We were all looking for him to take responsibility in a meaningful way and to a certain extent, he did that. By saying that it doesn’t matter what he says to his wife, but how he demonstrates his love for her over time told us that he gets it.

The fact that he is not rushing back to golf, but is instead going back to rehab, also tells us that he is sincere about moving past this chapter of his life.

Bottom line, he continues to be a very private individual who will only be “managed” so much. Americans, and those across the world, should know better than to ever have believed he was holier than thou. Tigers are after all, wild animals!  He’s a great golfer and that’s what we should expect from him.

A new survey out from e-poll research  lists the top-10 most trusted celebrities. And there’s more detail about it on Forbes.com

 The list includes James Earl Jones, Tom Hanks, Bill Cosby and even Mike Rowe, the host of Dirty Jobs (which is why he’s probably seen hawking Ford products) 

 America’s largest companies pay those celebs handsomely, hoping the trust they’ve earned in America will rub off and validate their brand too. Most of the actors on the list have spent decades in the public eye, often advocating for causes as well as their movies, while also avoiding public transgressions. Meaning, they earned it from a skeptical America.

 So much of what we do in advertising, public relations and more importantly – in life – is about earning a reputation built on trust and credibility.

 For these spokespeople and the companies it’s a business deal, but in your personal business, where do you stand on trust and credibility?

It’s certainluy an issue Toyota is wrestling with today and so many are watching them closely.

 It’s my firm belief that organizations and their leaders earn reputations every day through their actions, by how they respond to critics, take care of their customers, and how they respond to both opportunity and failure.

 For those companies who can’t afford a celebrity on the A-list (which is most companies) start by making sure your corporate behavior and leaders are worthy of being on your customer’s a-list of trust and admiration.

In this first edition of Social Marketing News, I want to talk about a growing fad called FourSquare. The user base of FourSquare pales in comparison to say Twitter, but I’ve touched on the geo-location social networking service in a few blog posts (the first one in my 9/11/09 post), and I believe it’s definitely worth taking notice.  FourSquare allows registered uses to “check-in” at restaurants and retail establishments, or any place that has a physical address, and the service will allow users to keep track of their history and the whereabouts of their friends. Currently, apps are available for iPhone, Android, and now PalmPre.  The user with the most check-ins will become the “Mayor” of that establishment, a designation that holds little value other than bragging rights.

Restaurants hip to social marketing are now exploring FourSquare promotions, such as giving discounts to their Mayors. Today, yours truly has been crowned the Mayor of Dunkin’ Donuts, and here’s hoping I can get a free coffee out of it! FourSquare promos can be used as a free distribution channel for coupons and discounts, and also spur competition between potential Mayors- who are probably your biggest local brand advocates.

Remember when I mentioned Google Caffeine way back in an August blog post? Probably not, so here’s a refresher. Google has been working on “secret project” called Google Caffeine to update how Google finds content on the web by improving the search algorithms. Though the average user won’t notice a huge difference, it’s important to note because it does change how Google indexes news and social media. Read more at TechCrunch here.

I’m an AT&T customer, and I hate AT&T. So I’m very pleased to share this snippet of AT&T’s folly in social media during the brief hours iPhones were unavailable on the AT&T website:

Something worth noting is AT&T has a responsive, stellar public relations team that uses a Twitter account, a YouTube channel and a Facebook page to interact with the media and consumers. The story could’ve been defused in a matter of minutes with a clear, believable explanation. Instead, AT&T used its PR to respond with an empty statement, leaving the world guessing the reasons for the suspension of iPhone sales in New York.

Read the full article– AT&T: The Communications Company That Failed to Communicate in 2009.

Ad Age

What We Can Learn From the Top Viral Videos of 2009

Gmail Points to Possibilities of the Coming Data Decade

Planning Your Next Move in Ad Land

Fast Company

What Can We Expect From the Consumer Electronics Show?

Uh-oh — Robots Can Learn and Generalize

Geotagging’s Seasonal Danger: Burglary

Is Google-AdMob Deal Bad for Consumers and Apple?

TechCrunch

Cheap Beer If You Check-In… Or Just Tweet

At Foursquare Venues, the Mayor Eats For Free

Google Is About To Get Caffeinated With A Faster Search Index

Privacy Theater: Why Social Networks Only Pretend To Protect You

Meebo Launches Self-Serve Meebo Bar, Takes A Look Back At Its Big Year

World Map of Social Networks Shows Rise of Facebook

Blippy Already Showing Off $1 Million Worth of Your Credit Card Purchases

The Rumors Are True: We Spend More And More Time Online

Mashable

In 2010, Your iPhone Could be a Credit Card Reader

REVEALED: The 100 Most Social Brands of 2009

BROWSER WARS: Google Chrome Overtakes Apple’s Safari

Foursquare Launches on Palm Pre

HOW TO: Do Almost Anything Online in 2010

Wired

AT&T: The Communications Company That Failed to Communicate in 2009

Boxee Beta Is a Web Video Streamer’s Dream

MySpace Replaces Embedded Imeem Playlists With Ads

Reports: AT&T Stops Some iPhone Sales in NYC (Update)

Blogs and Other News Sources

Google Nexus One Sold Directly and Only by Google, Officially Supported By T-Mobile (Gizmodo)

Apple Dominates Social Brand Ranking (Brandweek)

All Twitterpated for Twitter

Rob Santwer, a digital marketing consultant at R&R, cited the rise of Twitter as his noteworthy event. Rob likes getting his news and information quickly, and Twitter makes him happy because it’s another example of how America’s ingenuity can bring about change in the world (reference the medium’s impact on the political process in Iran). He’s not alone. According to eMarketer, 12.1 million people use Twitter and that number is expected to climb to 18 million in 2010. I found a great Twitter blog that details the top new events, hashtags, sports events, people, etc., on Twitter in 2009. It’s cool. Check it out.

K9 Cop Meets R&R Employee

We had an overzealous R&R employee come to work at 5 a.m. recently. He showed up before sunrise to prepare for a presentation. Sounds like a job in advertising, doesn’t it? The only problem: The building alarm had gone off before he got here. He walked in through the back door, sat down at his desk and started working. Little did he know the police were searching the building with canines. You know … big, mean dogs with really keen noses and razor-sharp teeth. Our employee heard voices and popped up from his cube to say hello. A very large canine cop came running down the hall and lunged at the R&R employee. A human officer, who was just as stunned to see the R&R employee as the employee was to see to the cops, reached out and grabbed the dog’s collar just as his hot kibble breath reached our employee’s nose. Pat Carrigan, our director of Production Services, was thankful for the officer who saved our employee from the mouth of the police doggy.

Gaga for Gaga

Robin Milgrim, an art director in our Las Vegas office, is clearly gaga for Gaga. I can’t say I blame her. After years of pop stars badly regurgitating someone else’s lyrics to dance moves someone else invented, 2009 brought us Lady Gaga. Robin says it best when she writes:

“I’ve never been a fan of pop music, but I think the rise of Lady Gaga stands out this year. As an art director, I am wooed by her attention to theater and fashion. Whatever you think of her, or her music, Lady G stands out as a true artist – aware and in control of every aspect of her image. I say again, in control. Her actions are considerate and calculated. In a celebrity-driven world where so many are just vying to get airtime at any cost, Gaga makes a focused effort to entertain us on every level. She’s not entirely innovative, and could not have existed without artists like Madonna, Cher, Bowie, Elton and MJ laying the pavement, but she has taken everything her predecessors have done and rolled it all into one solid package, giving it just enough of a twist to make her stand out and feel fresh. As someone who generally gives credit to the world of alt/punk for breaking new ground, she gains my props for not being afraid to be controversial and for successfully mixing weird and sexy. Hence the bloody climax at the VMA’s… She makes me want to dress up like I did in the ’80s and dance my ass off in a gay club. As advertisers, I think we can learn a lot from her.”

Tiger, Tiger, Woods, Y’all!

OK, 2009 sucked big time for Tiger Woods, if not more for his poor wife and children. There is so much to say about Tiger Woods – where do you start? Jason Bailey, R&R’s research manager, found it just too ironic that Golf Digest ran a cover pre-TigerGate issue dated January 2010 – which, as you know, is like 10 mistresses later. The cover reads, “10 Tips Obama Can Take from Tiger.” As Jason says, “The unintentional comedy is a hole in one … ba-dah-dum!”

Anonymous Giving

Up north in Salt Lake City, our creative director, Kyle Curtis, lives next door to a nice family who lost their 16-year-old in a car crash. Anonymous donors reacted to the tragedy by paying for the 16-year-old’s funeral and bought the family a new car. Not that it can ever replace the loss of a child, but as Kyle says, “+1 for humanity.”

Cronkite Signs Off As We Sign on

Tara LaBouff, our public relations account supervisor in Phoenix, wrote this regarding the passing of Walter Cronkite and what it means to news in America:

“The news model is changing frantically as traditional outlets accept that they must compete with citizen journalists and digital delivery formats. When Walter passed away, it truly felt like the last page of an epic novel. Journalism as we knew it for the past century is now being practiced so differently from before. There is rampant speculation rather than presentation of facts, chronic interviewing of reporters by other reporters (rather than true subject matter experts), and few outlets employ fact checkers. The up side? Citizens have more ability than ever before to participate in the news discussion and digitally broadcast their side of the story. Going forward, whether journalism experiences another Walter Cronkite is still unwritten. For the moment, who America turns to as the “most trusted voice” appears to be the person most like you with a screen name and profile pic.”

So as we wave goodbye to 2009 and say hello to 2010, I want to wish you a happy and healthy new year. Remember, even when things seem to suck, you can always find something to smile about. I learned from this little exercise that good people still exist, Twitter is both good and maybe a little evil, Tiger should not give Obama advice, Gaga is good for pop music, and to not come to work early. But most of all, I learned people will always persevere and that human nature compels us to move forward. And, moving forward is positive enough for me.

Until 2010 … this is R&R’s resident Web geek saying “stay classy” blogosphere.

1. Begin your LinkedIn relationships with people that you like, know and trust.  You don’t want to give just anyone access to your professional network that you’ve worked hard to establish.
2. In order to grab the attention of those who look at your profile, make sure that your headline (which shows up under your name) is interesting and not simply your job title.  You should lead with something that makes them want to keep reading about you!  Ask yourself what key qualities you have in your position and why do people want to connect with you?  For example, I changed my headline from “Public Relations Coordinator at R&R Partners” to include “Communications Professional and Social Media Advisor.”
3. Think about what you are trying to accomplish with your page and who you are trying to reach and target your messages to those audiences and goals.   Add keywords to your “specialties” and in your summary to improve your search engine optimization.  List the attributes you are most proud of in your position, show statistics of how you’ve helped your business, tell people what you are known for. 
4. Personalize your invitations, it makes a nicer impression than the generic “I would like to add you to my professional network” message. Why do you want to add them to your network? Why should they want you to be a part of theirs? It’s always best to add a special, more personal touch.
5. Be careful trying to add contacts who you don’t know – if five people who you have added click “I don’t know this person,” your account will be suspended.
6. Be sure to keep your profile updated and current with what you are doing.  Try to spend a few minutes each day or each week making sure that you’re responding to messages and keeping up with your contacts.  Your profile is more valuable to you and everyone else if it includes the most up-to-date information about you.

Happy Linking!

None of that has changed. I still believe Tiger is the best ever to pick up a club (even though Jack Nicklaus is, and always has been, my hero). I still believe he will eventually hold every record of significance in the game of golf. I will still root for Tiger Woods the golfer.

But what about Tiger Woods the man? What about Tiger Woods the Brand? Tougher questions.
As far as Tiger the man goes, I don’t know him, have never met him and doubt that I ever will. I will confess to a certain disappointment in learning that the focus, discipline and will that make him so good inside the gallery ropes didn’t seem to manifest themselves quite as sharply in his life off the course. But in the end, I guess it’s a confirmation of what most us knew instinctively anyway. That’s he’s human, with human weaknesses, capable of making human mistakes. Just like all of us. And that’s all I’m going to say, because that’s all I know. I hope he and his family can find some sort of peace and reconciliation. But in truth, that is none of my business.

Tiger the Brand? Well, that’s another story. Because I do have a relationship with Tiger the Brand. In fact, the late Phil Dusenberry of BBDO was quoted as saying that brand is “the relationship between a product and its customers.” So I, and millions of others around the world, do have something to say about Tiger the Brand. He’s our guy. Our Nike guy, our Gatorade guy, our Gillette razor guy, our Accenture guy. We revere him and trust him and believe him. Or at least we did. Now I’m not so sure.

For me, the problem was the first five days. The Escalade hits the hydrant at 2:30 Friday morning and then all day Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday – nothing. At least nothing from Tiger, beyond the first strange reports. But nature abhors a vacuum, and so do the news, sports and gossip media. So they did all the talking for him, and none of it was good. Finally, on Wednesday, the admission of “transgressions” on a Web site posting that expressed as much dismay about his treatment from the media as it did personal remorse for hurting his family. Better, but still not great.

So where to from here? It’s early yet, but I would be very surprised if his big sponsors – Nike, Gatorade and Accenture – run away from him. They simply have too much invested in Tiger the Brand. Will they lose customers? Maybe a small number, but I can’t envision a mass exodus from Nike Golf or Gatorade over this. The products are good, their customers loyal. And as we’re told over and over again, America is the land of second chances. Just ask Michael Vick, Kobe Bryant or Alex Rodriguez.

Soon, we’ll be hearing from marketing types pointing out, once again, how tricky it is for large companies to tie their promotional fortunes to one person and what the consequences are when that one person messes up. I don’t know. Michael Jordan wasn’t a saint and Air Jordan remains a solid brand for Nike. Kobe Bryant’s jersey is the top seller worldwide. People forget, people move on and commerce continues. With a 24-hour news cycle and plenty of other athletes and celebrities out there doing silly things, the Tiger furor will undoubtedly ebb and eventually die out. Especially if he wins a couple of majors in 2010.

But has there been some credibility lost? For me there has. And unfortunately, each day seems to bring a new revelation, or a new name, into the story. And the golfer who has been telling me for the last 13 years to play with Nikes, drive Buicks, shave with Gillette razors and drink Gatorade won’t come out and tell us what happened.

No doubt, it’s certainly his right to stay away from the cameras. This is, as they say, a free country. I’m sure he’s getting advice from lawyers, agents, crisis control experts and all the others who are called when things go wrong. I’m no expert in those matters, but as a fan and as a consumer, I hope they advise him to show all of us that he is capable of the same focus – and the same courage – that he exhibits each day on the golf course.

As part of a long statement, he writes: “I have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart. I have not been true to my values and the behavior my family deserves.”

As I had mentioned in my previous post, Tiger has now stepped into the vacuum of information his silence had created. And while the news reporting will continue, his admission will slow down the feeding frenzy and cause this issue to go away much sooner.

What happens next in his family is between Tiger and his wife, but I do believe this is the beginning of Tiger being able to move forward publicly. And assuming there are no more bombs to drop, this will be a footnote in his storied career.

Tiger – the superstar of the world’s superstar athletes – is stuck in the worst public relations disaster of his career. And it’s all his doing. His story smells funny. The media knows it and his fans know it. The police would like to know it. And the people who pay him hundreds of millions of dollars to endorse their products would like to know it, too.

By now you know the details of his accident — apparently backing out of his driveway fast enough to knock him unconscious after the crash. Injuries bad enough to keep him locked up at home and forcing him to cancel his upcoming appearance at a golf tournament he hosts. Most likely because he doesn’t want to answer the questions swirling around him. The same questions he doesn’t want to hear from police – who have tried at least three times to interview him.

Tiger did release a statement saying that this was a private matter, but given his enormous public stature, he and his team of advisors should know the media won’t stop questioning – especially with rumors of an extramarital affair fueling speculation about this incident.

And while even the most public of our public figures deserve some privacy, history shows us that there’s only one way to make that happen as fast as possible. Just tell the truth.

It worked for David Letterman. The talk show host took control of his PR nightmare a few months ago by breaking his own news first – admitting on the air that he had sexual relationships with some of his co-workers. He did so because that information was about to be revealed during a legal matter. So Letterman bit the bullet, took control of the story and quickly set the record straight, Yes, he took heat for a couple of weeks, But then it all went away quickly.

No one accused him of covering up the truth or hiding – those are behaviors that really start to damage your credibility and reputation.

Tiger, are you listening?

The truth is Tiger will survive this incident, much like Michael Jordan got through his gambling scandals and leaving basketball to play minor league baseball. Like Jordan, Woods is a once-in-a-century athlete who’s worshipped by millions. He will be forgiven.

But to be forgiven, you have to confess. Just step into the vacuum Tiger, please. This will all end much faster that way.