BeeP Blog

This week seemed like a good opportunity to take some pause and look at the brouhaha over SOPA. Not since the 1998 Digital Millenium Copyright Act (a battle won by the entertainment industry) have I noticed an outpouring of concern over freedom of the web (domestically, anyway) as over the past few weeks with the SOPA/PIPA legislation.  From a communications perspective, the SOPA/PIPA debate has been hugely interesting, and points to new vs. old approaches to PR, the importance of audience connection, and how essential it is to find the right message.

At the crux of it all on the entertainment side, as the Wall Street Journal recently described, was the messaging problem on behalf of the entertainment industry – something admitted to even by the lobbyists themselves.  Why? Maybe in part because the RIAA and MPAA relied on a message of American jobs; and how this put American innovation at risk – a message that, as it turns out, didn’t pull the public heartstrings or extend so far as to draw sympathy to those with a reputation for squeezing profits from artists and suing single moms millions for filesharing.

The original SOPA ad:

Over the last two years, the RIAA and MPAA have had their sights on something like this, putting millions into traditional beltway PR: lobbyists, press releases, status quo, looking to Internet control as a jobs issue, some wedge to give better copyright control.

The entertainment industry put $279.5 million into beltway lobbying- piddly compared with the Silicon Valley crowd, who put in $29.3m over the same period.  For all that effort they may have courted their D.C. influencers, but that support didn’t help against a surging public outcry.

What took them years to build up, the web-based grassroots movement fought against in a matter of days with an outpouring of information and opinion on the same medium that they defended – through YouTube videos, Net celebrities, and email campaigns.  Instead of “jobs”, the opposition spoke of liberty, freedom of expression, and even a concern for the security of the Internet itself.  These messages are both universal and extremely personal – ones in which nearly everyone has some stake.

As a result, 13 million people participated in the protest on the 18th. 50,000 websites went dark. Congress received 3 million emails concerning SOPA and the loss of Internet freedoms.  A tremendous outpouring of support that ultimately helped break the momentum behind the bill.

Rather than an acknowledgement of their miscalculation, the industry complained that that they lacked a big enough mouthpiece and couldn’t control the communications cycle (a spooky complaint coming from the incumbent owners of broadcast media and distribution, one that sounds an awful lot like a push for censorship).

The next battle is already heating up, and I’ll be watching to see whether ACTA supporters recalculate, or pursue PR as usual.

What an honor to be invited as guests of Arizona State University’s Global Institute of Sustainability to the most advanced, energy efficient space for humans of any government building designed yet. The new NASA base, co-designed by William McDonough+ Partners, will support just over 200+ scientists studying earth-climate models, as well as a group of scientists for the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), an airborne observatory housed inside a 747, one of the most advanced astronomy studies underway.

The event was so top secret we can’t name attendees, but if you look closely you might recognize a few  of the most important names in sustainability design and leadership today.

95% of the building’s energy is sourced from renewables- solar, wind and on-site geothermal pumps. The site-specific location is incredible, with tons of natural light that follows the sun’s arc (only 40 days of the year will even require artificial light) and the ability for the ‘earth astronauts’ (I love calling them that!) to adjust the air/heat to their own individual comfort level.  I won’t steal my team’s thunder, so many more details will be announced soon, and a dedication ceremony is in the works.

For more on this spectacular achievement, please take a look at the NASA Ames Sustainability Base: http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/sustainability-base/

Last weekend 2,500 Very-Serious-About-Sustainability-People (can we call ourselves ‘VSASPs’?) came together in Portland for the 2011 Net Impact Conference. About 100 conference participants came to listen to our panel ‘Marketing for Good: Creating a Career with Impact,’ which was tailored to give budding marketing and communications professionals insight into how to use their skill set to create positive local and global change. Our moderator, Jenifer Morgan, is the super-smart, well-written and well-spoken Digital Editor of the Stanford Social Innovation Review. Hopefully I, along with the rest of the panelists, didn’t scare anyone off because this was our career unrobed – the full Monty of Marketing!

I was there on behalf Blue Practice, representing the studio-sized agency’s perspective on the topic, and was joined by new friends Neha Gupta of the Community Housing Partnership and Rob Kaplan of Brown-Forman Corporation.  Jenifer’s questions were marvelous, full of spice, and went something like:

Jenifer) If you could go back in time and meet your younger self, what would you tell him/her?? What should you have known?

Jessica) First, it is all about who you know. My advice is to cultivate a personal network and get to know people who are important to your business, industry, professional growth, etc. It’s these people who have helped me in my successes, as clients, as co-workers, as advisors, as sources of inspiration, advice and…new business! Second, ASK FOR WHAT YOU WANT. Don’t be shy or embarrassed to be very explicit in asking for support or help especially. And most importantly, work the two together. I wish I had figured this out earlier in my career. Years into a technology PR career, I was wondering out loud with Chris Shipley, who was then running the DEMO conference, what a girl had to do to get an invitation to the invite-only AGENDA technology conference, the ‘big deal’ conference in the tech sector. ‘Send me an email and you’re in!’ Chris said. So that was my ‘aha’ moment when I realized how important it is to ASK for things and not wait to be invited.

Other stories from the trenches included:

Jenifer) Your most surprising moment career-wise

Jessica) Getting fired from Tesla Motors and being escorted to the parking lot, and

Jenifer) What prepared you best for your current career?

Jessica) Hmm…I don’t know, growing up on a farm I guess…

(along with other more serious and meaty career pearls of wisdom)

All in all, Net Impact was a great opportunity to interact with both established do-gooding professionals and with a new generation of emerging social architects.  I was truly impressed with how savvy the attendees were and was left inspired and hopeful of what these many young change-makers will accomplish.