Million moustache march was just one campaign by the Elastic Agency and we discuss why they say "F!!CK the Formula" when it comes to PR.

If you look at reputation management, public relations, advertising, whatever you want to call it, according to Author, brand reputation strategist, entrepreneur, commissioned Kentucky Colonel and partner in Elasticity Aaron Perlut, there are two primary tenets;  content and  distribution.  In this podcast formerFleishman Hillard executive Aaron shares with me how the Elastic Agency used a data driven but also creatively disruptive approach to making tax filing in America by H&R Block all about moustaches, and why godaddy was supposedly the perfect fit for his 'crazy' agency, but that wasn't what the internic company was looking for.

Transcript

Jim James (2) 0:00

Welcome to this episode of the UnNoticed Podcast I've got Aaron Perlut who's joining me all the way from Denver and he runs a company called elasticity. Aaron, thank you so much for joining us.

Aaron Perlut 0:12

Hi, Jim. Thank you so much for having me on today.

Jim James 0:14

Now tell us about elasticity and the problems that you're solving for business owners.

Aaron Perlut 0:20

Sure. Yeah, let's just see, was founded about 12 years ago. we were all working for FleishmanHillard, which anyone who works in our industry, Jim is familiar with. And the challenges we're really trying to address is simply that when people come to us. They have a business problem or they wouldn't be coming to us at all. They're trying to drive sales. They're trying to usually it's it's related to their fiduciary responsibilities of whether it's revenues or whether it's a nonprofit that's simply trying to build its cash. Or it's someone in crisis who's trying to protect their revenue because someone is upset with their brand or an individual that represents their brand. Typically that is the problem we're always trying to solve. And the way that we view the world Elasticity is that every problem begins with data. We try to use an infused data with everything. We do try to understand that audience, try to develop creative, try to reach an audience. It's always using data. And today, if you look at reputation management, public relations, advertising, whatever you want to call it. If you look at marketing communications today, there are two primary tenants there's content and there's distribution. And what we try to do is create really compelling and disruptive content and then deliver that. And we remain agnostic to how it's delivered, but typically that delivery needs to be in 360 degrees because getting people to pay attention to one channel today is very challenging. Thanks to what technology has brought upon us over the past 15 years or so.

Jim James (2) 1:54

Aaron, you've mentioned a few things there that are a bit different to your background. You're at FleishmanHillard, the PR firm, so what brought together this this idea of communications and data for sort of a PR background?

Aaron Perlut 2:11

Yeah, you're right. My my background is really steeped in media relations. I began my career working in television as a producer. And so I have always at the heart of what I'm passionate about and what I'm interested in. It's been content creation. I love creating interesting content, but I spent most of my career in media relations. And I think what we found was that what I found at least, and I don't know this everyone's issue is that Because of the vast changes in media because revenue streams from most media has been sapped. And what you have seen is this revolving door of reporters and and also many media outlets have unfortunately gone under You've had to think about more importantly, what's the most effective channel to reach someone, forget about what your competency is, but let's think about, what really makes an impact. And my, my previous role at FleishmanHillard, I started to see what I was doing was less and less impact. Yes. I was able to get a four or five page story in fortune. But who was really reading fortune magazine. Everything was moving online, nobody. The only magazines were sitting in doctor's offices at the moment. And my partner my, my now partners at elasticy and I had a vision for, starting with data, creating a content, rich, a PR approach. And then integrating that through traditional media relations through social media, through advertising. And we built a team that was integrated and work together because to get back to the data function, if I'm a media relations practitioner, I don't want to be going to 300 different media outlets to pitch my story. When I want to go to is the most effective ones. The person who's got the information for that is actually our media buyers, because our media buyers, they use data that they wouldn't be spending a client's money to place advertising, unless they knew the audience was the most effective for whatever that task is. So the data sharing between our. Paid media and our earned media is makes for a far more effective media relations practice. And then I also find that again, getting back to content, being one of those the fundamental pieces, if I'm able to send a compelling piece of content to a reporter that outlines what I'm trying to get at, they're far more likely to pay attention in the same way that if I've got a short, compelling video on Facebook, you're far more likely to pay attention then to some static post And so that content and the delivery of it is really the two essential stools or I guess pillars the stool.

Jim James 4:51

.Can you just tell us which tools are you using to do that kind of data targeting and analysis? Because that's where it starts from the sounds of things. Is it Google ad words or what are you using as attribution software?

Aaron Perlut 5:04

So we could be using, we use a number of things. Some of them proprietary, some of them are simply just paid subscriptions. Everything from Nielsen data to Facebook data, which is free for anyone because Facebook, they don't care about, charging for the data because they want it. They want to charge you for paying to to advertise and reach. I don't mean boosting cause boosting actually, all it does is help reach the audience you've already built. But if you don't use Facebook advertising, you just simply drop a piece of content on there only about 3% of your audience is going to see it. So let's say you're a you're a breakfast cereal brand and and you have a million followers, 3%. If you just drop a piece of content on Facebook, only 3% of your followers are going to see it at most. If you put some spend behind it, that number broadens dramatically and it doesn't have to be a huge spend, but then you're also not just reaching your own audience. You're reaching new audiences and you can segment the targeting data you use to reach them. And when Facebook did that, Everyone followed suit, LinkedIn followed suit, Twitter, followed suit. And what you found was that the platforms are they're tremendous tools to deliver the right message to the right people. But but they're also really great at making themselves money. So if you're not willing to spend a little money, your message is going to fall on deaf ears.

Jim James 6:24

So does that fundamentally change the nature of PR because it used to be earned media, paid media, it sounds as though all that owned media really is paid for, in terms of distribution, it changes the nature of what PR used to be, which was content that had integrity that was chosen by an editor. Do you think that's just gone away?

Aaron Perlut 6:47

It hasn't all gone away, but it's dramatically diminished and even. Even the outlets that we think about as still being bastions of earned media, there are still a number of paper play opportunities in them. Forbes has what they call councils and they have the public relations council and they have the advertising council. You can pay$1,200 a year and you can publish on Forbes. So from a thought leadership perspective, that's a very heady thing and it, but it's a pay for play opportunity. It's an advertising opportunity. If you look at native content on say cnn or MSNBC, or what have you oftentimes some of the editorial content we're reading is actually paid for. There's really been a blurring of the lines now. That doesn't mean there are not still credible news opportunities. If you have credible news and I'm there, but oftentimes what media outlets are paying attention to

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 7:47

Uh, actually, no, I, um, I did do give it a listen cause I was curious what

Aaron Perlut 7:51

The true industry changers, or unfortunately the worst things that are happening in the world.

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 7:56

uh,

Aaron Perlut 7:56

at our news streams, Traditional media is covering

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 8:01

reached out to me, I actually went and

Aaron Perlut 8:02

It's from, from the BBC in the UK to, or globally rather to NPR

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 8:07

apologize for not recalling. Cause it was, it was right when you first out to

Jim James (2) 8:10

the journalists in

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 8:11

was, so this has probably been

Jim James (2) 8:13

talking with him, he said that know good news is not news. Bad news is good news. And that unfortunately was a tenor of it. you also said something though, Aaron, about

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 8:22

quite a few. Yes.

Jim James (2) 8:23

for disruptive content. Just tell us what you mean by disruptive content.

Aaron Perlut 8:29

Yeah. I think when people hear the word disruption, I think there's immediately a negative connotation to it. That means that it's Sasha Baron Cohen, it's buffoonery. It's something like that. And that's not necessarily the case being disruptive is doing something different. And maybe it's not only different for you as a company, but

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 8:47

Sure. Yeah. The orange was the

Aaron Perlut 8:49

I'll give you an example of something we've done. For two of our one client, actually on two different

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 8:54

you know, true to form like, uh,

Aaron Perlut 8:56

we worked with H and R block, which in the U

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 8:58

aisle, you see recess cause they pop because

Aaron Perlut 9:00

tax processing

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 9:02

stood out and I never thought I'd,

Aaron Perlut 9:03

we worked with them for two different texts, seasons,

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 9:06

my, my partners 30

Aaron Perlut 9:07

can go and here's the typical

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 9:09

FleishmanHillard, anyone who works

Aaron Perlut 9:11

it's tax season and there's nothing better than H and R block. They process more tax returns than anyone else in the

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 9:18

some 80, 70, 80 years in

Aaron Perlut 9:21

that, I'm like, that's not interesting to

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 9:23

were all senior people there.

Aaron Perlut 9:25

Slayer is doing with TurboTax. They're doing, they're disrupting the industry. They're making sure you can do it on video. That's disruptive doing on a

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 9:32

very large ran the digital practice. He

Aaron Perlut 9:34

for H and R block was called the million

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 9:36

And then another one of my

Aaron Perlut 9:38

And we created a we had a tax policy professor write a white

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 9:43

we saw this as again, 12

Aaron Perlut 9:44

that basically made

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 9:45

a real sea change

Aaron Perlut 9:46

people with mustaches

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 9:48

and

Aaron Perlut 9:48

should

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 9:49

like we see with, uh, with climate deniers today,

Aaron Perlut 9:52

they were improving good looks in

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 9:54

uh,

Aaron Perlut 9:54

And they were erasing the stigma of the ugly

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 9:57

Uh, uh, there was,

Aaron Perlut 9:59

so we had a tax, we had a true tax policy professor write

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 10:02

I would

Aaron Perlut 10:03

It was based on past case study law for

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 10:06

people didn't really

Aaron Perlut 10:07

and we held a physical

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 10:09

they knew. That

Aaron Perlut 10:12

we launched this in early February until tax day

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 10:15

but they didn't realize the fundamental impact it

Aaron Perlut 10:17

The way you could support this was by putting a branded mustache on your photo on Facebook.

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 10:22

an audience.

Aaron Perlut 10:22

And every time

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 10:24

I believed in

Aaron Perlut 10:25

did that, H and R block

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 10:26

12 years ago we founded elasticy based on the

Aaron Perlut 10:29

called millions from one which creates water access

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 10:32

beholden to one

Aaron Perlut 10:33

But it was this disruptive

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 10:36

you have to really surround, uh,

Aaron Perlut 10:39

Taxes related to H and R

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 10:41

and, um, and deliver a message in 360 so we started, elasticy really

Aaron Perlut 10:47

And it ended up getting covered globally, not just in the U S the

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 10:51

and ultimately builds to creating,

Aaron Perlut 10:53

And it

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 10:54

you have to

Aaron Perlut 10:55

an actual, to turn a phrase of a drop in the bucket from a, from an investment standpoint and H and R block standpoint, because at the same time they were running their traditional

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 11:04

and that was whole impetus behind

Aaron Perlut 11:06

This was purely a digital and an

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 11:08

ago with three of us. And today we have,

Aaron Perlut 11:11

amazing coverage for it, but then we also got great interaction online because it was disruptive because it was different. Nobody took it really seriously. They realized it was all in good fun, but H and R block's name and brand equity was attached to it at every stage of the journey. You can also do disruptive though and tug at the heartstrings. You can do disruptive by. Something that is purely movement oriented. That's trying to drive change to help improve humanity. It's finding a way to, to just step out of the norm.

Jim James 11:47

That is a really fantastic way of looking at it. I see. You've also worked with GoDaddy, which traditionally is being a, almost a commodity internet registration. Yeah. Can you share another example

Aaron Perlut 11:58

sure. We were at, we were with GoDaddy at a really interesting time in their evolution as a company because they had become known. As a brand by doing very racy advertising.

Jim James 12:10

Yeah, exactly. So there's small t-shirts and fairly robust girls.

Aaron Perlut 12:15

And sprayed down with water after Superbowls or during super bowl. And it was funny because when we signed up with GoDaddy, people said, Oh,

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 12:24

it sounds

Aaron Perlut 12:25

You guys are crazy. They're crazy. What a great marriage. They hired us actually to help soften their brand. They wanted to appeal to what they call the doers and that is people like us that are

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 12:38

think it's French, but it's actually

Aaron Perlut 12:39

that need services like web services and different digital services and tools.

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 12:45

parents,

Aaron Perlut 12:46

And so what we really did was we dramatically softened their image and we tried to appeal to entrepreneurs. Not just men sitting at home in their basement and try to use different colors and different scenarios and bring to life different stories about largely oftentimes female entrepreneurs to really

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 13:09

Jim. Thank you so much for having

Aaron Perlut 13:10

again, soften the image and appealed directly to people who were gobbling up these different services. And using different tools and creating their own websites

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 13:22

Sure. Sure. Um, yeah, last us who was founded about 12

Jim James 13:25

in terms of

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 13:26

the challenges we're really trying to address

Jim James 13:28

it sounds like it's also quite

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 13:30

simply that is when people come to

Jim James 13:32

kind of

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 13:33

Um, they have a business problem or they

Jim James 13:35

Do you have some kind of

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 13:36

of, of whether it's revenues or whether it's a nonprofit that's simply trying to, to build its cash.

Jim James 13:44

that they can use.

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 13:45

Uh,

Aaron Perlut 13:45

Yeah. It's called listening. It's a lot of

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 13:48

someone is upset with their brand or an individual that

Aaron Perlut 13:51

own preconceived

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 13:52

Um,

Aaron Perlut 13:53

and I've seen

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 13:54

that is the problem we're always trying to

Aaron Perlut 13:56

that we go into a situation where

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 13:58

the way that we view the world in the

Aaron Perlut 14:01

We think we know the answer to something. And instead of stepping back, getting

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 14:07

we try

Aaron Perlut 14:08

notions and actually looking at what

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 14:10

with everything. We do try to

Aaron Perlut 14:12

then trying to derive insights from

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 14:14

develop creative, try to, uh,

Aaron Perlut 14:17

it's not that terribly difficult or expensive to go get

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 14:19

And today, if you look at reputation management, advertising, whatever you

Aaron Perlut 14:24

if you don't have those

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 14:25

If you look at

Aaron Perlut 14:25

you're a small business owner to look at maybe how your competition is

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 14:30

and there's distribution. Um, And what

Aaron Perlut 14:33

Even if it doesn't appeal to your own personal sensibilities, if you're trying to build a business, what you care

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 14:38

and then

Aaron Perlut 14:39

an audience.

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 14:40

to how

Aaron Perlut 14:40

to bring whatever your dream is to fruition, but you're trying to serve a specific

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 14:45

getting people to pay challenging.

Aaron Perlut 14:47

I think throwing out those

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 14:48

has brought upon us

Aaron Perlut 14:49

is where it begins looking at true data and understanding what your audience really wants. I think that to me is the key. And then I think, I think the other thing is this might sound odd paying attention to pop culture. As guys like you and I get older, it's harder and harder. When you hear a name Camilla kumbaya, who is that? She's a really popular singer that my kids love.

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 15:12

You're right. My, um, my background is

Aaron Perlut 15:15

17 year old girls to sell your products.

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 15:19

television

Aaron Perlut 15:19

They care. So it's paying

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 15:21

And so I have always at the heart of what I'm passionate

Aaron Perlut 15:24

really important because then to get back to the mustache campaign you and I talked about earlier

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 15:29

um, I spent most of my career in media relations.

Aaron Perlut 15:32

thing,

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 15:33

and I think what we found

Aaron Perlut 15:35

there was this

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 15:36

what I

Aaron Perlut 15:36

nature to mustaches and young people everywhere were

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 15:40

because of the vast changes

Aaron Perlut 15:42

It was an important part of. How culture was evolving. And today, if you

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 15:46

most

Aaron Perlut 15:47

there's a lot more people with facial hair today than there was

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 15:49

what you have seen is

Aaron Perlut 15:51

That was

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 15:51

revolving door of

Aaron Perlut 15:53

And so we were looking to identify what are

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 15:56

and also, uh, many media

Aaron Perlut 15:58

jump on top

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 15:58

unfortunately under, um,

Aaron Perlut 16:00

for this brand.

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 16:01

you've had to think about

Aaron Perlut 16:02

Looking at data,

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 16:03

more importantly, what's the

Aaron Perlut 16:04

preconceptions out the door and trying to be

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 16:07

forget about what your competency is, but let's think about, you know,

Aaron Perlut 16:11

And then thinking about how that ties in possibly to pop

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 16:15

And, um, my, my previous role at

Aaron Perlut 16:18

What are the tools that

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 16:19

I started to see.

Aaron Perlut 16:20

And not every company like zoom stump, stumbles into a global and be become

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 16:27

but who was really reading fortune

Aaron Perlut 16:29

zoom for six years, but there were people

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 16:30

was moving online, nobody. magazines were sitting

Aaron Perlut 16:33

before last February. So it's yeah, to me, that's the key it's

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 16:38

My partner,

Aaron Perlut 16:38

listening to everything

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 16:39

partners at Alasta C and I

Aaron Perlut 16:41

not getting so tied into your own

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 16:43

you know, starting with data at creating a

Aaron Perlut 16:44

And

Jim James 16:45

if people want to listen to you more, Aaron, how

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 16:47

then integrating that

Aaron Perlut 16:49

I'd recommend they don't listen to me at all.

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 16:51

through social

Aaron Perlut 16:52

screaming. The easiest way to find me is to come to our website@goeatelastic.com is

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 16:59

know, to get back

Aaron Perlut 16:59

our company website. Or you

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 17:01

I'm going to be, if I'm a media relations

Aaron Perlut 17:04

find my terrible book, which

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 17:06

I want to be going

Aaron Perlut 17:07

But actually. That does get back to an important point that you and I touched on

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 17:11

is actually our media

Aaron Perlut 17:12

I should probably

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 17:12

because our data that they wouldn't be spending a

Aaron Perlut 17:14

I think that traditionally public relations practitioners

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 17:17

knew the audience was the most

Aaron Perlut 17:19

the power of

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 17:20

whatever that task is. So the data

Aaron Perlut 17:22

and search algorithms change

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 17:24

media and media is makes for a far more effective media

Aaron Perlut 17:28

search is the ultimate

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 17:29

And then I also find that, um,

Aaron Perlut 17:31

It helps people find things. It helps people determine whether they want to work for you, whether they

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 17:36

if I'm able to send

Aaron Perlut 17:37

somewhere, whether they want to move somewhere, whether they want to purchase a product.

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 17:41

to get

Aaron Perlut 17:41

And I think

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 17:42

far likely to pay

Aaron Perlut 17:43

probably

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 17:44

in the same way that if I've got a short, compelling video on Facebook, you're

Aaron Perlut 17:49

relies upon search whether it's Google, YouTube, which is the second largest search

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 17:54

and the

Aaron Perlut 17:54

in the world being whatever you want, even Amazon has search technology. Facebook has search technology. Search couldn't be more important.

Jim James 18:04

I agree, and people are going to search for you. They're going to look for your website, Aaron and also going to look for that elastic book that you've got. Thank you so much for joining me. Aaron Perlut rom the elastic business in

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 18:16

be used. We, we use a number of things. Some of them

Aaron Perlut 18:18

What an honor. Thank you so

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 18:19

simply just paid

Jim James 18:20

You've been listening to

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 18:21

Um, everything from Nielsen

Jim James 18:23

Colorado. And thank you for listening to this episode of speak PR.

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 18:26

because Facebook, they don't care

Jim James 18:27

being disruptive, but not

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 18:29

charging for the data because they want to, they

Jim James 18:31

to listen and also

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 18:32

paying to, uh, advertise

Jim James 18:34

of search.

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 18:35

I will say

Jim James 18:36

to this episode, and we wish you the best of health,

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 18:40

when Facebook did its IPO six, ago, however

Jim James 18:43

that if you're going to be

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 18:43

that's really what that

Jim James 18:45

do you think about the 360 reputation and all the touch points that anyone has got with your brand? Thank you so much for listening to

audio_only_16780290_Aaron_Perlut 18:52

you go place a piece

18:53

you have to look very, very carefully to be able to decipher them.