could afford to wait out the media because he could count on the sport to not abandon him completely.

3) He still controlled the narrative. It's no accident that his first news conference was right before he played in the Masters. Everyone loves a comeback story, so Tiger is giving them one. He returns to one of the biggest stages in golf to the great anticipation of the faithful and the curious. Winning will quiet a host of critics. Donning the green jacket will create a whole new storyline. The old adoration and fawning won't be far behind. Tiger is setting the stage for the ultimate comeback story.

"A Crisis Well Managed is a Tale of Redemption," says Eric Dezenhall in his book, "Damage Control." Tiger will eventually find his redemption, and he didn't even have to feed the insatiable media beast to do it.

A View on Social Media Trends for 2010

2010-01-28T14:27:00.001-05:00

It seems that businesses are still generally struggling with getting the most strategic value from social media tools. I've been seeing some interesting results in a campaign I am currently working. Probably not at liberty to share yet, but this slide show presents some interesting thoughts.

Social Media Trends for 2010

View more presentations from Jeremiah Owyang.

Fee for all? How airlines communicate the concept of baggage fees (Part 1 of 2)

2009-10-30T21:59:00.008-04:00

Annoyed about paying extra to check your bags? The airline industry’s response is simple, “get used to it.” They feel your pain, but they feel their own pain much more. That’s the message being communicated in recent articles on the trend.

Way back in 2008, when the price of gas inched toward $4 per gallon, a struggling airline industry needed a way to absorb the unforeseen fuel costs. Left with few choices, they began to implement surcharges — modest increases on ticket prices to help defray the added expenses.

As their costs kept creeping upward, airline execs worried that the fuel surcharges might not be enough to keep them afloat, so they silently began to tack on additional fees for passengers who checked their bags. It was a necessary move as the price of oil continued to escalate. Passengers grumbled, but they understood. It seemed reasonable for the airlines to recoup some of those fuel-related expenses. And in that concession, the airline fee nuisance was born.

Why did this happen?
To be fair, the airlines are in a bit of a pickle. After losing money by the gallon, carriers have finally found a revenue stream to stem their losses. The airlines call them ancillary or "unbundled" fees. You pay $10 to check a bag, $7 to snuggle in a blanket, or $10 to stretch out in an aisle seat. Add these to what now seems normal — fees for curbside check-in or snacks in flight, and you get the drift.

In nickels and dimes, the fees keep coming. Why? It’s the money, Stupid. In the first half of this year, airlines collected more than $2.3 billion for checked bags and canceled flights, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. For an industry already on its heels, the money was at first therapeutic and then addictive.

You could make an easy case that the fees are a necessary evil, but how are the airlines communicating that reality to a fee-weary public? In a random sample of articles written on the topic, very few have quotes from airline spokespersons. In many instances, industry analysts made the case for the fees but focused on the needs of the airlines rather than the customer experience.

Frustration builds, and the industry responds
In the Dallas Morning News, Will Ris, American Airlines senior vice president of government affairs, says that airlines are being unfairly criticized for trying to stem the continued losses.

“The fact is, the average customer travels at below the cost of providing the service. We lose money as an industry for every single passenger. That’s not something to be proud of, but something we need to explain,” said Ris.

“The irony is the perception is that we are ripping people off when the reality is we’re giving the service at below costs,” said Ris. “That has to end.”

Andrew Nocella, a US Airways Inc. executive was a little more direct. “I think these fees are here, and they’re here to stay,” he said.

Nocella’s views were probably influenced by the fact that US Airways brought in more than $100 million in fees for checked bags in the second quarter alone.

But you're paying it...
Despite the private grumblings, customers are paying the fees without much organized protest. “One way to look at it is: if the the customer will pay it and not attack you for doing it, why wouldn’t it stay?” said Michael Boyd, an aviation consultant. “It sounds a little bit harsh, but it’s true — they’re paying it, and they are not attacking you.”

Passengers might not be attacking, but they have shown that they won’t stomach just any increase. US Airways was forced to abandon their efforts to charge passengers $2 for soft drinks. They shut down the program in April but not before experiencing a loss in market share. In fact, the debacle obscured the fact that the airline had dramatically improved its operational reliability.

Continuing the US Airways frank tone, Doug Parker, the airline's CEO, frets that hotels can charge extravagantly for in-room water and soda while airlines cannot.

You just don't understand. The fees are actually good for you
If airlines are stuck with the reality of added fees, how should the companies communicate their positions? For starters, they can focus on the customer’s experience. We live in a ‘What’s In It For Me’ age, and customers need to understand the value proposition before they will cheerfully fork over more of their money.

“Fees are not bad if they’re properly communicated and adequately priced because unbundling allows consumers to pick and choose what they want,” says Jay Sorensen, IdeaWorks president.

Sorensen is further quoted in BusinessWeek saying in the past, all passengers subsidized the cost of onboard meals, regardless of whether they wanted food or not. Today, food costs are borne by those eating it. Charging separate fees also clarifies which products and services fliers value.

“Properly done, this is a good thing for consumers,” Sorensen says of ancillary charges.

Henry Harteveldt, a travel analyst with Forrester Research, makes a better argument. Instead of instituting fees for things that are already free, airlines would be wiser — and customers more receptive — if they introduced new products and services to enhance existing ones. Offering economy-class customers the option to pay for expedited baggage delivery or security lines, for example, could replace a supplemental fee for having a chair that reclines. “People feel ripped off when airlines look to save at the expense of customer experience.”

Because you're worth it
At the higher end of the scale, Dubai-based Emirates positions the company like luxury automobile makers communicate their top-of-the-line models.

“We must not hurt our product and our brand, and it’s very difficult to chase new revenue sources,” says Patrick Brannelly, vice president for passenger communications and visual services at Emirates. “To us, the best way to generate revenue is attracting people to our brand who appreciate quality.”

United Airlines tried a similar approach when it unveiled its Premier Baggage Subscription. For $249 a year, a passenger can check the first two bags and those of up to eight friends or family members included in the ticket purchase.

“If you’ve got a family of nine going to a family reunion, you cold save the $249 in one flight,” says United Airlines spokesperson Rahsaan Johnson in CNN Money.com.

United charges $15 for the first bag and $25 for the second, so in a more likely scenario, a single traveler would have to fly seven times in one year to save money with the subscription.

Would that passenger be less likely to gripe? It’s hard to tell conclusively, but one has to believe that even that modest positioning would be better received than having to swallow excessive fees with the with the curt but honest “deal with it.”

by Lynford Morton

Five ways airlines can make extra fees seem more palatable (Part 2 of 2)

2009-10-30T21:57:00.001-04:00

Nobody wants to hear that they will have to pay an extra $10 to check a bag to Cleveland, but what could the airlines have done to better communicate this new reality?

1. Communicate with customers what they should expect — It's a well-established principle of crisis communications, you deliver your own bad news first and fast. Passengers shouldn't find out about price increases at the ticket counter. I'm sure that airlines might have made some attempt to alert passengers, but I and many of the people traveling with me must have missed it. Agents should also be armed with consistent messaging to communicate the extra fees. A pleasant and plausible explanation can work wonders on a person's disposition.

Here's the thing, in any given week I receive a half dozen emails from airlines selling me cheap fairs from Denver to Deluth. I don't remember any also reminding me that I need to plan for extra fees. That's important information as it could significantly affect my travel budget.

2. Communicate directly with your loyalty customers — Treat the people who give you their loyalty with a little extra care. (While we are at it, they should also recognize the longevity of a passenger's loyalty. I've been a US Airways frequent flyer since 1993. I'd like that to count for something. Reward not just how much I flew this year but that I fly every year.) Back to loyalty customers — You have our emails, street addresses, and phone numbers. There are far too many ways to reach us for any price increase to be a surprise. Flood my inbox with messages introducing the new fees. Tell me when to expect them. Tell me how I might adjust the way I pack or plan to minimize the impact. Tell me why I should care. Tell me something.

3. Take advantage of the news interest — It was tough finding quotes from airline spokespersons with messages that positioned their brands in customer-friendly ways. Reporters are writing about this topic. It's important to millions of travelers. If you don't tell your story, then others will tell it for you. Even if you don't want to go on the record, organizations like the International Air Transport Association should be unleashed to discuss the industry’s viewpoint. Member airlines can fill in their specific messages.

4. Can't you find any streams of income that don't dig farther into my pockets? — I'm sure I'm not the first person to think about this, but why can't advertising work? I'd think advertisers would be happy to have access to a captive audience on a long flight. I would much rather stare at a Coca Cola logo for three hours than fork over another $20 for a bag or $10 for an aisle seat. Ads during the travel experience aren't a new thing. Every time I ride the Washington, DC, metro system, advertisements all across the train try to woo me. I step out the train and the ads escort me out of the station. So what? If it keeps my fares down, I'm all for it. I might even buy something they are selling.

5. Focus on exceptional customer service — For the cost of employee training, you can build the kind of loyalty that will sustain you through cost increases and tough times. Airlines are notorious for providing surly and discourteous service, especially during delays and other trying situations. I'm surprised how many employees don't realize that a simple apology goes a long way to soothing ruffled feathers. I mentioned that to a US Airways ticket agent once and got a scowl that made me question my loyalty. I might be willing to stomach extra fees if an airline made my experience exceptional.

What should they say? Be honest and use real-world examples: For instance, a sample message could say “it costs us $200 when we sell you a $150 ticket on a full flight. We can't keep that up for long, so we are putting the power in your hands to help us keep our and your fares down. For instance, the weight of a plane significantly affects our costs on a flight. If you help us keep the weight down by packing smaller bags that can fit on the plane, our expenses go down. We welcome your bags if you choose to bring them, but we have to charge more to defray the extra costs.”

I won't like that, but I might might stomach the reality much better.

If we believe the airlines current messages, fees are here to stay, and we can even expect more. It's not too late for airlines to tell us why.

by Lynford Morton

Why the armchair PR guy?

2009-10-29T21:37:00.003-04:00

If you are familiar with the term 'armchair quarterback,' then you get it.

arm·chair quarter·back (plural arm·chair quar·ter·backs)

Definition:

1. viewer who criticizes conduct of games: somebody who is certain that he or she can make better calls than the coaches or players while watching a competitive sport on television

2. giver of unwanted advice: somebody who offers unwanted advice about how to do something or tries to supervise an activity without being asked

Substitute PR Guy for quarterback, and you have me. I provide commentary and analysis based on available information in the media. I have no inside knowledge of any of the issues I analyze. It is entirely possible that a company's actions could be motivated by factors unknown to me. It doesn't really matter. This is how it looks to the public outside their walls. I call it like I see it. Unbiased. Unsolicited.