Turtle Bay Should Hire Carol Phillips (or me) To Be Their P.R. Guru

Turtle Bay is getting massacred in their PR battle with the opposition to the Resort development.

• - If this were a game, it would be Kahuku Varsity vs. the Waialua Bull Pups
• - If this were a debate, it would be Keith Olbermann, Bill Maher and Chris Matthews teaming up vs. Helen Keller with an audio and video format.
• - If this were a fight, it would be Mike Tyson vs. Pee Wee Herman
• - If this were a battle it would be the Sparta 300 vs. a high school ROTC class
• - If this were a sobriety contest it would be Mitt Romney vs. Lindsey Lohan
• - It is Barry Bonds vs. a cheap pinata.

You get the picture. The likes of Defend Oahu Coalition and Keep The North Shore Country are running roughshod over the Turtle Bay Resort and Oaktree Capital Management. I really do not get how a company with 600-700 employees, most who are happy, can let a bunch of serial protesters who are telling outrageous lies and using disruptive tactics get the best of them.

As you all know, I am a huge fan of Turtle Bay. I have many relatives and friends who work there. I want more hotels to be built so they can become managers, get more opportunity for our kids and grand kids.

It is getting harder to keep the faith. For example, here are some of the things the opposition is saying and doing recently.

• -Most amazing of all, the Defend Oahu Coalition held a press conference while rumors of Turtle Bay's sale were rampant and managed to get a massive front page story in the Honolulu Advertiser with a map of where all the dead people were buried. Turtle Bay had no response. I am sure the Starwood people really got excited to do a deal after that story.
• -Defend Oahu is going to confront the Mayor during a clean up over in Haleiwa on Saturday 8-4-07. Here is their text from an email I got (in italics) I imagine Turtle Bay will have no response: Honolulu Mayor Hannemann and his Cabinet will be on the North Shore of Oahu cleaning up beach parks this Saturday... DOC members are asked to join him wearing your green Keep the Country Country t-shirts to remind the Mayor of our commitment to Keep the Country Country!...Details are below... At midday the mayor and his Cabinet will be available to talk story and have lunch at the park. ...Remember to wear your green Keep the Country Country T-shirt! Aloha, DOC
• -8-3-07 Letter in the Honolulu Advertiser from Mark Cunningham includes the following: STARWOOD'S DECISION A VICTORY FOR OPPONENTS Starwood Hotels & Resorts' decision not to get involved in the proposed Turtle Bay expansion should be considered a victory...Every day across the island, I see more and more T-shirts and bumper stickers exhorting the powers that be to "Keep the country country." ...I know we all can continue to work together to preserve the hundreds of acres of undeveloped and agricultural land surrounding Turtle Bay along with the last several miles of raw, untouched coastline remaining on O'ahu.
• -The Defend Oahu Coalition Protested at Turtle Bay's free to the community 4th of July Festival and Fireworks. Turtle Bay let them.
• -The Defend Oahu Coalition marched right through the heart of Turtle Bay on a Saturday morning to protest against alleged ancient burial sites. Turtle Bay gave them bottled water.

In the mean time, Turtle Bay has been busy. Here are some of the things they have done recently but YOU TELL ME IF YOU HEARD ABOUT IT!!!

• - Turtle Bay hosted a lunch where proceeds from the 2007 Turtle Bay Championship and SBS Open were given to North Shore charities by their partner Friends of Hawaii Charities. The total distributed was $110,000. Since 2001 they have given away almost $450,000 to primarily North Shore charities.
• - The held a Disney on parade event for a 5 year old as part of a Make A Wish fulfillment.
• - They held a bone marrow drive to help another child.
• - They are having deeply discounted Junior Golf programs to help local kids learn to play.
• - They sponsored a North Shore football clinic.

I have some some information and advice for you Turtle Bay. Hopefully it will wake up your management staff and make you realize that you are losing the PR war. Perception IS reality in PR. As Andre Agassi once said "Image is Everything". Your opponents are crapping all over your image.

The only messages the politicians are getting is all the noise from the kooks and liars. This makes them fearful of showing you any support. Who would want to jump and defend someone who is doing NOTHING to help themselves?

Your opponents are at war against you. They would love to see the whole place blown up and go away. They will do anything and say anything to try and stop you. They will lie, spray graffiti, protest and intimidate,.

The opponents have a letter writing campaign going on to the newspapers. They have an organized rotation of writers. They are getting every story they have covered by print, web and the broadcast media.

They are getting bolder in their tactics, telling more outrageous lies and they are getting traction. There is a saying that lies, repeated often enough become the truth. The Nazis used this tactic, so are your opponents and without your response, it is working.

TURTLE BAY IS DOING NOTHING TO DEFEND ITSELF OR GO ON OFFENSE.

The lies they tell are easy to dismiss. The people they put forth as experts are a bunch of kooks.

Turtle Bay, why don't you do some of the following:

• - You have the law on your side, explain how that works.
• - Sue the liars. They are saying you are threatening lawsuits. Since you don't refute anything, people believe that is true. So, you might as well do it.
• - Tell your story. Why aren't you letting people know the truth about jobs, number of units, the fact that all this land was developed before as houses, agriculture and for god's sake - a military airfield.
• - Show some pictures. Surely you have some photos that show houses on Kawela Bay that were there before, the agricultural fields, the airstrip. The opposition is saying this is a pristine wilderness which is totally false. Show us the historical truth.
• - Organize your employees, your vendors, your clients, your partners, your friends. The opposition is getting every man, woman and child they can to pitch in to stop you. Get some of your own people to help.
• - For gods sake, talk to the press. Be honest. Have a comment. Get on TV. Do radio call ins. Hire a PR Agency. Write some letters to the editor. Take some credit.
• - Go to the Neighborhood Board meetings. You are getting bad mouthed in every meeting by the liars and kooks. Get someone to tell the truth to the communities.
• - Fight back. Get a spine. Defend yourself. Go on offense.

My best advice is hire Carol Phillips to do your PR so she'll stop kicking you butts.