Strategic Public Relations

Issuu Transforms PDF Files into Online Publications

Get your own - Open publication

The best way to tell you about Issuu is to show you. So I embedded this publication I help create at work for our customers.

According to the site you can “upload any PDF file and have it instantly converted to an online publication.” The site is pretty slick -- easy to use and it serves up the files very elegantly. Issuu also makes it easy to post your publications on Facebook, MySpace and several blogging platforms.

Issuu is to PDFs what SlideShare is to PowerPoint decks -- a blessing for anyone publishing content in these formats online.

Much like SlideShare, your content will be part of a library of other publications. You can also rate the content and share it with others/republish it. It looks like folks are also using Issuu to host their portfolios. This is a great idea as the interface and user experience are perfect for the creative/design set.

via Shane Haggerty
tags | Issuu | SlideShare

Chanel Turns iPhone App Store into a Fashion Show

♫On ze catwalk I do my little turn….♫

Just in time for Fashion Week, Chanel dropped a new application into the iTunes App Store. Chanel’s Haute Couture Show F/W 08/9 puts its latest fashions into the palm of your hand.

This application is smart. It includes a quick video of the fashion show, more than 60 pics of the latest fashions, news feed and a store locater.

As marketers scramble to connect with the iPhone demographic, they should consider this approach. It's a mobile event blog, with time-based value. You could encourage the application owners to include their own content through a page with event tags and links to mobile Twitter and Flickr apps.

If I were headed to a major event like the Super Bowl or the Grammys, I wouldn't think twice to download an application supporting the event…even if it would be essentially useless post-game. The Chanel store locater is getting mixed reviews, but the news “chanel” may make users more likely to keep the app on their device.

OK, I’m more of the t-shirt set than the jet set. So I have to ask, does this app make me look fat?

On ze catwalk, I do my little turn... uploaded by prblog
tags | advertising | marketing | Chanel | Fashion Week | branding | brand

Social Media Brings G8 Summit, Olympics to a Screen Near You

Can a backstage pass create a connection between a brand and a consumer? The British Prime Minister and Lenovo are both trying to find out.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has had a Twitter Twitter account set up for some time now. Brown recently built on this for the G8 Summit to bring voters, er, British citizens inside access via Flickr and a G8 blog.

Lenovo is taking a similar approach for Beijing with its "Voices of the Olympic Games." Ogilvy’s Rohit Bhargava is part of a team encouraging 100 athletes from more than 30 sports and 25 countries to use their Lenovo laptops and Flip cameras to detail their experiences.

Their video, Flickr, blogs and Twitter feeds will all roll up into the site and Lenovo is clear in noting it “HAS NOT required the athletes to say anything positive about Lenovo - the aim is to offer its technology to help them share their voices.”

Time Machines
This approach makes perfect sense for both groups and is clearly well-intended. My assumption is that, along with automotive, two of the most active groups online are politics and sports.

Anyone planning programs like this one needs to build in one key component – time. Once the sites go live and promotions are in full swing, true conversations take time. After content is published, the authors in question usually have something better to do other than wait for tweets, emails and comments to roll in for immediate response.

It takes time for plain old back and forth communication to happen. And that's one reason why the value of a social media campaign increases over time as traditional vehicles, like print ads, decrease over time.

Plan accordingly or don't plan on connecting with your consumers.

Light Holders uploaded by Downing Street
tags | public relations | PR | social media | G8 | Olympics | marketing | Lenovo | consumer-generated media | Rohit Bhargava

The First Mash-Up, Circa: 1977

The AP tells us that "some retailers are giving vinyl records a spin" (get it?).

This reminded me of another long-lost recording format. As I wistfully combed the results of a Google Image search for the perfect image of an Eight Track, I found evidence of the first mash-up.

The interactive 8-track looked like the average 8-track, except at the bottom, where the Atari cartridge was connected. These 8-tracks, or "double-enders" as the music/video game fanatics called them, were an instant success and proceeded to change the music industry for at least a couple of weeks.

The double-ender was a hit. Magazines like Rolling Stone and Gamers Monthly hailed the Foghat Live 8-track as the start of the new music and video game revolution. And it was, for the next four years at least, but in the end it was not enough to save the interactive 8-track from the trash heap of nostalgia.

-- Via The Van Gogh-Gogh's

Is it me, or is that guy so beyond smiling that he looks in pain? UPDATE: Yeah, it's a joke. But a guy can dream, can't he?!

You Need Serious Play*

In lieu of a Friday Flickr Fix, I’m serving up video. Last week I won a webcam and this video is the result of my special effects test. When I watched it, the Radiohead mashup came to mind. The two complement each other (and redefine goofy in the process).

This is not my first webcam or my first video. But I’m posting the video to prove a point.

Playing around with new web sites and new gadgets can lead to some serious benefits. My presentations have improved since tuning into Flickr and using video to kick off a slide deck. So this post is to encourage and inspire – while hopefully making you laugh (with me, not at me).

Far too often, I think people want to fully understand new technologies before they start using them. But instead they should just jump in, experiment and engage in serious play. *Serious play is also a design conference and a book.

Heading to NRF, the CES of Retail

Heading to NYC this weekend to attend the National Retail Federation Show at the Javits. In addition to media briefings, we have two presentations and a booth so we’ll be plenty busy.

But I’m pumped to see this year’s ”Store of the Future” exhibit. I’ve covered pop-up retail here before as a great marketing and public relations tactic. The exhibit features technology that supports pop-up retail.

The exhibit will show what the pop-up might look like in the future – “demonstrating technologies such as rear projection film, use of retail scales, pedestrian traffic measurement methods, in-store design, electronic shelf labeling, custom store fixtures, high-definition display screens, user-interface shopping technology, mobile marketing devices, interactive communications systems, innovative anti-theft security solutions and more innovative products.

The M-Wallet, one of Motorola’s latest mobile phones which allows consumers to pay for their purchases with the handheld device, will be displayed. Additionally, IBM will feature a 3D Second Life experience to demonstrate both the consumer and retailer perspective of virtual retailing.

Looks pretty interesting. We’ll see.

If you’re in NYC next week and want to check it out, let me know. I have plenty of free passes.

tags | marketing | retail design | NRF 08

American Red Cross Plugs Social Media Tools into Disaster Communications Efforts – Four Links (x2) – 11.03.07

Now with twice as much link love!

1) Voce Nation Podcast: Ike Pigott/American Red Cross Interview // VoceNation
Ike Pigott details how the ARC uses social media tools "to convey vital information and help people connect during times of crisis — lessons other companies can apply to their own communications programs." An unrelated question: if steel is galvanized and dry cleaning is martinized does that mean Voce’s blog is Hallettized?

2) Utterz Makes Micropodcasting the Shiny New Tool // Utterz
LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, SlideShare, er, I mean Utterz is changing the way I communicate. OK, maybe not. But it’s an interesting site. Listening to Sarah Wurrey on Utterz, I learned about BeFunky. As you can see in this ice cream stand image, it gives photos a “cartoonish” feel to them.

3) The 'Winners' of the Wired News Saddest-Cubicle Contest // Wired
If you’re having a bad day just remember -- it could be worse.

4) Strictly no Photography // Core77
Core77 points us to this site aggregating photos from places where cameras and photography are off limits.

5) iPod touch Ad is Consumer-Generated // TUAW
This takes Tiny Machine to a whole new level.

6) Will Beat Reporters be Boosted by Social Networking? // PressThink
Jay Rosen is helping push journalism forward with NewAssignment.Net experiments. The latest is testing out a social network’s impact on beat reporting. This all reminds me of Steve Rubel’s blog-only news diet from 2004.

7) Orange’s Never-Ending Web Page // PSFK
Got (more than) a few minutes to spare? Check out Orange’s pretty Web site.

8) Dell’s new Investor Relations blog // Andy Lark
Andy Lark’s got a new blog as does his new employer Dell. While I have no experience with IR, an IR blog is an interesting concept. A key discussion started by Jonathan Schwartz is how it might impact disclosure.

tags | public relations | PR | media relations | media | advertising | marketing | consumer-generated media | Ike Piggott | American Red Cross

Friday Flickr Fix: YouTube Serving Up 3 Million Vids -- Daily

No worries, I'm not changing my name to “Captain Video.”

There has simply been an uptick in interesting video news. Today's example is an excerpt from a WWD interview with YouTube’s senior director of marketing, Julie Supan.

"The key difference about our site is about community in control," said Supan. "We let the community decide what's popular."

This strategy has resulted in three million videos watched daily, with 8,000 videos uploaded per day.

The audience is predominately in the 18- to 55-year-old age range, but the topics covered via video have no limit. She showed some examples, ranging from a video that provides instructions on how to make an omelette in a Ziploc bag to another that chronicles a girl with bone marrow cancer who is trying to raise awareness for the disease.

For brands considering YouTube, Supan has imparted three keys to success: be real, be consistent and be interesting. "If it's done for the community in mind, it will be successful," Supan said. "Our goal is to get more great content into the system."

The beauty, and the beast, of this is that "great content" is broadly defined. How does your audience define it?

È una droga. uploaded by psiko
tags | YouTube | marketing | consumer-generated media

VNRs Need To Get This Picture Moving

The FCC’s recent fake news fine has YoungPRPro list members wondering* if the end of the video news release is near.

In other video news, Springwise details a product placement company that will put your CPG onto YouTube. And this, in turn, reminds me of yesterday’s news about Firebrand.

Video is becoming more flexible, widespread and commonplace. VNR use should be increasing, not dying out. The FCC fine could turn the tactic into the TV equivalent of an advertorial, but hopefully it will mostly discourage the offending parties from misusing this tactic.

As video technology gets more powerful, it’s getting cheaper. It’s one thing to worry about print media as its audience migrates to a completely different platform, forcing publishers to change its business model. But VNR production companies have more opportunities than threats right now. Here are four ways VNR production companies can thrive.

Unbundle: Many assume you must pay for an entire VNR package to get access to the biggest point of value – distribution and tracking. By unbundling services, VNR production companies create a lower cost of entry for customers. The end result should be an increase in market share/customer base to which you then cross–sell services.

Leverage: This tactic is getting easier, not harder. And by staying behind the scenes, we’re seeing everyone including your neighbor's kid grab the attention -- in their spare time. VNR production companies should be positioned as cool, video gods. By not positioning themselves and exhibiting leadership in the space, someone else is taking all the credit.

Expand: There are many opportunities here as the market expands. Giving customers more ways to use the carefully crafted content they've invested in adds value to the customer relationship (and revenue to your bottom line). VNR production companies should create a garage/boutique service that puts “street/authentic” video production capabilities into the hands of corporations. Yes, corporations will pay money to make a video that is shaky with less than average production values. This same company can tell me how to turn my b-roll into a YouTube teaser campaign leading up to the launch.

Educate: More directly connected to the FCC news, and reinforcing the need for industry leadership, is the need for education. VNRs are being likened to a devil’s trident thrown by fat cats in Washington as they twirl their mustaches and count stacks of money. Please. Spare me the drama. Which VNR production company is going to step up and lead a campaign raising awareness of the right and wrong ways to create a VNR?

The question posed by the YoungPRPros is an important one, but for reasons beyond the FCC news. VNR production companies need to step up or they'll fade to black.

*Thanks to Andy Aldridge for inspiring this post and helping me bake it.

minimize me uploaded by electronicott
tags | public relations | PR | media relations | media | video news release | VNR

32% of Music Releases Were Digital-Only in 06

At the risk of sounding old, "when I was your age,” we made mixtapes -- not playlists.

According to Apple, 32 percent of the music released in 2006 was completely digital. This music was not available on CD -- much less a cassette or, gasp, an album.

What would Rob Gordon think about all of this? Dunno, but the delta between digital natives and our, er, more mature folk requires new approaches and fresh thinking from all involved.