BAD TIMES FOR BRAND MARTHA
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�"Company founders have long believed that placing their name on
�their company signals their willingness to stake their personal
�reputation and stand behind their products," observes the
�University of Pennsylvania's business school. "That's fine when
�things are going well and the company and the CEO whose name it
�bears are held in high regard. But what if the CEO falls from
�grace? What happens to a company if the CEO's name is in effect its
�brand o and then that name is tarnished? Rarely has that question
�come up more sharply than in the case of Martha Stewart, America's
�long-reigning diva of decor, who was recently convicted on
�conspiracy and other charges. ... When it is done right, brand
�personification can tap into the human desire to belong to a
�community. In the case of Martha Stewart ... customers could
�virtually lose their identity to that of the brand."
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SPINNING SPIN SISTERS
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�"St. Martin's Press has brought in Shirley & Banister Public
�Affairs to drum up conservative support for a new book accusing
�women's magazines of a liberal bend and constant focus on the 'woes
�of womanhood,'" reports O'Dwyer's PR Daily. "Former Ladies Home
�Journal editor-in-chief, Myrna Blyth, penned the tome, Spin
�Sisters: How the Women of the Media Sell Unhappiness and Liberalism
�to the Women of America. In it she charges the $7 billion industry
�and a 'Girls' Club' of female media elites are exploiting female
�emotions and hawking a left-of-center, do-gooder agenda to their
�audience." Shirley & Banister is a PR firm that "specializes in
�getting authors onto conservative talk-radio programs."
SOURCE: O'Dwyer's PR Daily (requires subscription), March 25, 2004
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