Recently, I posted an article on SMPR’s Facebook page about how the DETROIT NEWS (my hometown newspaper) seemingly threw its ethical codes out the window (not to mention selling its soul) and changed an article to soothe an advertiser’s wallet and ego.  Combined with the latest Groupon fiasco and its ad blunder (I wrote about this issue on A Sorry State), maybe it’s time to skin the cat differently.

So I thought it would be cool to share something that is cool about ethics, specifically talking about how our friends in the advertising industry are making efforts to bring more of an ethical position into their operations.

Check out the following article from ADVERTISING AGE on the industry’s attempt to get more ethical.  These are really good ideas; what do y’all think?

Could using a PDA be bad for your corporate health?

Über-intern Whitney checks in with a very smart analysis of how technology could impede the practice of corporate communications.  Take it away, Whitney…

Since the advent of smartphones people have had a new challenge placed in front of them.  It isn’t how often you can check in on Foursquare or how fast you can look up a fact to prove a point.  In fact, it’s a challenge of etiquette, of how we as a society are choosing to balance face-to-face interactions against online relationships.

Recently Gini Dietrich covered this on her blog, Spin Sucks. After reading her post we felt compelled to chime in as well.

If you look around a coffee shop, restaurant or on the train it’s safe to say you’ll see at least a dozen people with their phones out, waiting for them to light up with an alert that something is happening in their digital world.  When people are this focused on maintaining their networks online they are often neglecting the relationship and networking opportunities right next to them—in the “real world.”

In the not so distant past, it was viewed as rude to answer a phone call during a meeting; now, it’s practically expected.  It’s hard to make a blanket statement saying that everyone should ignore their phones while conducting business, at the workplace or when out with colleagues and friends.

Still, SMPR encourages clients to think about how one’s corporate reputation—not to mention one’s personal brand—can be hindered if your PDA runs your life and not the other way around.

Remember this—people with whom you network over the Web cannot see that you’re ignoring a client when Tweeting during a meeting, but that client sure can. What will they tweet, think or say about you after their face-to-face interaction with you where you were MIA?

Over the last few years, there have been more than a fair share of  “pot shots” thrown at PR people who perform less than what is expected of them.  Recently, there was a case of a firm posting favorable comments on iTunes–and the FTC called them out.  Without question, they deserved to be caught.  And as most cases like this play out, many media outlets take any chance they can get for rolling PR under the proverbial bus.

What happens, though, when the tables are turned?  What happens when media outlets don’t do the necessary fact-checking to make sure THEIR work is ethical, objective and above ground?

I bring this up as I was sent an online video from CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS this week.  In it, an events company account executive touts how good this one restaurant was, how amazing some of the dishes were, how you couldn’t walk out of there without feeling like you were at one of the best restaurants in Chicago.  If I were their PR person, I would be ecstatic with such a piece.

Yet, I have to wonder if the people putting this segment together did their homework about the restaurant, the source and the history between the two.

• The account executive mentioned in the video just happens to be the daughter of one of the restaurant company’s top executives.  I know this because I met them both at a charity function, and I entered the father’s business card into my Rolodex.
• The father was a top executive at one of Chicago’s TV stations, so it is my business to know who works where in the media, as well as who moves on.  His name is recognizable, so it piqued my curiosity to confirm that the daughter was the same person I met at the event.
• The story neglects to mention that this account executive also used to work at this restaurant at one time in her career.

Those who know me how much I respect business media, and I LOVE CRAIN’S here in Chicago.  It is such a good media outlet and enterprise, that it surprised me to see something like this story actually making it to the public.

I am passionate about ethics in both PR and journalism.  This story reads and feels awkward, especially since it’s my job to know the city’s “who’s who.”  This is not the fair, balanced and objective journalism I am used to seeing in CRAIN’S; it looks like Daddy’s little girl is promoting Daddy’s company on CRAIN’S dime.

Doing some digging around, I learned that people at CRAIN’S don’t produce the segments; they come from the group hosting the segment.  Still, there is a level of responsibility that comes into play here, and something SMPR takes very seriously:

• In all of our endeavors, we are supposed to fact-check, do our homework and make sure that nothing that we communicate on behalf of our clients could be called into question.  If we do it, our clients are smart enough to know about it–and they will show us the door.
• We have a responsibility and “code of honor” to respect the journalists, analysts and other groups who we work with.
• As PR counselors, we have a responsibility to help our clients tell the truth to all of their constituents and influencers, even it the truth ruffles feathers.

Maybe the folks at CRAIN’S who were provided the video package didn’t know the truth; hopefully, they know about this and will do something about it.  I trust CRAIN’S will do something; that is what good journalists do.

If we were counseling the restaurant company, we would advise them to come forth and acknowledge the relationship, discuss their knowledge of the story being done and (if needed) who was at the root of the video being done–the daughter or the father.

I’ll continue to pick up my CRAIN’S every week and read the daily news digests in my mailbox.  But when it comes to getting objective restaurant reviews, I’ll go somewhere else.

One of the great things about PR is that when you find a company that “gets it,” it makes for an easy time to showcase that client.  In nearly all of those cases, these companies have superior people implementing processes that are DRIVEN by the people who designed them.

It sounds so easy, but people drive processes not only to make them work, but to make them smarter.  People drive innovation.  People look for ways to make systems more efficient and effective.  Perhaps all else, the smartest companies out there continuously look for ways to make both the people and the processes better.  This is the way that SMPR strives to showcase its clients, by looking at all of a company’s value drivers.

Which side is more important for good PR, process or people?

But when an outside company comes in and acquires another company–especially one built on people-based assets such as culture and talent–the equilibrium tends to shift.  Sadly, a former SMPR client (Flat Top Grill) has shifted for the worse.

Let’s be clear here–I am not sharing this information intending to spill “sour grapes” about a former client, let alone a former employer (disclosure–I worked for the company more than 10 years ago).  I am, however, sharing this because this company used to be the epicenter of customer experiences and people management, and it has reached an abyss that is so low that I worry that it will never get out.

I went into lunch at Flat Top Grill’s Loop location because I wanted to see how the company has changed since we stopped working with them.  To be sure, the people who we knew were no longer with the company (not that I expected to see them).  But the product has become so commoditized; what’s worse, the product was so poor, the service was so bad and the people–the very asset we looked to showcase–were so poorly trained and executed that it made me wonder how a company and its culture could sink so fast.

Want proof?

• I had to wait 22 MINUTES for my bowl to be delivered to me (WAY beyond the norm).
• Ingredients are supposed to be mixed together, but in my mouth was the very spoonful of wasabi I spooned in; my mouth was burning hot.
• I would have had water, but my glass wasn’t filled.  I had to run to a bathroom to get water (SERIOUSLY).
• Since when is soy put in beef and chicken?  Oh yeah, as a PRESERVATIVE.  If I wanted soy, I would have asked for tofu.
• As a former Partner (the company’s term for employee), I am entitled a professional courtesy when I dine there; I was asked three different times where I worked, who I was and why I asked for the discount; my bill must have been important to them…
• …but if it was so important, then why did it take all of these people so long to get my bill?  The server’s response–”We’re busy.”  Uh, hello?  Restaurants are SUPPOSED to be busy and you’re supposed to be PREPARED.

Unfortunately, the company has lost touch with the very thing that put the company in growth mode–its people.  Training and systems were tossed aside in favor of processes to save money.  I don’t need to look at their books to know that.  I asked a CEO of a major restaurant group in town what would have happened to his company if any of this had happened.  His response:  “I would be tracking down that customer to get their inputs how we can change things to make things right for him….”

Sadly, I doubt that will happen; Flat Top Grill has lost touch with what was important.  Perhaps one day, they can find what made them successful.

I am wondering if there are any tallies or surveys out there for the industries with the worst overall reputation–not just for their image, but for keeping their word for getting things done.  We hear a lot about used car salesmen images, but even they take a back seat to the construction industry.

Back in February, one of the windows in my house cracked due to the extreme cold weather.  The windows were made by Hurd Windows and Doors, so I needed to get a replacement. Plus, I had a leaky jamb or two, so I’m wanting to get those replaced as well. With a tagline of “Welcome to the state of Perfection,” I shouldn’t be worried, right?

Here we are in October–neither the window company nor the construction company which required a deposit to get the windows ordered has delivered on their promises.  What’s more, the construction company never updated me about the lack of progress about the windows being ordered.  Far from perfection here…

To be sure, I get it that when Hurd filed for bankruptcy and that the number of distributors had been cut, things had changed.  But when a company puts forth a message and relies on finances and other excuses as shields, they are as far from perfection as possible.

In this case, the words/expectations of both the construction company and the window company are worth nothing to me.

Give me ACTION, not WORDS. Right now, both of these company’s words are as valuable as a cracked window in the middle of winter.