Hurricane Katrina opened the hearts and pocketbooks of many Americans. And many of them sought to generate free publicity for their generosity.

The problem was that the media quickly became overloaded with press releases announcing that yet another company was giving money to hurricane relief.

So they stopped running the stories. Contributions that may have been news in a normal situation quickly became non-news simply because everybody was doing it.

This is a key factor that everyone should recognize - if everyone's doing something, no matter what it is, it's no longer news.

Plus, the reporters quickly develop a hardening of the attitudes, causing them to say "if you want to give, then give, but don't expect me to make you look like a hero because of your generosity."

Frankly, they're probably right...

But if you want to get publicity for your charitable actions, you've got to do something to stand out.

So when someone asks "will I get press if I give all of my profits for the next month to Katrina victims?" I answer "it depends." Of course, that could be news if you're P&G, but probably less if you're the corner barber. And maybe yes if you're trying to get attention in your small town newspaper, but not in the national or larger city papers.

One side note here - contributions that are tied to sales like giving a percentage of profits have a slimy feel to them - "we only donate if you buy" doesn't sit right with people...

But what about "I've just chartered a plane and am sending 400 members of my staff to New Orleans to dig people out for two weeks." I'd say that's news. In fact, if you positioned it correctly, you may be able to get one of your local news reporting teams to go along, scoring you a major hit!

One contribution that stood out came courtesy of Oprah Winfrey. At the end of her season premiere, Oprah did a 5 minute segment in which she announced:

1. She is personally giving ten million dollars to Katrina Relief. That's a big enough number that the Red Cross probably paid attention...

2. She has established a unique vehicle to help her viewers to contribute. She set up a registry on her website which enabled viewers to buy the kinds of things that people will need to put their houses back together once they arrive back home - couches, dishes, washers, dryers, even whole houses! Plus, she is providing a pass-through for individuals and corporations to give money directly to the relief efforts.

Oprah knows how to make an impact, both on others as well as her audience. This is sure to help her with her "relations" with her "public" and that's part of what public relations is all about!

The thing that amazes me is that none of the big office supply stores have jumped on this one. There are thousands of small businesses that lost the materials they needed to conduct business. I'd love to see an Office Max program where they donated a large sum to small businesses in the hurricane-affected areas, plus allowing their shoppers to donate supplies through a registry-type service to those who need them most right now.

Lesson to be learned? You've got to stand out if you want media coverage. This applies not only in day-to-day situations, but in disaster situations too. Frankly, if you can't find a way to stand out, you may want to consider not even asking the press to take notice, so that you don't waste time and your reputation for always feeding them great stories over a non-news story.