Sometimes you have to kick a question up to your legal counsel. Normally, the response is dry and legalese. They have to write it in precise language to meet legal standards. We ran into such a situation this week and it turned out to be both educational and unintentionally pretty funny.

Last Friday, Matt Lindland, candidate for Oregon House District 52, was on 105.1 FM ‘The Buzz’ as their “Celebrity Playlist” guest. They interviewed him and he picked songs for them to play. Since we are working for Phyllis Thiemann, his Primary opponent, we submitted a request for equal time for her to present a “Celebrity Playlist”. Yes, we clearly see the humor in that! But Lindland received valuable earned media for his appearance and we wanted the same opportunity for our candidate.

We received a nice response from the DJ who runs the “Celebrity Playlist”, Sheryl Stewart, who said she had sent it to the station management for review. Since she usually has artists, actors etc. as her “Celebrity Playlist” guests, I assume this was the first request she’d received for equal time for a political candidate. To be fair, she likely had Lindland on not because he is a candidate but because he is a mixed martial arts fighter who was producing a fight in Portland April 19. Nonetheless, it was good publicity for him and we wanted the same opportunity.

Below is the response we received from KRSK General Manager Erin Hubert who kicked the request up to corporate counsel to review FCC regulations. This is the “educational” part because it is a fairly good explanation of the FCC regulations:

“On behalf of Entercom Portland, I am writing in response to your email demand for equal access dated April 21, 2008. Specifically, you demanded equal access for your client, Phyllis Thiemann, as a result of Entercom’s broadcast of an interview with Matt Lindland on Friday April 18, 2008 during the “Celebrity Playlist” segment on radio station KRSK

Please be advised that the news interview segments of “Celebrity Playlist” satisfy the Federal Communication Commission’s requirements for exempt bona fide news interview programming because the program is regularly scheduled; Entercom has control over all aspects of the show; Entercom’s decisions on format, content, and participants are based on newsworthiness; and guests that happen to be political candidates are not selected to advance their candidacies.

Sincerely,

Erin Hubert

Vice President/General Manager, Entercom Portland, LLC

cc: Andrew Sutor, Corporate Counsel – Entercom Communications Corp.”

The multi-part test for being exempt from FCC regulations for equal access is clearly outlined in the email. Good stuff to know.

What we found particularly amusing is that KRSK/Entercomm considers the “Celebrity Playlist” to be “bona fide news interview programming.” Picking songs and chatting about why you chose them is “bona fide news interview programming”!

So the fact that Lindland picked Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” for his “Celebrity Playlist” is apparently bona fide news.

The lessons?

1. Look for unique and different opportunities for earned media. Don’t be afraid to do something fun.

2. Don’t be afraid to ask. Two days after The Buzz interview with Lindland, KXL-AM did one. So we submitted a request for Phyllis to do an interview and KXL gladly accepted.

3. Look for ways to turn even a rejection into earned media. Though not as big of a hit, we did get some additional play off of the KRSK rejection by pitching it to Jeff Mapes, political reporter for The Oregonian. He found it amusing and included it on his blog.

4. We are considering other fun ways to use this as part of the campaign, but I’ll have to update you later on those. Don’t want to tip our hand just yet!

A big challenge for a young business is determining a brand identification. When you first launch your business you think it is heading one direction. But after a couple of years you realize it has grown in another. Even long established businesses have to “re-brand” on occasion as the market changes.

So, where do you start?

We are working with a small business right now that is going through this. After several years in business, they opened a new location that offers expanded services. Over the years, they’ve determined what niche they can serve within their broader business field. Marketing and communication materials now need to be brought in line with this new company direction.

One of the things we asked them to brainstorm is other established companies that serve a similar client that they do. In this case, we were looking at the specific demographic the company wants to attract. We also asked them to think about other marketing campaigns they believe match what they are looking for.

After developing this list, we examined the websites, marketing and collateral of those companies. In particular, we looked for words, phrases and images that fit our client’s company. From this list, we then focused in on words and phrases that describe the client’s new direction.

If you feel like your company needs to better define its brand or look at a re-brand, try doing this yourself. Set aside one hour of quiet time to just brainstorm and research other companies. It spurs the creative juices and forces you to focus on your own company’s image and brand.

Administrative Note: Comments on our blog posts are welcome and in fact encouraged. We’d love to hear about your own experiences in these areas. We might edit the comments for length and clarity, and will delete off-topic or inappropriate comments.

Kevin