Unexpected PR Tools

by Dan Ward

OK … we all know that public relations is more than just party planning and events.

But for two of us on Friday, PR involved eluding capture as we drove through local neighborhoods, opening fire hydrant caps for an impromptu, and far from glamorous, photo shoot.

You use a lot of different tools in public relations: news release, e-mail, telephone pitching, etc. But a pipe wrench?!?

Well, when your client markets an internal valve that fits within fire hydrants to protect the water supply, sometimes you have to get your hands dirty … not to mention, wet.

Chocolate Champagne Casino Night Creates Silver

by Kimberly Taylor

Congratulations to C&P Designer Dionne Aiken for winning a Silver Create Award for her pro bono design work on the American Diabetes Association’s Chocolate Champagne Casino Night.

The entry was among 1,500 others that competed in categories such as Silver and Gold, Best of Category, Best of Student, Best of Industry and Best of Show.

The Create Awards is one of the top competitions for working creative professionals across the nation and is highly competitive. Winners will be showcased at the popular Create Chaos 2008 Conference, held at the Orland World Center Marriott October 14-16.

One Task Spawns Many Positive Outcomes

by Ashley Pinder

There’s a lot of discussion over whether “multi-tasking” is helpful or harmful to productivity. One instance where it certainly was a “value-added” activity was last week as Curley & Pynn coordinated and hosted a photo shoot at an Orlando studio for our regional economic development client, the Florida High Tech Corridor Council.

The purpose of the photo shoot: photography for an advertisement.

Three alumni from three universities including UCF, USF and UF were invited to meet for the one-day shoot in Orlando. It was a prime time to make use of these busy and brilliant researchers, who are not only alumni of Corridor universities but have each started their own very successful technology companies through the help of our client’s matching grants research program.

All in one place at one time – bringing their story, likeness and brains – provided the opportunity for us to “multi-task” in order to get the most impact we possibly could out of their time. Not only did we photograph group shots for several versions of the ad, but we did individuals for profiles to be used in other collateral; we captured the entire process on a handheld camera in order to produce viral “authentic” footage of asides and antics to share on various online channels; we shot a video interview of each alumni talking about how the grant funding helped their company to grow, which will not only serve as the basis of each written profile to be produced for a magazine, but will also provide a much needed content update in the form of “Faces of Technology” clips to the our client’s virtual welcome center we launched last year www.visitthecorridor.com; we had the UF alum star in his very own Go Gator Nationclip to add to the already strong and established campaign at GoGatorNation.com; and finally, we brought together three men who are leading the way in their individual high tech industries and gave them a casual forum to discuss R&D, commercializing and licensing products. They each came away with new ideas to grow their own company in turn strengthening the high tech environment across the 23-county High Tech Corridor. (At Curley & Pynn we deem ourselves experts in economic development, and this is a great way to illustrate that!)

The outcome of the photo shoot: content for all aspects of a true integrated marketing and communications program – and a whole lot more.

This great example of multi-tasking might not mean it is okay to spread yourself too thin during the workday by checking e-mail, talking on the phone, and eating a snack all at the same time, but it certainly is a testament to our commitment at C&P to maximize our client’s time!

Check back soon for footage from the shoot.

When it Comes to Social Media, Take One Bite at a Time

by Dean Hybl

While recently listening to some outstanding speakers during a very interesting and informative PRSA workshop about social media, I kept trying to envision exactly how the dozens of technology based social media applications they discussed might fit for some of my clients.

Like a kid in a candy store, the natural temptation is to try a little bit of all the different options, but according to Giovanni Gallucci, a self-proclaimed social media ninja, the trick to effective use of technology based social media is not to use everything, but to concentrate on identifying and using the social media tools that work for your specific client.

Chris Elliott, noted travel journalist, reminded us through this Norman Rockwell picture that social media is not a new concept.

However, over time, technology innovations have made it easier to efficiently communicate with large numbers of people. But is bigger always better?

While it may seem like a great idea to use social media to blast out information about your client to hundreds of thousands of people, the value, according to Marlon Manuel from Edelman, is not in how many people you reach, but in making sure you reach the right people for your client. Marlon said that in the PR world, efficient use of social media is to find the venue that allows a core group of people who use your client’s product to become evangelists about the product or service within the social networking world.

So while it is still very easy to be overwhelmed when looking at all the delicious looking options that are out there in the social media world, it is important to remember that taking one bite at a time might be the best way to ensure that you have an enjoyable and successful experience and don’t end up with a tummy ache.

Blame Game

by Roger Pynn

There will no doubt be questions for a long time about the devastating dip in United Airlines’ stock prices this week, and just as surely there will be many players working to distance themselves from the incident.

In an earlier post I suggested that newspapers, having put their content and their futures on the Internet, must ultimately exercise the caution that prevents misinformation such as we saw in this incident.

Pointing fingers won’t do any good. Stepping up the plate may just make newspapers relevant again.

Do We Want Watchdogs Any More?

by Dan Ward

Roger Pynn blogged yesterday about the mistakes by national media outlets that allowed a six-year-old story to nearly destroy United Airlines, questioning where all the “watchdogs” have gone.

After reading his post, and the story that led to it, I have another question to ask: Do readers even want watchdogs anymore? If one uses reader comments as a gauge, then perhaps hard news is just no longer of interest.

Three hours after the United Airlines story appeared online, only 27 reader comments had been posted. In the same time frame, readers had taken the time to post 1,600 comments regarding a breaking news story … Casey Anthony Meets With Home Confinement Manager.

Where have the watchdogs gone, Roger might ask? Apparently, they have been invited indoors, where they can sit comfortably by the fireplace as the world watches Nancy Grace.

Unfortunately, those of us who see the importance of a watchdog are no longer the target at which media arrows are aimed.

Where have all the Watchdogs Gone?

by Roger Pynn

Oh what a tangled web we’ve woven. If you’re a United Airlines shareholder you’re probably wishing Al Gore had never invented the Internet … or at least that it had come with a built-in fact checker.

Seems somewhere between one of Tribune Company’s newspaper Web sites, a Fort Lauderdale investment advisory company and Bloomberg News Service, a year-old story sent United’s stock into a tailspin today and you have to wonder how much it cost individual investors who were trying to sell.

This is just more evidence that we are in perilous times as newspapers attempt to webify themselves while also paring back their teams with the equivalent of the accounting world’s FIFO method (First In, First Out) whereby the most experienced journalists have been the first to go.

That may work when you’re accounting for inventory or dollars, but there’s no substitute for experience … and the cautionary attitude that usually accompanies it.

Readers, advertisers and the businesses whom the media expect to answer their demands for information need to demand better and we’d better start insisting that what they make available on the Internet is clear, dated and linked to the most current, factual information.

Now Here’s a Guy who Takes Aim …

by Roger Pynn

Reading Seth Godin’s blog is always a reminder to “keep it simple stupid.” He has a way of smacking you in the face with the obvious without leaving a bruise. The titles of some of his books tell you a lot: “All Marketers are Liars” and “Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing Out of Sync?” Of course, he also wrote “Permission Marketing: turning Strangers Into Friends and Friends Into Customers,” so he isn’t always so in your face.

A recent post reminds us that we sometimes get all caught up in our fishing line when trying to cast our bait. We layer on all kinds of “program elements” and “strategic initiatives” in hopes of justifying ourselves as we help our companies and clients pursue a target audience.

Godin built on a suggestion by blogger Dave Cortright in suggesting simple ways to connect yourself to like-minded prospects. Cortright’s suggestion was aimed at eBay marketers, but as Godin points out, you can connect with prospects very easily if you play a simple game of connect the dots.

Following Cortright’s logic, if you’re selling amazing new microwave popcorn that rivals theater popcorn, you might consider a coupon partnership with movie theaters. Or, if you’re a guerilla marketer, pass out samples and coupons outside the movie house.

Simple … and it Trumps the cost of a full-page ad in your local newspaper (if, in fact, your local paper is still being published), but more importantly it achieves some of Godin’s advice in a later post titled “Your Competitive Advantage.” Here’s what he says the customer thinks:

“When the factors that matter to me are processed through my worldview and compared against the options I’m aware of, I will choose you when your advantages are greater than the competition, provided I believe that you’re worth the cost of switching.”

In other words, “if you hand me killer popcorn that’s cheaper than the price I just paid at the theater, I may just stay home and watch that new DVD on my new monster flat screen TV and nuke some of your kernels instead.”