Strategic Public Relations

Friday’s Flickr Fix – 09.01.06

A year after Hurricane Katrina and there is still much to do. Brian Oberkirch tells us about two ways to help.

---
Fix the Gulf
Blogs can be efficient tools for gathering current, local news and matching resources with needs. There is still a mountain of work to do in all the communities along the coast, and this new project aims to 1) keep the spotlight on the continued disaster, 2) identify specific local needs and match those with people who want to provide help and 3) spotlight other bloggers, videobloggers, podcasters and locals using these tools to spread the word.

I'm looking for editors in each of the affected towns who want to help me aggregate information and outreach for their areas. In addition to the blog, we have a wiki we'll use to let people post up their own links, requests, material, etc.

HurricaneMind
When a storm comes, we all spend the week asking each other what we're going to do about it. "Are you leaving? Getting your supplies gathered to hunker down? Boarding up? Where you headed?" And so on. HurricaneMind takes that process and writes it large.

The idea is to take the wisdom of crowds and apply it to hurricane prep. In addition to telling you what your neighbors are thinking, I'd like the app to map hotel room availability, gather current open evacuation routes, show you where plywood and other supplies are still available and aggregate news sources in one central spot.

I've started a blog and wiki to get a team together to help me build and launch this community service focused application here.
---

The Times-Picayune is already working with Oberkirch as you can imagine how helpful this project will be for resource-strapped local media. Someone at FEMA or the American Red Cross should also be contacting him. This could become a powerful tool for future natural disasters.

Brian ends his note with “Don't forget about us down here.” No way. Never.

409 uploaded by kzim56

tags | public relations | PR | social media outreach | media | Hurricane Katrina | HurricaneMind | Fix the Gulf | Brian Oberkirch | Gulf Coast | Times Picayune

Advertising Week Needs to Focus on Future

The third annual Advertising Week kicks off September 25th in New York City.

It’s designed to celebrate the industry, but at this rate it might as well be a wake for Madison Avenue.

Vote for your favorite icon and slogan and you’ll get the idea.

There are some venerable brands in there, but if the industry is simply patting itself on the back while looking at the past, how can it expect to be around for the future? At this rate, the only music being played at this party will be a dirge.

Advertising Week should round up its “best and brightest” and figure out how they will drive value to its customers in the future. Social media is more than just the new shiny thing they need to begrudgingly speak to, it’s changing the landscape.

That said I enjoyed voting for my favorite icon and slogan. The winners are announced September 29th.

But where was the sock puppet? Perhaps Madison Avenue is saving that one to represent themselves alongside all things 2.0?

tags | Advertising Week | advertising | marketing | brand | Madison Avenue

CNN, President Bush And A Case Of Potty Mouth

When I attend conferences, I’m vigilant about removing my badge as I leave the exhibition hall ("You down with OCD? Yeah, you know me!"). Heading out into the public wearing a badge on is a bad idea on many levels.

CNN’s Kyra Phillips learned a hard, related lesson yesterday as it applies to lavaliere microphones. She forgot to turn hers off when she hit the restroom during President Bush’s speech commemorating Katrina.

“So instead of getting the president’s remarks, CNN’s audience got that and Phillips in some girl-chat.” Three minutes worth to be exact.

Hot Air flushes, er, fleshes the story out for us here. It was bad enough that CNN issued a formal apology:

“CNN apologized Tuesday after an open mike transmitted an anchor’s bathroom conversation with another woman live over the network as it was carrying President Bush’s speech in New Orleans.”

Back in the day, this gaffe would only see the light of day if it made it into a bloopers special. Now? Kyra is big blogosphere news less than 24 hours later.

tags | Kyra Phillips | media | CNN | President Bush

Four Links – 08.20.06

Is Satan a Victim of Bad PR?    Public Relations India
If you haven’t checked out Public Relations India, do it now. Hobbit is based in New Delhi and has created a great resource.

Free Book on Business Writing   Capture. Deliver. Excel.
Netherlands-based writer Ilja van Roon offers up a free, pdf version of his 90-page book “Capture. Deliver. Excel.” A scan of the table of contents tells me his seventh principle of business writing, humility, is my favorite.

Critics' voices become a whisper    LA Times
“The media have been full of stories questioning the relevance of print critics in an Internet era that has ushered in a new democratization of opinion.” SOaP certainly didn’t help matters.

At The End Of The Day, Study In Hot Pursuit Of Popular Press Clichés Reveals Low-Hanging Fruit    mediabistro
Brilliant soft news research from Factiva reveals top journo clichés.

tags | public relations | PR | media relations | media | Snakes on a Plane | SOaP

Put Your Brand in the Customers' Hands

Here are two interesting mobile phone developments that point to marketing opportunity.

Tattoo You: Motorola's latest offering takes phone customization to a new level. Its free design software lets customers create phone tattoos.

All they need is a set of Avery labels for their printer and some creativity. They can change the skins as often as they like.

Younger consumers craving choice and self-expression will be first in line for this unique accessory, and marketers should add it their list of mobile downloads they offer customers.

Stickin’ It to the Man: Speaking of ring tones wallpapers and self-expression, social activism is coming to mobile phones through Just Cause. Just Cause is a line of mobile phone personalization products, created by Airborne Entertainment. This company is doing some interesting work producing and delivering branded content specifically for the third screen.

UPDATE: The Arizona Republic notes how the cell phone is becoming a fashion accessory in its article: Motorola's Razr turns phone into jewelry.

tags | Motorola | Avery labels | mobile phone | design | tattoo | marketing | phone tattoo | consumer-generated media

Arby’s Online Marketing Leaves a Bad Taste

Arby's approach to online marketing looks as old as some of its classic neon signs.

Marketing Shift's Jason Dowdell blogged his bad experience recently with Arby's and its "I'm Thinking Music Sweeps." Feigned cool with forced slang...the name alone is a red flag.

Rather than letting customers know instantly if they win a free song download, they are required to:

• Visit the Arby's Web site (step one).
• Register with the site (step two).
• Take a survey (step three).
• Enter their code to see if they win a song (step four).

But winners can't download the song yet. Arby's sends download instructions via email (step five). And if you have multiple codes? You have to wait 24 hours before entering another one. But not before logging back into the site (step six, etc.).

Wow. That experience makes me want to run to Arby's this instant to purchase a 44 oz beverage and join the fun. Yeah, you have to buy a bloated tankard of soda before you are honored with this opportunity.

Here's my favorite line from Dowdell's tale regarding company coupons, rebates and contests: "Businesses are based on the people that don't follow through with mailing stuff in or with going online to enter their code and see if they won a free song from Yahoo! Music."

After reading Dowdell's post, I hit Arby's site. As part of its "I'm Thinking" campaign, the site allows you to create your own thought bubble.

Cool, I thought, albeit an homage to the Motorola Pebl Pond. But Arby's thought bubble offers NO customization. Every field other than name has a drop down menu with choices...Arby's tells customers what to think too?! I'm thinking this approach to online marketing sucks.

Original Arby's Sign uploaded by army.arch

tags | Arby’s | online marketing | marketing

Friday’s Flickr Fix – 08.18.06

NewsMap creates a snapshot of the most recent news headlines across several categories.

It uses colors to organize each story by category and uses size to note the breadth of coverage for each story.

I’ve kvetched before about the need for public relations to get creative in how they organize and serve up large amounts of content.

Content may be king, but our target audience needs to quickly understand it in an online, on-demand, time-starved world.

Think about it. Text messages are displacing emails. This means not only fewer words, fewer letters in the words.

Our writing always needs to improve; one way to make it more effective is to embrace the visual.

Back to NewsMap. An aspirational goal for a media relations campaign is to make enough noise to land your client on this map. Disclaimer: This is NOT a post on metrics, just a fleeting thought.

Newsmap uploaded by interfaced

tags | public relations | PR | media relations | media | news

Coupons and Customers: Blog Jam 2006

Eked out two more posts for Fast Company's Blog Jam 2006 before it came to a close.

"Do You Have Any Coupons?”
News from Google and Bath & Body allow me to lapse back into my third screen dreams where marketers do not simply apply conventional push tactics to this new, wireless, on-demand frontier.

We need more than "same stuff, different device."

Passionate Customers Find Their Voice Online
A new spin on a familiar theme pointing out examples of how Target and IKEA customers are talking about brands via social media.

The piece also notes that companies need to look for their customers online, listen to them and in some cases engage them in dialogue.

Blog Jam went by in a blink. You should stop by FC Now and check out some of the conversations created by the more than 40 people posting.

Target: Inspiration uploaded by MadsClausen

tags | Fast Company | Blog Jam | social media | third screen | Target | IKEA | marketing | brand | design | retail design

Food and Astroturf: Blog Jam 2006

Day one of Fast Company’s Blog Jam has started interesting conversations at FC Now. Instead of cross posting, I will point you to my two contributions.

What's Eating the Food Industry?
The U.S. family is changing and the restaurant and grocery industries are losing sales by not responding to the changing consumer. Not my usual beat.

Honesty and Astroturf in a Meritocracy
Catchy title, I know...at least the content's closer to home. Craiglist’s Craig Newmark brought up astroturfing which inspired Treehugger’s Nick Aster and me to respond.

My post is an attempt to let FC Now readers know that our industry is responding. Gotta represent.

More deep thoughts to come from me during day two. Be sure to stop by FC Now and join the fray.

tags | astroturfing | restaurants | grocery | food | Fast Company | Blog Jam

Flickr TV?

Via PSFK, Time Warner is going to offer Flickrish capabilities to its digital cable and Road Runner high-speed internet subscribers.

PhotoShow TV allows users to take their digital photos and video clips to create slide shows, then showing them on the TV screen. Users can even share them publicly with other subscribers over Time Warner’s Video-On-Demand network.

According to Time Warner, “this brings the family photo album to a whole new level."

Pretty cool. But remember when we dreaded being subjected to a relative's vacation slide show? "Here's Aunt Marge with a cactus, here's Uncle Harold with the cactus and here's a picture with just the cactus."

We've come a long way. This has much bigger implications as it relates to consumer-generated marketing and how marketers play into a new channel like this. More from Ad Age on the "growing potential of prosumer produced content." (reg. req.)

Amy and a Cactus uploaded by Paul Hammond

tags | media | Flickr | cable TV | marketing | prosumers | consumer-generated media | Time Warner | PhotoShow TV