Hell Hath No Fury like a Scorned Twitter User

People... in the age of social media it is not the best idea to anger a Twitter user. They complain, loudly, to their followers. Their followers in turn, retweet to THEIR followers, and so on and so on. Perhaps it's a common ordeal like slow cable service or bad phone service. But every so often it's a BIG ordeal, like.. oh, say, a DEAD MOUSE IN A PRE-PACKAGED SALAD.



Recently, a downtown Minneapolite purchased a pre-packaged salad from the Au Bon Pain in the skyway system. After two bites, she noticed something that definitely wasn't listed on the ingrediants label- a dead mouse. Disgusted, she walked the salad back to the store and showed the manager. The manager apologized, took her contact information, and refunded her money. But was this enough? She didn't think so.

The woman promptly emailed Au Bon Pain, explaining the situation and demanding compensation for the ordeal. In addition, the email was forwarded on to colleagues and friends, complete with photographs of the mouse. Finally, the Twitpic of the salad reached Twitter and has been retweeted among the Twin Cities Twitter community with a warning against the restaurant.

This all may have been avoided with additional care for the situation by the manager. As stated in the email "This is not a 'placate her with coupons' situation." From a public relations stand point, the benefit well outweighs the cost of going the extra mile with a (hopefully) rare situation such as this. Taking extra care can avoid a social media crisis that can seriously damage this brand's reputation.

At the moment when searching Twitter search simply on "Au Bon Pain," the majority of posts are about the dead mouse incident. With Twitter now being used as a search engine to find opinions and advice on brands, a search like this can do serious damage.

I sincerely hope Au Bon Pain corporate rectifies the situation, perhaps ala Dominos.

P.S. Apologies if the photo ruins your appetite... be assured that mine has taken a vacation for the next 3 days or so.

Kim Kardashian's Going to Show us all what PR Really Is.

Previously, I blogged about the presence of PR in reality TV.

In an update to that post, People.com has announced Kardashian's newest project, a reality show focused on public relations. The show will be focused around her friends in the industry, "PR gurus Jonathan Cheban and Simon Huck" of Command PR.

"It'll show all the ins-and-outs or PR. It's going to be really fun. It'll show how there's lots of drama and crisis in the PR world."

Now granted, I have not seen the show, therefore I can not judge thus far. However, I will say why this makes me nervous. So far PR has a Hollywood reputation of being a job in which publicists help celebrities clean up messes. Although I have a deep respect for those in entertainment public relations (it's a tough and 24/7 type job!), there's just a lot more to PR.

Celebrity publicity is just one small facet of public relations. Among the intricacies of the public relations profession are creating press releases, organizing media, strategies of product releases, fostering relationships, facilitating business to business relations, and more. PR professionals can specialize in consumer marketing, manufacturing technology, agriculture, investor relations, and digital media. Each of these practice areas differ from each other in some ways, and are equally challenging in their own right.

The sad thing is, none of this can be conveyed through a half-hour television show no matter how well produced. It took me four years of college, and 5 internships to begin to grasp what PR fully entails. It would be wonderful to see a show attempt to expose the real world of PR. And in the end, it wouldn't really make for good entertainment (credit to my first commenter for this modification, as it's so very true).

Again, this is my opinion. But...If you listen really closely, you can hear a collective sigh among many PR professionals everywhere.

It Slices, It Dices, it does it all! It's TWITTER!

Recently I had the pleasure of discussing the uses of Twitter in public relations with other professionals. Twitter is "a new and exciting tool" that I'm sure most of you are all sick to death of hearing about. But despite all the hype, I really do believe in the value of Twitter in public relations.

It's really a tough sell to most. I've heard, "It's so overwhelming, I can't keep up with this!" and "It's just a bunch of mindless chatter, who cares what you think of Brett Favre joining the Vikings!" and "This will never catch on." These are all very valid arguments. But in public relations, Twitter is quickly becoming an important conduit to creating relationships with clients and networking with journalists.

One great question that was asked recently was "What if my clients aren't on Twitter? Then it doesn't really apply to me!" True, Twitter is making strides in B2B marketing and consumer marketing every day. Box office hits are even being attributed to whether or not the movie got good Tweet reviews. But, Twitter really relies on being a 2-way communications tool, and if your client isn't hopping on the trend, it's tough to justify the jump onto Twitter. Or so I thought.

But then, I found #agchat and I changed my mind.



I am already a participator in #journchat- a weekly conversation on Twitter between bloggers, journalists, and PR professionals. The weekly chat has already helped me do my job better- by letting me gain insight into journalist perspectives and network with journalists and PR professsionals. I never realized there were more #chat's out there until I stumbled upon #agchat.

#agchat is another weekly conversation (founded by agricultural advocate Michele Payn-Knoper) among agriculture marketing professionals and those in the agriculture business.

It occurred to me that even though your specific client may not be on Twitter, there are those out there (such as the participators in #agchat) who can give you valuable insights into your industry. Learning first hand information from professionals in your industry is ALWAYS a way to improve in your career and to improve your work for clients no matter how old you are or what industry you serve.

So, IHF Twitter for once again providing me with ways to conduct PR in a more effective way.

There's that word again.... VIRAL

With YouTube videos like the recently popular St. Paul Wedding Entrance (over 9 million views!) exploding into VIRAL status, it's no wonder communications clients are clamoring to create their own viral videos. Nine million views? That's a HUGE measure. In digital content such as social media it can sometimes be hard to measure the return on investment, which is why viral videos are so appealing to communications clients.

Viral videos can't be created out of thin air, however. Local video expert Jake Nyberg states in WCCO's recent Good Question segment, "I often tell people who want to go viral: viral is not a strategy, it's an outcome. Can you make a good attempt? Certainly." Nyberg is a partner at Three Volts, a Minneapolis video production and marketing firm, and has been enlisted to create many of these attempts in his career.

Nyberg makes a great point, viral isn't a strategy. Often, people assume slapping a branded video together and uploading it to YouTube makes it "viral." In fact, viral can't be promised to any client. Libby Issendorf put it this way: "I still use the word viral, but I'm careful to say it 'could have viral potential'"

That's not to say we in the communications biz should stop trying. "You have to do something authentic that you had no intention of going viral," Nyberg said in his WCCO interview, and it's good advice. Online video can be great exposure to a brand, even without the viral status. And every so often, a viral attempt succeeds.

But we have to realize that in the end, we might get outshined by videos that are very real and human, and tug at the heartstrings ever so slightly.

My Digital Media Resume

A conversation with the lovely Alicia led me to today's post topic. As we talked about gaining experience in our industry, and the fact that "new" media isn't really all that new to our generation, I began to think back to my own use of "new" media. For me, "new" media is actually quite old, and although it continues to evolve, I have evolved right along with it.

I learn, share, create, comment, discuss, and interact on a daily basis, and have been doing so since I was a little girl.

Below I've listed my "Digital Media Resume," to highlight major adoptions in digital media throughout my life. I would LOVE for others to share their resumes, so get to thinking!

Susan E. Garcia
Facebook.com/susan.e.garcia * twitter.com/suze_g * linkedin.com/in/susangarcia

Age 7

• Part of the Babysitters Club (book series) online newsletter (at the time, we had Prodigy as our internet service, which had all of 5 options).

Age 10

• Began using AOL games online.

Age 11

• First Hotmail account for email.
• Created MSN Messenger profile, began to use it religiously after school to connect with friends.

Age 13

• Began using free Web site service (can not remember the name!) to make “funny” sites among my group of middle-school friends. Features included taking polls, and posting glittery animated graphics (oddly enough of leprechauns and American flags).
• Began using online chat rooms with friends

Age 14

• New MSN Messenger profile includes adding your “interests, photos, favorite quotes” thus making updating that weekly the popular thing to do at Omro Middle School.
• Began chain e-mailing of surveys (i.e. “Pass this on to your friends and fill out about yourself)

Age 15

• Created Yahoo! messenger profile for brief stint.

Age 16

• Got first cell phone, downloaded personalized ringtones and wallpaper. Began texting.

Age 17

• Created a Xanga page (much like MySpace). Took down Xanga page one month later.
• Perfected the “texting during class without getting caught” skill.

Age 18

• Received camera phone, started texting photos.
• Used the Wisconsin State Track network RSS feed to check updates on regional athlete stats. • Applied to UW-Madison through a created online profile. Found out about my acceptance to UW-Madison online BEFORE receiving the official letter.
• Joined MySpace, began doing silly surveys about myself.
• Joined Facebook to “meet” my new roommate at University of Minnesota.

Age 19

• Maintained a MySpace and Facebook page. Used them to connect with new friends, stay in
touch with old friends.
• Created AIM profile to chat with new UMN friends.
• New .edu email for school. Included MyU online profile, e-grades, online classes, and Web
Vista for online homework. Could now monitor progress for classes all year long.

Age 20

• Mastered the Facebook “remove tag immediately because this picture makes me look
______” skill.
• Began to watch TV online (ABC.com), and used Fuse.tv online forums to find new music.
• Subscribed to the NYTimes podcast to listen to on the bus every morning.
• Used Facebook to update friends while in Washington DC for summer. Created group for the summer interns to organize get-togethers.
• Used Washingtonian.com blog to find new things to do.

Age 21

• Joined Google Reader to keep my RSS feeds in one place, and share with friends.
• Created GMail account, routed all email to one place, and started GChatting.
• Joined Twitter (@suze_g), began by tweeting insignificant observations.
• Began religiously following music blogs.
• Began use of Pandora.com, and Hulu.com
• Created Tumblr account to share art and music.
• Created the short-lived "OMG Remember This?" blog on Blogger with fellow intern, to speak to all things 90’s.
• Created LinkedIn profile. Connected with old and new colleagues.
• Created MNArtist.org profile for gallery I was interning for, to help it network with local artists.
• With my first Macbook, began to use iChat to consolidate all messaging services.
• Began regularly commenting on blogs.

Age 22

• Joined the fabulous YAYBIA! crew as a PR liaison.
• Created Muxtape mixtape.
• Began using Twitpic to tweet photos.
• Created new Tumblr to display my resume and writing samples.
• Became member of PR Open Mic, a public relations student network.
• Assisted in the creation of a highly interactive campaign for the 2008-09 NSAC team.
• At internship, pitched bloggers on a variety of subjects.
• Began social media monitoring for brands.
• Began using Twitter to share links, create conversation.
• Used LinkedIn to find entry-level job opportunities, and make and maintain connections in the PR industry.
• Became social media intern, and now eat/sleep/breathe social media daily.

Notable Skills:
YouTube watching and sharing, Google Mapping anything and everything, keeping my Google Reader at below 1000+ items, retweeting at least one link daily

I'm sure there are digital resumes that top this one, so hope you share! KTHXBAI!

"I'm Lovin' " this new McDonald's outdoor ad (sorry, I couldn't resist)

I have an IHF for McDonald's for this great interactive advertisement. And not interactive as in online (though there's potential for online photos and YouTube views), but INTERACTIVE as in on the streets interaction from people of all kinds. The advertisement utilizes what "Best Week Ever" described as the "holding up the Leaning Tower of Piza viewpoint," for tourists or just regular citizens and their cameras.



The advertisement is in London's Piccadilly Circus area, a large tourist traffic area.

Huh??

I was flipping through the April Cosmopolitan magazine (yes, I'm that far behind in life..) and I ran across this ad from Oscar Mayer about their Deli Creations Flatbread Sandwiches:

Now, I'm not saying this is a BAD advertisement, it's not groundbreaking but it did make me a little hungry for that delicious-looking sandwich so it did it's job in that sense. But "Blogworthy" ?? I'm just not getting the reason for the whole thing. The copy below explains that it's under 350 calories and that it's "worth writing about."

Is this a PR tactic? Pitching to women bloggers via ads instead of on phones and in emails? Or is it just trying to be relevant by bringing Internet terms into the ad? I'm confused... thoughts anyone?

Happy Earth Day!

The Yaybia Crew loves the earth! Hell, we ALWAYS recycle our beer cans (though mostly to get rid of evidence that we actually bought a case of Keystone Light).


There are lots of ways to celebrate Earth Day today using my favorite medium, Social Media.


Facebook: Join in the green efforts AND win awesome prizes by adding the Hot Dish application


Twitter: After only one minute of viewing the "Happy Earth Day" search on Twitter, I was notified that 44 new posts just appeared in the last 5 seconds! Join the trend and tweet your support!


YouTube: YouTube's spotlight videos all feature green news and tips, and to check out even MORE green online videos, check out the YouTube LiveGreen channel!



Blogs: One of my favorite social media blogs, Mashable, has posted 5 Inspirational Earth Day Videos, including the trailer for the newest Disney-produced movie "Earth," which opens today.



Happy Earth Day!!!

Twitter and YouTube for Crisis Control? Interesting..

Most of you savvy communicators have probably caught wind of the Dominos YouTube video incident. In case you didn't: two employees of a Norh Carolina Dominos store created an online video while doing disgusting things to the food they then supposedly served up to unknowing customers. Cheese in the nose and then on my pizza? Vom.




Anyways, Dominos obviously had a public relations crisis on their hands after the video became popular knowledge. I mean, afterall, I wouldn't be too quick to order a pizza from there after seeing that, even if I knew that MY Dominos probably was clean and law-abiding.

Dominos launched the usual crisis measures by reaching out to those who were aware of the video, and firing the employees responsible for this fiasco. They even filed for the arrest of the two offendors. The pizza franchise was criticized by some after this, for not taking a full-blown PR course of action. However, it seems as though Dominos was considering a different approach to the crisis.


Dominos seemed to recognize that an online crisis may be better handled with an online response. In the days after the incident, Dominos launched its first corporate Twitter account (dpzinfo) and vowed to "listen" to consumer's concerns regarding the video and other issues. They also posted information on the incident to its corporate Web site, and released its own YouTube video featuring the company's president Patrick Doyle. Doyle apologized to consumers for the incident and explained what the company would do to rectify the situation.


Using social media and online tactics, Dominos has responded to a crisis in a more direct way, allowing for direct feedback. I'm very curious to see how well this pans out for them!

Mmmmm, SPAM.

It was inevitable that when social media overtook emailing in popularity, the spammers would follow suit and target a new outlet. With advanced filters, spam mail hasn't become nearly as annoying as it was back in the early days of email. Social media spamming, however, has the potential to be the newest thorn in our sides.

While I know this is technically a communications tactic, my personal opinion is that spamming has to be one of the least effective ways to connect with an audience. Sure, annoying commercials have a tendency to stick in our heads, but annoying spams just end up in the trash, unread.

Smart social media networks do as much as possible to prevent this from happening. Below is my "Spam Report Card" for my favorite social media sites. Some are doin' it right, some... not so much.


FACEBOOK A- With formal methods available like creating Fan Pages, Applications, and other such additives, spamming doesn't make sense for most companies. Another bonus: when posting a link you are asked to identify your validity, eliminating the possibility for rogue links. One negative: the bout of viruses infecting profiles, creating fake status updates and wall posts for many users. Such as "CHECK THIS OUT: I JUST FOUND MY CRUSH" and then a link. Annoying, but as far as I can see, hasn't happened as of late. Facebook is quick to fix these glitches.

TWITTER: A Twitter has been fairly immune to spamming, however lately more and more Twitter handles are being created solely to "follow" users with a spam message. These messages are anywhere from the usual "win a free Kindle" type messaging from obscure sources, to legitimate companies spamming their products and coupons. The nice thing about Twitter is, if you don't click "follow back" to any of these handles, you are nearly uneffected.



MYSPACE: C- MySpace has been pretty spam-filled from the start, at least in my experience. There is a consistancy of new "friends" being created as a front for spam messaging. If you don't immediately protect your wall to be private, it too will be filled with spam messaging. Similar to Facebook's temporary problem, viruses are prominent, creating fake wall posts from you to your friend list. One plus is that MySpace seems to be as quick as possible to remove profiles that are created for spamming purposes.


Any others doing it right? Or others that are far from spam proof?

You Tube gets Educational

Yesterday, YouTube launched a new facet of their popular online video site, creating a new forum for colleges and universities to be heard.  YouTube Edu allows higher learning establishments to create channels and upload videos highlighting the schools' activities, research, and achievements.  Public relations score!  

My head is spinning with all the amazing ways this new addition can be utilized.  You Tube is one of the top five popular sites among people ages 18-34, and now with Edu it can be a great source of pride for students and recruitment for potential students.  Additionally, isn't an online video highlighting major research efforts and breakthroughs much more interesting that a formal press release?  The site is an easy hub to direct journalists to, who are interested in learning more about any university or college's major achievements.

Currently (and I'm really proud to say this) the University of Minnesota is one of the most popular channels among over 100 institutions creating channels as of yesterday.  The U of M's channel already hosts 95 videos ranging from highlights of U of M research to tours of the new TCF Stadium.  Way to be a leader, U of M.  First Twitter, now You Tube.  Universities, especially the U of M, are taking a head first leap into the world of social media, and people are paying attention.  

Gen Y Can't Get Enough Interaction!

Hey kids, I'm baaaack.  School and life caused a brief hiatus in my writing, but I'm back with a vengeance and ready to dive in to the social media scene once again.  So here goes.

Gen Y has an amazing regard for all things social. With hours spent online, Gen Y moves beyond face-to-face interaction and additionally seeks social interaction in a digital sense.  

My generation spends a large amount of time creating an online persona through social media. Facebook and Google recognized the need to add interaction to the mix long ago with their chat functions.  Now, moving beyond IMing and Facebooking, Gen Y is craving even more interaction with their online activities.

Hulu.com recognized this, and stepped up recently with their new friends feature, allowing users to not only watch their favorite shows (mine is The Office) on their own time, but to interact with friends while doing it.  Viewers and friends can simultaneously watch a show and chat about it using the feature.  

They also have the opportunity to shape their online persona even more by creating a profile, sharing opinions, and displaying recent activities.  

Good idea? Not sure until I try it, but all I know is this may increase the amount of "that's what she said" jokes now that I have an online forum as well....

Miller High Life and its One Second of Fame

Libby's post about utilizing the Super Bowl spots beyond their simple traditional media value got me to thinking about the Miller High Life ad. You may just have missed it if you looked away to dip a chip or crack a beer during the big event, but that one-second spot was surely there.

Miller High Life took another approach to garnering extra ad values for their much buzzed one-second ad. Not only did the ad cost them less than the standard $3 million (it is reported to have cost around $100,000 for that momentary flash on screen), but the hype before and after have gained major media impressions for the brewing company. In my PR-oriented mind, that means a lot of positive attention and publicity value!

Beyond media coverage, the ad utilized their production of the commercial to create the "Ads that Didn't Make the Cut." You can see the ads either on the company's satellite page for the ads, or at YouTube (see video below).



More advertising exposure gained by Miller High Life, but not at the cost of $3 million per spot like Budweiser spent on some (in my opinion) fairly disappointing ads.

Side note: My favorite commercials were the Doritos snow globe and Cars.com ads. Yours?

MTV Shows Us the "Reality" of PR

Fellow Yaybia member Danielle recently posted about the portrayal of the ad-industry in movies.  With the debut of "The City" (MTV’s spin-off of The Hills, which is a spin-off of Laguna Beach… whew my head is spinning) I started to notice that PR has gathered its own reputation based on a few television series, all thanks to MTV. 

Loyal followers (or lazy channel surfers) of MTV may remember a reality show several years back following PR agency owner and celebrity socialite Lizzie Grubman.  “PoweR Girls” chronicled the lives of Grubman and four female assistants competing for a spot in Lizzie Grubman Public Relations, an agency based in New York that deals mainly with celebrities and their endeavors.  The women had to plan nightclub openings and album launches, mingle with celebrities and the press, and ultimately earn Grubman’s respect. 

Then came “The Hills” featuring Lauren Conrad of “Laguna Beach” fame.  After a couple seasons at Teen Vogue, Whitney and Lauren relocated to The People’s Revolution, a PR agency run by Kelly Cutrone.  The agency deals heavily in the fashion industry. 

Also, Heidi Pratt of "The Hills" (supposedly) works at Bolthouse Productions, an event firm which deals in Los Angeles's nightlife scene (club openings are the main “work” we see Heidi deal in when she’s not draping herself over creepy Spencer Pratt). Her job is featured often on the show, as well as promoted on the company's Web site.

“The City” spun off very recently, and with only four episodes under its belt, shows the life of Whitney Port in PR position at  Diane Von Furstenberg’s company.

Finally, Kelly Cutrone of The People’s Revolution is now in talks of having her OWN show following her work in the fashion PR industry (network unknown so far). 

All this exposure to the industry from MTV, what are the reprocussions?  Is MTV bringing a false light to PR?

Well in my opinion, the Pros are that some of these shows do show that working at an entry level is hard work, and you can’t just breeze through or you’ll make major mistakes that cost you (i.e. Heidi drinking on the job and getting fired).  However, the Cons are that most of these girls live in homes I’ll never dream of owning, wear clothes that cost more than my rent, and frequent clubs that only celebrities can get into.  This is NOT the typical life of a public relations professional, especially at intern or entry level.  I would hope, however, that most of the viewers take these shows with a grain of salt and realize fake from reality.  Any thoughts?

Profitting From Being Free

Today on my beloved Google Reader, Susan shared an article from Mashable about a band's website that had an embedded music video from YouTube that was later removed due to copyright violations. So, to summarize, they had a copyright violation of their own video on their own website. FAIL. I also loved Susan's accompanying quote: "HA. I'm so sick of seeing those copywrite claims. Not being able to see a YouTube of a music video is not going to make me rush over to iTunes and buy it for $1.99.”

This is also a pet peeve of mine (I tried to find an old classic Campbell's commercial the other day, and the only copies had been removed due to copyrights. What?! You are preventing me from seeing your commercial somewhere other than TV even though I am seeking you out? What's that about?).

Anyway, today I read an interesting article on MediaPost (unfortunately subscription required, but I've included a screenshot of the article below). The main point of the article: Making entertainment available for free increases demand, which ultimately results in sales. This includes both officially sponsored content and pirated content. The article cites successful examples of this theory such as the Monty Python YouTube Channel and the RadioHead "pay what you want" online campaign.

This follows the same theory as free samples. Maybe people who would never buy your album would after hearing a song or two for free on YouTube. Why? They don't know if they like your music and won't pay until they do. But, once they like it, they won't want to go back to YouTube and hit play and search over and over again. It's not convenient. You can't automatically have playlists or upload them to your iPod for on the go convenience. Same reason you should be on Pandora, let people discover you, remember you, and appreciate you for allowing them to have free content. After all, I didn't respect Campbell's right to be copyrighted in some rational inner battle, rather, I was annoyed I couldn't share the commercial I loved.

What are your opinions?

MediaPost Article (click through to zoom in)

Social Media's WIN of the week

With our good old Star Tribune filing for Chapter 11 bankrupcy today, it's no shocker to us Minnesotans that the world of traditional media is in some trouble. As a PR professional, it's easy to get a bit nervous that the people we are sending our messages out to may not be there the next day. That's why the smart PR agencies are turning to social media as well as old media for image building. This recent social media triumph has given us extra reassurance that this is the right thing to do.

Yesterday's NYC plane crash into the Hudson River was BIG news, with images being smattered all over CNN, Fox News, etc. But who had the scoop? Who had the very first photos of the crash? Sorry kids, it wasn't our silver fox Anderson Cooper, it was Twitter!

Thanks to the popularity of the micro-blogging site, the news of the crash spread quicker than reporters could get on the scene. A Twitter-user on a nearby ferry snapped a pic with his iPhone (brief sigh of envy) and sent it to the photo application called TwitPic. The tweet read: "http://twitpic.com/135xa - There’s a plane in the Hudson. I’m on the ferry going to pick up the people. Crazy."


Freep.com reported that the picture spread around the social networking world so fast that it crashed the site when 7,000 people tried to view it at once. Amazing.

Ok ok... so Twitter isn't necessarily a news source per say, but Twitter and other frequently updated social networking sites are beginning to become a staple source of information for many who opt out of checking their newspaper in the early morning for the news. And with traditional media faltering on the scene, perhaps it's time to take a closer look at what social media can do for the communications world.

Ad Fail to the Tenth Degree

Google, just when I think I love you to the max, you go and fail on me in a big way. A blog I follow called "Mashable!" pointed out a majorly offensive ad fail from Google Ads which recently popped up in several online news stories about the Mumbai terrorist attacks. Yikes.



I've never heard of getting an online degree in terrorism, so I'm pretty sure that this is a keyword match ad and if it were a story about kittens, we might see "get your degree in kittens online." However, this is where the keyword match feature in these online ads goes from funny to fail in 0.3 seconds.

This was just too bizarre to ignore....

Meow Mix just announced a new reality show called “Think like a Cat” that recently premiered on the Game Show Network. Immediately it reminded me of Brawny’s “Brawny Academy” reality show crafted by Minneapolis’ own Fallon, which got some good attention in 2006. However, Meow Mix’s (along with Grand Central Marketing which developed the concept) attempt at associating their brand with entertaining whimsy and fun, only plays off as creepy and disorganized. The New York Times’ television review describes the show as a “lame attempt to use game-show trappings to disguise what is nothing more than a lengthy cat food commercial.” And that is actually one of the nicer things said in that article (it is also described as “a significant step toward the collapse of civilized society”). If I were handling the PR, that is one media impression I would not want to claim.

On a slightly better note, Best Week Ever’s Michelle Collins (whom I worship for her pop culture insights) dubbed this show one of her “Reasons to Live” simply because this promo is too hilarious to ignore.



While this is all very amusing, I don’t really see what it’s doing for the brand except drawing ridicule upon a pretty staple name in the cat food industry.

Fallon may have been able to pull off the commercial disguised as a reality show quite well, but does that mean other brands should attempt the same? Sometimes good ideas are best left alone to the ones who crafted them in the first place.

I Knew That Fail Whale Looked Devious....

Nothing has quite fired me up more than when I checked my Google Reader the other day, only to find that in my “MediaBistro: PRNewser” feed was an article with this offending question “Do We Need PR Anymore Now That We Have Social Media?” If I wasn’t going to sound crazy at work in my little cubicle, I probably would have jumped up and yelled, “UM, YES?????”

I calmed myself a little bit when I realized that the article was sparked from a panel discussion called "Is Social Media Killing PR?" which recently took place at The Horn Group to address the issue of social media and PR’s relationship.

The event was inspired by the growing number of blogs questioning the necessity of PR in this time of a social media boom. As the Horn Group described the event in an online invitation:

“Jason Calacanis thinks you should fire your PR agency. Robert Scoble thinks you should ignore it. Michael Arrington says PR is "broken." Jeremiah Owyang sees value in it, but has challenged PR people and their critics "to engage in a head on discussion".”

Possibly feeling the same sense of fiery objection that I did, Girls in Tech and The Horn Group got together, gathered a panel, and decided to tackle this issue head on against critics of PR and with advocates of the profession (you can catch a liveblog of the event HERE).

A great point brought up is the fact that social media is a TOOL. Public relations is so much more than that. In public relations, we use every communication tool at our disposal to get a message out to the public. We have strategy, we have tactics, and we have contacts that ordinary people may not have the access to.

There is one way I feel that social media could threaten public relations: if as professionals, we ignore its importance as a tool and do not make the effort to learn how to use it in the right way. Already though, agencies are working to understand the growing medium to its fullest.

Padilla Speer Beardsley, for instance, has created a team of social media experts within the agency called the SMERF team (Social Media Elite Response Force). The team holds frequent meetings to share new social media findings, and to educate those in the agency who wish to learn more about different types of social media. In the crunch of a new client pitch, the team can be called upon to generate ideas and help others understand the medium. In December, the group plans to hold a Social Media Boot Camp, so that all who wish to become proficient with this tool, can. (I get to give a speech about Twitter…. I love my job).

If agencies keep up to date on this medium, then I see no reason why we can not coexist peacefully, despite the grumblings of Jason Calacanis and others. Social media is another tool for strategic communications to use to spread a message. In the end, what really matters is that you have a good message that people are willing to listen to and take seriously. Kara Swisher of the Wall Street Journal’s “All Things D” said it best at the end of the panel discussion:

“What's important is that you're representing a company that genuinely has a good product. You cannot (do) PR (on) a crappy product and it doesn't matter how many press releases you get on a website. All that really matters is that you have a really good product. I don't remember the last time I picked up the phone and went ‘Oh my God, it's a communication tool...’ Focus on the product!”

GET OUT AND VOTE TODAY!

Hello all, it's your friendly PR gal reminding you to get out there and vote! I stood in line for almost 2 hours in not so comfy heels, and it was worth every second.

Now, just a small interesting article to share with you all. Obviously, strategic communications is THE major aspect of campaigning. Speech writers, spokespeople, and campaign strategists are all working toward something that PR professionals do every day. We work to change or reinforce public opinion. It's just a bit (ok a lot) more important in their case to get the public behind a candidate than it is for me to try to get the public to like a can of soup.

That being said, PR Week released a great article today with some insights from highly respected public relations professionals giving their insights on who will win today, and why. It's worth the read.