April 28, 2007
PARALLEL UNIVERSE: Massey Energy: Where’s Your Sense of Public Relations? Canceling the Picnic’s a Dumb Idea
By David M. Kinchen
Editor, Huntington News Network
Hinton, WV (HNN) – Talk about dumb PR moves: Massey Energy’s decision to cancel this year’s popular summer picnic – held the past four years in Logan, WV – ranks right up there with Sheryl Crow’s advice to use one sheet of toilet paper per act of elimination.
They have that in common – and I’m putting on my public relations hat. In addition to more than 40 years of journalism experience, I’ve worked two separate stints as a PR person, so I can talk out of both sides of my mouth!
I read about this crappy decision – the Massey Energy one – in the Friday, April 27, 2007 edition of The (Beckley) Register-Herald, one of my former employers, where my last gig was as business editor.
The story was by Jake Stump of the Charleston Daily Mail and said the Richmond, VA-based Massey Energy decided to drop the popular picnic – open to the public for a small fee – because of the “struggling U.S. coal market.”
Say what? I live in Hinton, where coal trains are an everyday sight. There’s nary a coal mine for many miles around, but I see plenty of coal moving through the metropolis of Summers County. I'm sure a few lumps belong to Massey and I wouldn’t mind “struggling” like that.
If Massey is hurting so much, why can’t CEO Don L. Blankenship – who described himself at an event I attended in Charleston a few years ago as a “poor man with a lot of money ” – take a bit less. Nobody needs the kind of money he’s paid. Blankenship, 57, a native of Stopover, KY and a Marshall University accounting graduate, makes millions of dollars every year.
Quoting from the Massey web site:
“This year will be his 15th as President of Massey.
“He is a certified public accountant and was recently inducted into the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Business and Industry Hall of Fame. He also received the “Most Distinguished Alumni” award and was inducted into the “Business Hall of Fame” at his alma mater, Marshall University.
“Blankenship serves on the Board of Directors of the U.S. National Mining Association, the Board of Directors of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Board of Directors of CEED (Center for Energy and Economic Development).
“During Blankenship’s tenure at Massey, the company’s value has multiplied eightfold; its reserve holdings have tripled; and it has become the largest producer of metallurgical coal in the U.S., the largest coal company in the U.S. Central Appalachia region, and the fourth largest coal company in America based on produced coal revenue.”
Now that doesn’t sound like a company that’s hurting, does it?
If Massey can’t afford a picnic that gives this gigantic company what PR professionals call a “halo effect,” maybe CEO Blankenship can dig into the plush cushions of his sofa and come up with enough change to fund the event that annually has attracted crowds of up to 50,000 people, according to Jake Stump’s story.
The event in past years has featured top-class entertainers, of the Hank Williams Jr., Commodores, Randy Travis, Ronnie Milsap, The Temptations and the Four Tops variety.
Putting on my PR hat, my advice, Fellas and Gals in the beautiful city of Richmond: Rescind your decision immediately. It makes sense from a journalist’s point of view, too. Maybe even combine the event with a Renaissance Pleasure Faire, with Don L. Blankenship jousting like England’s King Henry VIII in the hit TV series “The Tudors.”
But I digress. Just bring back the picnic and reclaim your Halo, Massey Energy.
