Solomon McCown &

Where is the consumer when it comes to health care and health care costs?  That's an important question and one that needs to be factored into any effort to change how we get and pay for health care in the future if the changes have any chance of succeeding.

Recent results from a series of eight focus groups conducted by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), give us a little window into that question.  The focus groups took place in Philadelphia, Charlotte, Chicago and Denver and involved people who got their insurance from their employers and from the private market with deductibles of $500 or more, Medicare recipients and one group who were uninsured.

Here's what they found:  When it comes to cost, people think of what they have to pay for health care.  They really have no broader understanding of "how insurance works and/or how doctors are paid."

While participants knew very well that the cost of health care was going up, they really don't know why but they do know "practically to the penny" what their out-of-pocket costs are, something RWJF said was a new development.

For most of the participants, saving money on health care was a personal issue that related to having more money for other areas of their lives rather than because it was good for the country.

But there's some good news here as well as health care tries to control and reign in costs and that is many participants in the survey didn't necessarily think paying more for health care was related to better quality of care.  That surprised RWJF and frankly goes against what is usually referred to as the "Neiman Marcus" effect - the idea that if it costs more it's better.

The conclusion - the consumer wants more information and there is room to engage them in what is changing and why.

By Michal Regunberg, SM& Senior Vice President

As if we needed another reminder on how not to manage your brand's Facebook page, today's lesson is brought to you by local Boston eatery, Pigalle. It has all the right ingredients for the quintessential social media flambé: disgruntled customer, poorly thought out response (quite possibly the understatement of the year), and the eventual post-viral apology. Who would've thought a bad piece of pumpkin pie could possibly lead to a major PR crisis?

After a not-so-just dessert on Thanksgiving, one customer took to Pigalle's Facebook page to offer her scathing review. In response, the head chef went on a profanity-laden tirade over the course of several comments, personally attacking and degrading the now never-to-return-again customer, even going as far to tell her to "come back for your two hundred dollars" because "I don't want your money." Yikes.

Of course, such a shocking over-reaction was not about to go unnoticed, and a screenshot of the conversation - taken before the post was eventually removed from the restaurant's page - spread easier than a melting piece of butter on a fresh bread roll. After being picked up by BostInno.com and Barstool Sports, it was time for the apology, which was posted a few hours later. But the damage had already been done and the situation had spun out of control.

While such a stunning example of brazen candidness as this is rarely seen (most business owners know better), it raises some interesting questions on how to deal with customer complaints in a public forum. Over the past few years, Twitter and Facebook have become the next-gen suggestion boxes for customers to voice their support or air their grievances. While we'd love it if all posts were Michelin-level testimonials, people tend to complain more than compliment.

To use Facebook effectively for your brand, you must be transparent and responsive to customers who are taking the time to interact with you. Handle their complaints as you would if they had complained in person: with compassion and understanding. And think twice about deleting a negative post; it takes a confident brand to display both clean and dirty laundry, and your customers will respect you for the way you handle and address criticism. (Unless, of course, the post is offensive or flat-out false, in which case it should be removed immediately). If you do find yourself in the middle of a social media crisis, apologize immediately and sincerely. Pigalle got that one right, at least.

Social media is such a wonderful tool for brands to connect with their customers on a personal level and build deeper, lasting loyalty among them. Don't make the mistake of letting your emotions get the best of you and say what you're really thinking when faced with an angry customer. Remember: Everyone is watching what you say. And whether you're the CEO of a multinational corporation or head chef of a local restaurant, no one is immune from a social media snafu going viral.

By Justin Ordman, Senior Account Executive at Solomon McCown & Company

The Health Policy Commission held its first meeting recently in front of a packed crowd at the State House. After being sworn in by Gov. Deval Patrick, the Commission quickly got down to business discussing the Commission's responsibilities and expectations.  Chairman Stuart Altman described the Commission's role as "a sounding board on how the system works" and reminded members that they took an oath to the Commonwealth, not to individual interests.  While mostly focusing on an administrative agenda, one small discussion toward the end of the meeting stood out.

A short but invigorated conversation took place regarding the need to educate providers about the new law.  Sec. JudyAnn Bigby brought up the topic and expressed concern that we could see the same failures of the 90s reform efforts again if providers don't understand the goals and workings of the new system.  She also expressed the need to protect providers from potential ruin by educating them about the changes they are going to see moving forward.  Other members of the Commission agreed with her concern.

She is right. How can providers be expected to work within the new constraints of the system if they don't understand it? This is their livelihood that is being changed - they have a professional and financial stake in this game so it is important they understand what is happening and why.  And it is important they are an integral part of the conversation.

In today's provider world, they do not have the time or resources to read a 350-page law and learn the details.  As patients, we want providers spending their time focused on patients, not studying public policy. That information needs to be analyzed, packaged, and presented in concise and easy to digest tools that are brought directly to the provider.

Providers are at the front line of health care reform.  With a system focusing on a shift to prevention and team-based medicine, providers not only have to understand reform, but they need to be motivated to participate in order for reform to work.  Providers are the best bet for change, and their involvement and understanding is crucial.

By Alicia Bandy, Senior Account Executive at Solomon McCown & Company

We've all heard of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. But this year, there's a more powerful and heartwarming way to kick off the holiday gift giving season: #GivingTuesday.

#GivingTuesday, a social media driven campaign debuting this year on November 27, was created by a group of charities and corporations to make the Tuesday after Thanksgiving a day of giving to those in need.

#GivingTuesday aims to deter a disappointing trend in our society. With the recession hitting Americans hard, it's no surprise that last year, as Giving USA reports, Americans gave $298 billion to charities, well below the peak of $310 billion in 2007. However, in the same year, there was a near $1 billion uptick of retail sales on Black Friday, wherein buyers spent $11.4 billion-all in one day. The idea behind the campaign is to gain as much enthusiasm, as seen at store fronts and malls on Black Friday, towards volunteering and giving to causes all around the nation.

Only a few days away, I can already see the promise in this campaign. Not only is it armed with a resourceful website, a blog with endless content and a major presence on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Tumblr and Twitter, #GivingTuesday has a major asset on his side: simplicity. The campaign is adaptable and allows every individual, family, organization and business the ability to find a way to give or promote giving on social media and beyond.

In the coming days, I hope everyone will take a break from the "shop 'til you drop" mentality and join this important movement, whether it's giving money, goods, services, blood, time-or by simply spreading awareness about the campaign.

I expect #GivingTuesday will show what I know to be true: nothing can overcome the power of social media and generosity.

Internet Domain GoDaddy.com is no stranger to crisis, having experienced more than its fair share, including several backlashes as a result of their overly sexual advertising and a customer revolt over a video of their CEO Bob Parsons killing elephants.

Monday afternoon crisis struck GoDaddy.com again when the Internet domain lost control of its website services almost entirely, causing GoDaddy hosted websites and email services to go offline. How did this happen? Shortly after the outage, someone on Twitter claimed to have hacked the GoDaddy system as part of Anonymous, a loose confederation of rogue hackers. However, today GoDaddy announced the shutdown was a result of the failures in the company's own systems.

While GoDaddy's system was up and running Tuesday morning, the several-hours long crash left many GoDaddy customers frustrated -- and reacting on Twitter and blogs. One comment thread on a TheNextWeb.com article even called for a class action lawsuit against GoDaddy for the loss of business for the day.

Despite its prior crisis experience, GoDaddy has shown too slow to respond and take the lead role in providing information. Here are four crisis lessons to be learned from GoDaddy's woes:

Be the first to break the bad news.

GoDaddy made the mistake of not breaking the news first. As seen in this screenshot of Google results shortly after the crisis happened, it's easy to see that GoDaddy did not have a direct presence in the crisis. GoDaddy's voice was swimming in a sea of other articles publicizing the issue.

If GoDaddy had responded in a timely manner and alerted their customer base and the general public first instead of having news sources find out about the shutdown from a secondary source, the crisis would have been much more easily managed.

Go beyond apologizing. Establish and communicate a plan of action in your announcement.

GoDaddy deserves some credit for attempting to control the crisis by responding on social media with apologies and numerous "thanks for understanding" responses. However, customers wanted answers. By providing periodic public information updates to the client via Twitter, Facebook and their website, GoDaddy would have been able to keep customers informed, while showing them their company is working to solve the issue.

GoDaddy did publish a message on their main webpage, but only for a brief time. The message simply stated GoDaddy is experiencing issues and is working on the problem, leaving their customers mostly in the dark without any information updates. If GoDaddy were able to communicate to customers what exact steps they were taking to manage the problem, customers would have likely responded differently.

Provide your affected customers a place to express their frustrations and seek assistance.

If GoDaddy had a central place for customers to vent their frustrations and answer questions, they would have had a stronger voice and been able to contact customers more efficiently. Because Go Daddy lacked this central place to respond, customers retreated to discussion boards, such as TheNextWeb.com and other platforms. Instead of opting to try and contain customer concerns on their home turf, theygave customers no choice but to vent their frustrations outside of the GoDaddy website.

Put a halt to any external communications efforts, which could come off as inappropriate, as soon as possible.

Ironically, shortly after the crisis, GoDaddy sent customers  a back-to-school themed  email blast entitled "Today's Lesson." The timing of the email made it sound like an internal response to the crisis to customers. However, the email only revealed a 20 percent% off offer. GoDaddy should have recognized this email title could be perceived as a response to the crisis and stopped the communication from occurring.

In the midst of a crisis, it's important to be conscience of how communications and media relations efforts can be perceived.

Establish a crisis communications plan for future crises.

Although it is impossible to predict any and all crises, when a crisis strikes, communication is critical to protect an organization's reputation and ability to fulfill its mission. A swift and effective response can prevent a challenging situation from escalating into a full-blown crisis with far-reaching negative implications. The key to responding well in a crisis is preparation. Given that GoDaddy is not new to the crisis scene, a communication plan is likely already been established. However, given their poor response to the recent outage, it seems their crisis communications plan is in need of some serious improvement.

By Amey Owen, Account Coordinator at Solomon McCown & Company

Over the past few days, our client Hostelling International has been featured in several different media outlets for the grand opening of its new Boston hostel. It all started with a successful ribbon cutting ceremony that included speeches from Mayor Thomas Menino and Boston City Councilor Ayanna Pressley as well as dragon dancing. The coverage included:

- WBZ radio's Doug Cope was there to discuss the building's green aspects and affordability with Hostelling International New England Executive Director Deborah Ruhe.

- Boston.com's Jeremy Fox from Your Town Downtown wrote an article expressing excitement over the hostel's environmental efficiency as well as it's promotion of cultural community.

- The Boston Herald touted the opening and a shot a video of the hostel.

- NECN's New England Business also put together a segment on the hostel.

- Additional coverage of the hostel can be read on CityBizList Boston and Northeast Real Estate Business Online.

Last week, The Boston Globe previewed the hostel with an article and slideshow highlighting the its unique features including its energy efficiency and affordable pricing.

On June 16, our client, Hostelling International, was featured in the Boston Globe's Business section regarding the official opening of its newest Boston hostel. The article discussed the affordability of the hostel in a competitive market, as well as its environmental efficiency as it strives to achieved LEED Gold certification. The hostel will officially open with a ribbon cutting ceremony on June 22 with an expectation to bring in more than 46,000 guests annually and generate more than $16 million of direct spending by tourists at Boston restaurants, entertainment venues and sightseeing spots across the city.

To learn more about the hostel, click here.

The hostel was also featured in Boston Globe Magazine for the hostel's open house on June 22.

SM& recently promoted Alison Thompson to the position of Vice President, overseeing the company's corporate, real estate, finance, professional services & consumer accounts.

"Alison has been an important part of the SM& team for five years. She exemplifies real leadership, not only on her account teams, but with the entire agency, encouraging initiative, creativity and mentoring staff" said Ashley McCown, President of Solomon McCown. "With her hard work, dedication to clients and her teams, she is very deserving of this recognition."

Alison's promotion was featured on Boston.com, PRNewser, Bulldog Reporter and the Boston Business Journal.

Congrats, Alison!

Just in time for those September and October weddings!  Check out the September 6 post on Style Me Pretty featuring a guide on bridesmaid outings and gifting options by Erica Corsano of Gilt City, our client.

Click here to read the full post.