Strategic Public Relations

Executive Blog vs. Executive Blog Roll

BusinessWeek’s Bruce Nussbaum points out the next best thing to an executive blogging—an executive actively reading blogs. Specifically, P&G’s Vice President of Design Innovation and Strategy, Claudia Kotchka.

Kotchka helped A.G. Lafley shift the house of brand’s focus to design. This effort secured P&G's spot as one of the top ten most innovative companies in the world.

Nussbaum suggests of Kotchka’s blog roll: “Now take a minute and think about this list. I figure it's worth about $1 million to you—if you use it wisely.”

The value seems a tad high—unless you’re one of the blogs short listed. But his point is that it’s valuable to know what blogs help shape Kotchka’s perspective on design. He's right.

In the process, Nussbaum has created a way for executives to bathe in the glow of social media without blogging and a way for well-read blogs to get an implied endorsement from a Fortune 25 brand.

Do you know which blogs your top customers read? What about your employees? Do they all know which ones you read? Creating and sharing these lists can be a valuable exercise, "if you use them wisely."

tags | P&G | social media | BusinessWeek | blog | branding | brand | design

Is that a Monkey in Your Trunk?

Ads featuring monkeys may be deemed a tired gimmick, but I think Suburban Auto Group’s Trunk Monkey ads offer a fresh spin on the classic animal approach.

En route to Chicago from Cincinnati, I saw a billboard for SAG with the following tagline: "Home of the Trunk Monkey." Naturally I Googled it and found the ads. They are solid creative for what I assume is a regional buy. But why no tie-in’s with the Beastie Boys?

“Trunk monkey, that funky monkey.”

tags | advertising | marketing | Trunk Monkey | Beastie Boys

Web 2.0: Call It What You Will

The latest meme is trying to erase “Web 2.0” from our vernacular.

Fine. I don’t disagree. But, as RSS clearly shows us, we could call Web 2.0 jabberwocky and it wouldn’t matter.

Blaming a tired phrase on the kind of delusional behavior that preceded the dot com crash is like blaming Wendy’s for scalding your junk after you spilled coffee on it.

No matter what shiny bead emerges as the next big thing, the basic tenets of business and marketing should always apply.

Here’s an idea. Lets fold “news release is dead” in with “kill Web 2.0” to make one tired, er, uber meme? Just sayin’

For more...Susan is tracking the “Web 2.homage,” Mule nails it and we’d like to tip our hat to Brian for bringing it all to our attention.

tags | Web 2.0h No | Web 2.0 | buzzwords

Friday's Flickr Fix - 05.26.06

m1 uploaded by Rosie O'Donnell

As Flickr’s popularity continues to build, you should add it to your short list of research tools. You Google reporters, right? Flickr them, and their outlet, to see if anything interesting pops up.

Search broadly on news, or zoom in on a TV show that has water cooler's buzzing. You might even find pointers to more online content via Flickr billboards.

The service is young, so it’s still hit and miss based on content and search capabilities. But as you can see, Flickr users tend to give you behind the scenes access and a unique perspective. This alone makes it a valuable research tool.

tags | Flickr | Rosie O’Donnell | Lost | media | media relations

The News Release Format is SHIFTing

SHIFT Communications unveiled a new format for the news release today that incorporates social media hooks in an effort to make your next news release as highly-networked as a blog post. Todd Defren is leading the charge and, like anyone on a mission, he will probably get arrows along with the accolades.

Side Note: Todd, the blogs calling for change are usually the same ones that kick the crap out of anyone that actually answers the call.

The Bad Pitch blog is all for improving old tools by blending them with new ones. But if your writing sucks or you are not writing about news, no format will save you from the dustbin (or from a blog post calling you out in front of your peers for that matter).

So as we join the din of PR bloggers giving Todd a well-deserved salute, we would like to remind readers that a news release supports a pitch as background information. A news release is not a pitch.

In the past month I have received two emails that were nothing more than a news release. After challenging the senders on why the release was relevant to my readers, I received concise explanations. I can only assume that these explanations were not sent as pitches in the first place because it was a mass pitch.

Regardless, be sure to check out the SHIFT template. If it does not make sense, take heart. SHIFT is a high-tech agency. So you have some time to learn more about all of these social media tools, and how they might improve your public relations efforts, before they become mainstream. But don’t wait too long. Even the Associated Press is busy inking deals to ensure it becomes more Web-friendly.

Cross-posted at the Bad Pitch blog.

tags | public relations | PR | media relations | media | good pitch | bad pitch | bad pitch blog | SHIFT Communications | Todd Defren | blog

Four Links – 05.24.06

AP unveils deal to tie stories to blogs: Associated Press
The AP is busy inking deals with Technorati and Topix to become more web-friendly.

Nike "Plus" Apple: wow! Adverblog
Nike and iPod are morphing products to provide the ultimate runner’s high. Thankfully for me, Father’s Day is right around the corner. Be sure to check out the smart Nike Plus site to see how well the two companies integrate their products.

Introducing the iTod: B2Day
Speaking of iPod…this is for my 1 year old son, chillin’ at his crib. I can already hear myself saying “when I was your age, we listened to music on cassette tapes.”

Advertising Goes Postal: Ad Age (req. req.)
The U.S. Postal Service sees big money in branded stamps while Springwise is betting logo-laden hand stamps will be the next new thing. I just wish Haagen-Dazs created their stamps before adhesives were standard. Ice cream flavored stamps? Lick it up!

tags | public relations | PR | media | Associated Press | advertising | Haagen-Dazs | Nike+ | Nike Plus | iPod | brand

It's Funny Because It's True

Zippy is so Zen. Or is Bill Griffith reading Hugh?

A friend of mine sent me this cartoon which should remind bloggers everywhere: step away from the keyboard and check yourself every once in awhile.

And eating some fruit every once and awhile wouldn't hurt either. ;-)

Apple Builds Buzz, Inspires Customers on 5th Avenue

Retailers bring their A-Game to 5th Avenue, New York City’s premier retail corridor. From the timeless classic Tiffany & Co. and the dark, foreboding Abercrombie & Fitch to the chi-chi minimalism of Salvatore Farragamo and the swoosh of Nike Town—docking your flagship at 5th makes a statement to the world.

Apple knew this when it opened its underground store in front of the GM building. The store gives nerds customers, 24/7 access to the Apple experience and builds buzz.

Apple filmed its first day of existence to extend buzz online. Each hour is condensed into time-lapsed clips and made available for viewing.

PSFK points us to one savvy, romantic Apple geek fan, that staked out an hour-long spot in front of the store to propose to his then girlfriend (Lets assume she said yes). The couple gets a great story to tell to their kids and Apple gets even more buzz for its brand and its new store. Check out the 05:00 film to see the tender moment unfold.

And while I am a bit partial, BusinessWeek covers the opening, further detailing the power of the built environment to build a brand (emphasis added).

Apple is opening what's likely to be considered its flagship store on May 19, the fifth anniversary of the announcement of plans to build a retail business. The timing hits home the message that Apple's strategy -- much criticized at the outset -- has been a success. Retail stores last year accounted for about 17% of sales, and consumers picked up some 609,000 Macs at retail stores around the world, to say nothing of iPods.

My hunch is that the proportion of total sales will grow as the result of this store alone. Consider this: Apple retail stores generate about $4,000 per square foot per year, said Ron Johnson, the Apple senior vice-president in charge of the retail operation, in remarks on the morning of the opening. This new store boasts 10,000 square feet, which suggests about $40 million in sales per year is an easily attainable goal.

How do you like them apples?

tags | fifth avenue | Apple store | advertising | marketing | brand | retail | retail design

Video Marketing Savvy

Video can give your marketing efforts a boost in a variety of ways. Here are two small, smart examples, at either end of the budget spectrum. Let’s start with event promotion on the skinny.

YouTube Makes Event Promotion Easy
In the aftermath of a successful event, Philip Young created a video wrap-up and posted it to YouTube.

”London: The Movie” was created using a digital camera, Photo Story 3 and some podcast excerpts. It’s a great way to build interest in a follow-up event without adding a line item in your event budget for a videographer (Hat tip to Neville Hobson).

GM Sponsorship is About Access
From skinny budgets to big-boned, Ad Age (reg. req.) tells us that GM is sponsoring the Survivor Finale on-demand.

Survivor fans in select markets will be able to watch the episode for no additional charge through Comcast's video-on-demand platform. This will be the first time an advertiser has fully sponsored on-demand prime-time broadcast programming.

The program will air with only three commercials. The ads direct viewers to the GM Showroom, an on-demand destination that provides videos, along with in-depth product walk-arounds of various GM vehicles.

This is a clear payoff to the sponsorship, unlike Sprite and LOST where I had to figure out the connection/payoff on my own.

GM is doing more than cutting a sponsorship check here. They are creating customer good will and awareness by providing FREE access to VOD and tying themselves to the buzz of a popular show and VOD technology. This would be the polar opposite of what NBC created by pulling SNL’s Lazy Sunday/Narnia Rap from YouTube and turning it into an iTunes revenue generator.

tags | event marketing | YouTube | GM | video on demand | advertising | marketing | media | Delivering the New PR | Philip Young

Sprite’s LOST Ad Leaves Bad Taste in Mouth

Sprite decided to ”get weird” ( reg. req.) to stand out from other, more bombastic, colas.

So they created a tie-in with the hit television program LOST. Sprite ran a quick ad for a fictional company that is in the series. A URL at the end of the spot pushed viewers to Sublymonal.

Many viewers eagerly got online and typed in the URL without knowing it was for Sprite. I was one of the lemmings, curious as to what I might find. Upon seeing "subLYMONal" in the meta tags, I realized how Ralphie must have felt in the movie “A Christmas Story.”

“Be sure to drink your Ovaltine. Ovaltine? A crummy commercial? Son of a bitch!”

But it got worse from there. This mysterious web site, already detailed on Flickr, started me on a series of Google searches and LOST fan site visits that merely confused me all the more. The only thing I know was that I spent a lot of time following up on the URL from the "fake ad" and there was no Sprite/consumer payoff of any kind.

Sprite continues to confound. It had my interest. It impressed me with its new approach and its ability to connect with a large segment of their target audience. Sprite intrigued me via TV and left me hanging online. They give me no reason, or desire, to drink Sprite at the end of it all…only the ire to fuel a negative rant for Google to stash away for posterity.

UPDATE: Ad Freak reports on Jeep's LOST tie-in. Perhaps being second has its advantages? Jeep follows the Sprite formula, but actually has an obvious payoff woven into it. If a third sponsor is included in this week's season finale, I hope they saved the best for last.

tags | advertising | marketing | brand | Sublymonal | Lost | Sprite | Coke Blak