Lobbying For Smarter Media Relations
A story in today’s Wall Street Journal brought to mind a former client who appreciated the benefits of having me accompany him to appointments in Washington that his high-powered lobbyist had arranged for him. The meetings, typically with Congressional staffers and trade group leaders, never really accomplished a whole lot beyond the initial exchange of business cards. The client would give his spiel; the policy wonks would nod appreciatively, ask a few cursory questions, and then thank us for coming.
Although the desired policy impact our client wanted never materialized, his enthusiasm for them never waned. As an aside, I can’t help but note that his patience for a measurable result was not as abundant when it came to media relations. Any meeting with a reporter that failed to result in immediate favorable editorial coverage was a source of disappointment. Hmm… maybe we should go into the lobbying business. We could have set up those meetings – or even better, productive ones – at half the cost. But, alas, our collective pedigree sports no “unparalleled connections” or “enviable roster” of contacts on the Hill. And so it goes, and I digress…
Although we never trespassed or trampled on the turf of our client’s lobbyist, he never failed to do so on ours. He was always quick to suggest media ideas and the names of reporters we should contact. Most of the ideas and recommendations were pretty lame, but we respectfully kept our thoughts and snide comments to ourselves.
That lobbyist popped into my head as I read the Page One piece in today’s Wall Street Journal about foreign governments investing in Wall Street firms. A few paragraphs in, an unidentified lobbyist is quoted saying, “Our goal is to get a [page] B6 story in The Wall Street Journal and have no one mention it.”
I’m astounded that a Washington lobbyist could naively think that a significant investment by a foreign government in a major Wall Street firm would be covered on page B6 of The Wall Street Journal (and not just because the newspaper’s money and investing coverage is in the C-section).
Companies that rely on their lobbyists for media counsel clearly do so at their own peril.