The Shmeggs' Time Warner Scoop

Time Warner Supports Education and the Arts

2007-11-19T09:23:00.000-08:00

Time Warner focuses its community support on the arenas of education and the arts. The corporate office directly funds local and national organizations that nurture creativity and diversity in the arts. The company’s arts funding is centered in the areas of broadening public access to the arts, engaging undeserved youth with the arts, fostering diverse voices in the arts, and capital campaigns and corporate memberships. They also contribute funds to programs that are working to strengthen public schools in New York City, and close the college-opportunity gap so children from all areas and financial backgrounds will be given the necessary tools to further their education in college. Time Warner details its philanthropic support in the Community section of their website. You can take a look here: http://www.timewarner.com/corp/citizenship/community/index.html.

The divisions of Time Warner run their own programs that also follow the company’s focus on education and the arts. For example, the AOL Aspirations Fund awards grants of up to $10,000 each to middle schools and high schools that are dedicating themselves to providing their students with opportunities and helping them envision positive futures. Time Warner Cable recognizes creative K-12 teachers with its annual National Teacher Awards. Turner Broadcasting employees provide 10,000 hours of volunteer service to more than 40 nonprofit sites every year as part of Turner Volunteer Day. The company posts the totally number of financial contributions it has made here: http://www.timewarner.com/corp/citizenship/community/community_more/index.html.

This year, Time Warner established the Principals of Excellence Awards to honor principals of the New York City public schools. Time Warner selected five principals based on their quality of leadership and dedication to students. Each award includes a $20,000 grant for the school and a $5,000 honorarium that will go directly to the principal. Time Warner began these awards in order to honor the men and women who are vital to the improvement of our schools and raising the academic achievement levels of students from all backgrounds. You can read more about the Principals of Excellence awards here: http://www.timewarner.com/corp/citizenship/community/principals_awards/index.html.

Time Warner has chosen a single focus to support in the community in order to ensure their efforts connect to their values. Concentrating their resources on a single focus allows the company to make a greater difference in one area. Time Warner’s community relations program supports the mission of the company. Time Warner’s mission involves encouraging innovation and originality. The arts embody these qualities, therefore by supporting the growth of the arts Time Warner is helping innovation and originality to thrive. In addition, their philanthropic focus on public schools contributes to the success of their businesses in the future. The media industry relies on continuous new ideas for their success, which can only be made possible if younger generations are attending college and receiving the proper education to develop these ideas.

In addition to funding, Time Warner should hold more events to raise awareness for the need to support the arts and education. Due to the company’s widespread reputation, an event would attract the nation in addition to the local community. I think the company could increase the effect they have on the causes they support if they held more events because it would spread the importance of contributing to this cause. I also think holding events would show that the company is actively involved with the causes they support. Funding is a great way to contribute to the community, but an event will give people the impression that the company is taking their community relations efforts to another level.

Crisis at Time Warner Inc.

2007-11-08T12:58:00.000-08:00

Time Warner Inc. experienced a crisis in January 2007 when Time Inc. cut 289 magazine jobs to focus more on Web sites. Time Inc. laid off employees from its top magazines, including People, in order to invest more in the magazines’ Web sites. The cuts were deeper than expected, with 172 of them coming from the editorial side and 117 from the business side. Time Magazine lost 50 employees and shut down its bureaus in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Atlanta. Seven jobs were also cut from the magazines Washington Bureau. Sports Illustrated lost approximately 30 employees due to the layoffs. People Magazine lost 44 editorial workers and shut down its bureaus in Washington, Miami, Chicago, and Austin, but created seven new correspondent jobs around the country. The motivation behind Time Inc.’s layoffs was the movement of readers and advertisers from print to web. The company decided to streamline its publications in order to strengthen its online presence. You can read more about the layoffs from this Washington Post article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/18/AR2007011801706.html.

The PR people at Time Warner Inc. handled the crisis by being prepared. The company had been discussing the possibility of layoffs for a while so the PR people were able to anticipate the crisis. In addition, the PR people at the company had dealt with layoffs before when AOL merger with Time Warner Inc. in 2001. Therefore, they were able to look back on how they handled that crisis and mimic positive actions they took and change actions that did not benefit the company.

The PR people ensured that the proper spokespersons promptly responded to the concerns of employees. Larry Hackett, People’s managing editor, delivered a message to its employees by speakerphone from the magazine’s New York offices. They made leadership available to the media for responses. After the news broke, the PR people issued responses from executive level employees. Ann S. Moore, Time Inc.’s chief executive said in a statement, “We need to continue to evolve to meet the cost pressures and challenges presented by our rapidly shifting industry.” The layoffs, she said, “are part of a restructuring necessary to sustain our progress.” John Huey, editor in chief of Time Inc., also sent out a memo stating that the cuts were being made to help “move quickly into a future of flexible, multiplatform content.” These quotes from Ann S. Moore and John Huey can be found in the NY Times article about the layoffs here: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/19/business/media/19time.html?n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/People/S/Seelye,%20Katharine%20Q.

In addition, they accommodated the media’s needs and were easily accessible. When I interned at Time Warner Inc. over the summer, the company would designate phone lines to media calls on days when there would be many media requests. They also logged the media requests to ensure each received a timely response. Time Inc. also monitored its news coverage about the layoffs. Time Inc. uses Cision, a monitoring service, to log its print and broadcast news coverage. You can take a look at the Cision website: http://us.cision.com/. This helps the company to determine how its messages are working and see the context in which people are discussing the company. The company is then able to tailor their messages according to the news coverage. Time Warner Inc. also expressed regret for the 300 layoffs. In Larry Hackett’s announcement to the employees at People he said he regretted the cuts, but that they were necessary for “the health of the magazine” as the company addresses the “needs of the Web site, specials and other technologies that will be emerging.” The company apologized for the problem, but emphasized why the layoffs were necessary.

If I was a PR person at Time Warner Inc. during this crisis I would have expressed more concern for the well-being of the employees. I would want the CEO to express restitution in a statement to show that the company is compensating the employees who were affected by the layoffs. I think the public would have been less outraged by the company’s actions if they had communicated with them about what they were doing for employees that were laid off. I also would have set up a toll-free number that employees and the public could use to contact the company with questions and concerns. I think it would have also been a good idea for the CEO, Ann S. Moore, to have held a face-to-face meeting at each division of Time Inc. so the employees would feel that the company is concerned with their well-being despite the layoffs.

Time Warner's Community Relations and Branding

2007-10-28T20:46:00.000-07:00

Time Warner is successful in both their consumer relations efforts and brand management. Time Warner has developed long-term relationships with its customers through its consumer relations. The company dedicates itself to offering its customers innovations in technology, products, and services. The “About Me” section of the company website details their pledge to their customers. It states that “We value our customers, putting their needs and interests at the center of everything we do.” (You can check out this statement here: http://www.timewarner.com/corp/aboutus/mission_values.html). Time Warner also dedicates itself to the privacy protection of its consumers. They devote significant resources to privacy protection, and are open about how they collect and use consumer data. I believe this creates a trust in the company amongst consumers because they see the company is taking steps to protecting their privacy. You can read more about each division’s commitment to consumer privacy and the actions they take to ensure consumer privacy here: (http://www.timewarner.com/corp/citizenship/customers_content/consumer_privacy/index.html). Every division of Time Warner is at the top of their categories, which demonstrates that the company has been successful in gaining loyal customers that choose the brand for various categories. They have also maintained a positive image in the mind of the consumers as being credible sources of information. A core component of the company’s values is its journalistic integrity. You can read about what each division of Time Warner does in order to ensure its customers can trust the information, products and services delivered to them here: http://www.timewarner.com/corp/citizenship/customers_content/journalistic_integrity/index.html). The PR people at Time Warner keep track of public opinion to ensure the company is successfully in their consumer relations efforts. Most of the divisions of Time Warner have blogs that allow the consumers to give feedback to the company. Each division also provides many ways in which consumers can contact the company such as telephone and e-mail. I believe the PR people keep track of the questions, complaints, and other comments that consumers make through these methods of contacting the company and use them to improve opinions.

Time Warner has positioned its brand in the mind of consumers as the leading media and entertainment company that offers the latest innovations. When I think of movies, magazines, cable, and other forms of entertainment, Time Warner is the first company that comes to my mind. I believe many other customers feel the same way and instantly associate Time Warner with the industry. Has Time Warner been able to condition us to associate its brand with entertainment??? I believe Ivan Pavlov would say they have! I think the company has done an excellent job at managing the character of its products and services. People know that they can rely on Time Warner to offer products and services that are innovative and excellent quality. I think their brand image is also one of social responsibility to the community. The company addresses business, environmental, and social issues within the community. I think this proves to consumers that the company is devoted to me the well-being of the community and gives them a positive brand image. You can take a look at the company’s social responsibility report here: http://www.timewarner.com/corp/citizenship/.

I think the public relations people at Time Warner help to enhance the brand image of the company by keeping the public informed about events and news. This makes consumers feel like they are a part of the company, which is a great way to gain their loyalty. The public relations efforts to inform the public are also a great way to promote company events and news highlights. The public relations people constantly post news and press releases on their company Web site and the Web site of their divisions to maintain this contact with the public. You can look at the newsroom section of the company Web site here: http://www.timewarner.com/corp/newsroom. The public relations people also enhance this brand image by hosting events that demonstrate its concern for the community. For example, the company held an awards dinner to honor principals in New York City. This is an excellent way for the public relations people to gain media attention of the company that will show their social responsibility. In addition, the public is more likely to believe a source such as a newspaper rather than a company as being credible so pitching the event to the media will increase the brand image of the company.

Media Relations at Time Warner

2007-10-16T20:49:00.000-07:00

Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (TBS, Inc.), a Time Warner company announced the acquisition of Claxson Interactive Pay Television Networks in Latin America is complete. TBS, Inc. received formal approval from the Comisión Nacional de Defensa de la Competencia in Argentina for the acquisition of seven pay television networks currently operating in the Latin American market. These new channels will be operated by TBS in Latin America, under the direction of its president Juan Urdaneta. The networks include Fashion TV, HTV, Infinito, I.Sat, MuchMusic, Retro and Space. The company announced the acquisition is valued at $235 million. TBS Latin America will be assuming the sales representation rights for Claxon and third party-owned networks in Latin America. In addition, they will provide related technical services to these networks.

I was particularly interested in the announcement of this acquisition because we discussed media relations in my class, so this allowed me to investigate how a company used media relations for an important announcement. I was able to see the approach Time Warner took toward media relations and the tools they used to make the announcement. I learned about the completion of the acquisition on the home page of the Time Warner website, which linked to a press release announcing the acquisition that is located under the Newsroom section of the website. You can check out this press release here: http://www.timewarner.com/corp/newsroom/pr/0,20812,1668740,00.html. I searched the acquisition using Google and discovered that the company issues the press release to other news Web sites who posted the press release. You can find the press release on PR Newswire here: http://sev.prnewswire.com/entertainment/20071004/CLTH04804102007-1.html.

I believe the press release that is posted on the website is very thorough and provides the public, employees, and company stakeholders with sufficient information regarding the acquisition. The press release describes the acquisition and then gives background on both Claxson and Turner Broadcasting System. The actual press release showed me media relations decisions Time Warner made regarding the announcement. The press release stated that the official close of the deal was announced by Louise Sams, president of TBS International and executive vice president and general counsel for TBS, Inc., and Roberto Vivo-Chaneton, chairman and chief executive officer of Claxson. I think it was a good decision by the companies to choose the president, vice president, and chairman and CEO of the companies to make the announcement. The acquisition of two companies is important news that affects a wide range of people, so I think it is important that senior management made this announcement. The press release also includes a quote from the president of TBS international, Louise Sams. This quote explains how the acquisition will enhance the company’s channel offerings, and will allow them to deliver a whole new range of quality programming genres to audiences throughout Latin America. I think the company made a good decision to include this quote in the press release because it shows how the president is concerned with serving the public interest.

I also think Time Warner used good employee relations tactics during this announcement. This past summer I completed an internship in the public relations department of Time Warner, so I am familiar with the efforts they make to keep their employees informed about announcements. Time Warner always posts important announcements on the company’s Intranet and sends weekly e-mails titled “This Week in Review” that summarizes important happenings at the company from the past week. I am positive Time Warner took these measures to inform its employees about the acquisition. I think this is very important because it makes the employees feel like that management is making an effort to keep them in the loop.

I think the public relations department at Time Warner did an excellent job using media relations to make this announcement. I think it was really important that the company posted the announcement on the company’s home page of their Web site and offered a press release announcing the completion of the acquisition. I also think it was good media relations for the company to make the press release available to other news websites. Choosing to use employees that are part of senior management as spokespersons for this announcement was an excellent way of proving their involvement with the acquisition. The messages delivered by Louise Sams in the press release shows that the company is confident the acquisition will enhance the company and that they are concerned with the serving the public’s best interests. If I were a member of the public relations department of Time Warner I would also post a YouTube video of the senior management making the announcement in order to use more new media tactics.

Time Warner Inc. Honors New York City Public School Principles

2007-10-10T09:38:00.000-07:00

On October 09, 2007, Time Warner Inc. announced the recipients of the first “Principals of Excellence Awards.” The awards honor commendable principles that demonstrate leadership in New York City public schools. Each award includes a $20,000 grant for the school, and a $5,000 reward to be given directly to the principal. Principals are nominated for the awards by either their peers or by members of the school community. A panel chaired by Time Warner Chairman and CEO Dick Parsons selects 5 principals to receive the award out of a group of finalists. The panel judges the principals on a number of criteria such as the principal’s leadership, his or her community-building efforts, the school’s academic achievements, and the opportunities the principal’s efforts have created for the students.

Time Warner announced the creation of the awards in May, as part of its commitment to help strengthen leadership within public schools. I think the development of the “Principals of Excellence” awards and the promotion of the awards was a successful attempt of the public relations department to make the public aware of Time Warner’s corporate responsibility. Time Warner has had a longstanding involvement with New York City public schools and the creation of these awards is an excellent way for the company to share this involvement with the public, employees, and company stakeholders. I think the public relations department must have played a role in the creation of the awards and has done a good job promoting the awards. Time Warner announced both the creation of the awards in May and the announcement of the winners of the awards in press releases that were posted on the company website and on other news websites. Click here to take a look at the press release announcing the winners: http://www.timewarner.com/corp/newsroom/pr/0,20812,1669445,00.html. The company also posted an article describing the “Principals of Excellence” awards and what qualifies a principal to receive the award under the community section of the company Web site. You can check out this article here:

http://www.timewarner.com/corp/citizenship/community/principals_awards/index.html. After the panel selected the winners the company posted another article under the same section on the Web site that gives a brief biography of each of the winners. To read up on the winners check out his article here: http://www.timewarner.com/corp/citizenship/community/principals_awards/recipients/index.html.

I think the public relations department did a good job and using the press releases as a way to also share information about the company and what it stands for. I also thought it was a good public relations decision to include quotes from the CEO Dick Parsons in the press releases because it proves he is actively involved in the selection process. In addition to the press releases, the company has organized a special reception and dinner ceremony at Time Warner’s headquarters at Columbus Circle on October 10, 2007 to present the winners with the awards. I think honoring the winners at a reception is an excellent way to increase awareness of the company’s corporate responsibility. I think the public relations department should send pitch letters to the media including television stations, radio, and newspapers so the event will receive news coverage. This would be an excellent way of reaching a mass audience and informing them about the involvement of the company in New York City public schools. I think the company did a good job at promoting the creation of the awards and announcement of the winners. It is very important that the company continues this good work in their effort to promote the reception.

Is Time Warner Keeping Up with the Net Generation?

2007-09-24T10:53:00.000-07:00

Today if companies really want to “WOW” their customers they have to use new forms of media. New Media also helps a company to reach its employees and stakeholders. So what exactly is new media? According to Webster’s New Millennium Dictionary of English, new media is any interactive media, esp. electronic mass media combined with computers. If you are reading this blog you are interacting with a form of new media!
Companies must use new media on their Web site in order to maintain an advantage over competitors. Time Warner has incorporated some types of new media on their Web site to drive traffic. Lets’ take a look at what Time Warner is doing to keep up with the Joneses.

RSS Feed- The Time Warner Web site gives viewers the option of subscribing to an RSS feed of Time Warner press releases. According to WebReference.Com, RSS (Real Simple Syndication) is a lightweight XML format designed for sharing headlines and other web content. An RSS feed is a distributable “What’s New” for your website. Time Warner’s RSS feed is located under the Newsroom page on their Web site here: http://www.timewarner.com/corp/newsroom/rss/index.html. I subscribed to the RSS feed when I decided to write this blog and I have found it extremely helpful. I added the feed to my Google homepage, so whenever I want to see what is new at Time Warner I go to my Google homepage where headlines from the feed are conveniently listed.

Blogs- Time Warner does not use blogs on its Web site however; I typed in blog in the search bar and discovered that many of the Time Warner businesses such as AOL and CNN do use blogs on their Web sites. Here is a link to a blog that was recently launched by CNN: http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/blogs/paging.dr.gupta/.

Podcasting- Similarly to blogs, I discovered that Time Warner does not make use of podcasts on its Web site, but many Time Warner businesses do have podcasts on their individual Web sites. CNN has a detailed page on their Web site that is dedicated to podcasting that you can check out here: http://www.cnn.com/services/podcasting/.

Flash- Flash is a tool that is used for creating interactive and animated Web sites. The use of flash really catches a viewer’s eye and makes them want to spend time exploring a Web site. Time Warner does make use of flash to keep you hooked to their Web site. The Homepage continuously changes colors from blue to gray to purple to red. There are words that are related to Time Warner’s business such as digital journalism, DVDs, and trailers that scroll the screen on an angle. Above the words pictures from Time Warner movies and television shows scroll in the opposite direction of the words. A mouseover (another form of new media) will tell you the title of the movie or show. You can then click on the picture and it will link you to the corresponding Web site. A bar on the bottom of the screen lists the names of the different Time Warner businesses. You can click on each name and the pictures on the screen will change to ones that relate to the business you selected. You can then click on the pictures to learn more about what the picture is displaying. Check out Time Warner’s use of flash on their Homepage here: http://www.timewarner.com/corp/.

I think Time Warner is doing a good job keeping up with the Net generation. I think Time Warner is using the just the right amount of new media to compete with other companies in the industry and reach customers, employees, and stakeholders. I think Time Warner has chosen to not bombard its Web site with new media because it wants to maintain a corporate image. I believe this is why they use more forms of new media on their businesses’ Web sites than they include on their own Web site. If I were the PR person for Time Warner I would suggest the company adds the use of blogs and podcasting to their Web site. I think these forms of new media are excellent ways for the company to spread news and messages to their audiences. They are both extremely effective and relatively cheap forms of public relations that I think would be very beneficial to the company.

Who is Time Warner and What do They Stand For?

2007-09-10T10:34:00.000-07:00

I will be updating this blog weekly with the latest news about Time Warner. I chose to keep a blog about this company because I would like to pursue a career at Time Warner when I graduate. Over the summer I completed an internship in the public relations department of PEOPLE magazine at Time Inc., which is a division of Time Warner. My internship was an amazing experience that left me with a love for not only the magazine, but the company as a whole. I think keeping a blog about the current operations of the company is a great way to keep track of what Time Warner is doing in order to prepare me for seeking a career within the company.

Time Warner is a leading media and entertainment company whose businesses include interactive services, cable systems, filmed entertainment, television networks, and publishing. To read more about the company take a peek at the company's website here:http://www.timewarner.com/corp/aboutus/our_company.html I think Time Warner has been successful in carving out an identity that makes it stand out amongst other entertainment companies. Every Time Warner brand is the most successful in their categories and pride themselves on excellence. You can read more details about each brand in the handy dandy fact sheets provided on the company website here: http://www.timewarner.com/corp/businesses/index.html Time Warner details the values and principles the company prides itself on here: http://www.timewarner.com/corp/aboutus/mission_values.html I think most people expect only the best from Time Warner divisions because of this identity it has established. I think Time Warner’s reputation has both positive and negative attributes. Time Warner has a reputation for being a company that is committed to providing enjoyable entertainment and high-performance services. However, I think people also see Time Warner as a sort of large company dominating the industry and stepping on the smaller entertainment companies. My experience interning at the company proved to me that this negative side to their reputation is not true and I hope that I can demonstrate this in my blog.

In order to emphasize the positive aspects of their reputation, Time Warner publicizes achievements and financial earnings on both their website and in the news. You can access Time Warner's newsroom on the company website here: http://www.timewarner.com/corp/newsroom I think their open policy with the media is partly responsible for their reputation. In addition, they host many events to celebrate their successes with the public and their employees. The company also makes an effort to minimize the negative aspects of their reputation by emphasizing their community service to prove they are not only concerned with the success of their company, but also their community. The company honors its employees for outstanding individual contributions to the community and public service. Time Warner hosts events at which these employees are honored in order to generate publicity about the efforts the company is making to serve the community.

I think a large obstacle that exits for the PR people in their effort to improve the company’s reputation is the large amount of layoffs PEOPLE magazine experienced last year. This Time Warner brand let go of 300 employees in order to concentrate more of their budget toward improving their website. I believe this affected the reputation of Time Warner because people become concerned that this could happen at another branch of the company. I think it is a challenge for the PR people to prove Time Warner cares about its employees and would not have made this decision if it was not necessary. I think an opportunity for the PR people in improving the company’s reputation is the increasing popularity of the entertainment industry in our culture. Americans donate so much of their time toward entertainment and are always looking for changes and improvements in the industry.