Hug A Coca Cola Vending Machine To Get A Free Soda

A vending machine in Coca Cola’s iconic red color and with the words ‘Hug Me’ displayed in the brand’s signature white font, has showed up overnight at the National University of Singapore. What makes this vending machine special is that it responds to physical hugs before dispensing a free can of Coke.

Students on campus were pleasantly surprised to spot the Coca-Cola Hug Machine, which was installed as part of the company’s ‘Open Happiness’ campaign. Before long, there were lines of people waiting to give their affection to the dispenser.

Leonardo O’Grady, ASEAN IMC Director, The Coca Cola Company, explained that:

Happiness is contagious. The Coca Cola Hug Machine is a simple idea to spread some happiness. Our strategy is to deliver doses of happiness in an unexpected, innovative way to engage not only the people present, but the audience at large.

The simple, yet engaging idea was created by Ogilvy & Mather.

I hit the front page of The Korea Herald as one of SNS supporters for Yeosu Expo

The 3rd rehearsal of EXPO 2012 Yeosu Korea

I went to EXPO 2012 Yeosu Korea from May 4-6 to participate in a SNS supporters workshop and 3rd rehearsal before the official open on May 12.

On the first day, there was a special gathering with the other SNS supporters trying to have positive relationships with a lot of people through their own SNS channels by posting pictures, videos, and links etc. I was also there to discuss how to make it better to let a lot of people all over the world know about EXPO 2012 Yeosu Korea, and first of all, very proud of myself being there as one of SNS supporters for EXPO 2012 Yeosu Korea. I really had such a meaningful and magnificent time with them by communicating with people from all over Korean cities from Busan to Seoul. It just gave me motivation to keep doing well with this EXPO thing :-)

 [Photo1. at the SNS supporters workshop with SNS supporters]

[Photo2. at the Uniform Fashion Show at Shilla hotel with SNS supporters]


On the second day, I could get a chance to experience EXPO 2012 Yeosu Korea even before its opening! yay! The view of Yeosu looked fabulous with such a great harmony of the ocean and facilities. There were too many people with their family and friends to look at it even though it was a pre-opening, which means there'll be way more things to see on the opening day on May 12!

[Photo3. the day time at Expo 2012 Yeosu Korea]

This is a picture taken from 3rd Rehearsal on May 5. Some people are amused by attractive Expo facilities, especially the Big-O! There's the fountain show of the Big-O at the night time ;-) I heard that the fabulous fountain show of the Big-O was opened to the public on April 30 so I didn't want to miss the chance to look at it for real.

 [Photo4. The fountain show of the Big-O at the night time]

[Photo5. The fountain show of the Big-O at the night time]

The audience was attracted to its gorgeous fountain show resembling a ballerina dancing the Swan Lake. A total of 345 nozzles and 1,233 lightings in water made it more colorful and majestic. The water from nozzles goes up to 70m (about 164 ft) and visitors also can watch stereoscopic hologram image realized through Living Screen technology over the fountain show. It is the world’s first trial to apply this technology to fountain shows. At the expo, this show will be going to be held every 30 minutes during the daytime and Big-O Show using multi-media is ready to attract visitors during the nighttime.

[Photo5. with the fabulous view]

 [Photo5. with the main characters named Yeony and Soony]

 [Photo6. with the fabulous night view]

 [Photo7. LED screen at the ceiling] 

 [Photo8. A march of Marine and Navy] 

 [Photo9. EXPO 2012 Yeosu Korea with a lot of people from all over the cities] 

[Photo10. The night view is more amazing than the day time] 


Aren’t you excited about this? Come enjoy it with Yeony and Suny! It's totally worth it!

Are You Looking for Global Internship Opportunities?

College Internships Are Going Global

The world is becoming increasingly interconnected and more employers are looking for candidates with global experience. Now, college students are getting in on the action by gaining work experience in overseas internships.

SunheeCho who is me, a junior at Hanyang University majoring in public relations, got 2 internships in Toronto, Canada last year working for local companies that offer useful information for authors, journalists, and reporters etc. I worked full time to gain valuable experiences related to my interest, to participate in a place branding project that’s my first English project in the real field, and first of all, to be able to improve some English skills which most employers in Korea are craving for.

What is the Significance?

The total number of South Korean students traveling abroad for internships and receiving academic credit has been getting higher and higher. Especially, the various experiences in the real world and practical English skills are exactly what they want in order to hire qualified, talented, and proper candidates for their teams.

I strongly believe that if a student is interested in pursuing any sort of career outside of Korea, it’s a great idea to immerse myself in the environment. Therefore, I think the employers would put a very high value on that because of the growth we’re seeing there and because of the investment a lot of countries are making in abroad. If someone has both the language skills and the experience, it’s a lot of value for the company looking for the candidates.

Of course, getting set up with an internship overseas doesn't come cheap. However, with financial support from governmental institutes such as Korea council for university education that enabled me to receive a scholarship for Canadian internship opportunities, it’d be way easier for the students to gain the chances to work internships abroad.

In personal opinion, I’ve learned a lot from what I had been through in Canada during the internships. It’s because it was never easy for me to adapt to a new and unfamiliar environment, which was my first time to go abroad without any friends, families, or acquaintances. When I arrived at the Toronto international airport for the first time, I made a decision to change the feelings like fear, isolation, and loneliness to motivation to overcome and get fit into Canada better.

Knowing that I’ve always been eager to go abroad, I started making some friends and being ready for the job interviews. Fortunately, 2 employers caught my potential possibility to work well with my bright and positive personality.

I think it’s very important for all the students to take a chance to try new and challenging things regardless of age, cultural backgrounds, and countries when they face them. The more you hesitate, the less you gain.

Try Right Now! That's what I can tell you as a person who already has internship experiences! 

My own way to deal with difficult people

 A colleague asked me why “grown folk” throw full blown temper tantrums when you don’t jump to do their bidding. She asked me if I knew a quick, fast and easy way to deal with difficult people. I chuckled because it truly is fascinating to observe people and their personalities. I am constantly surprised at how many adults will throw a toddler style temper tantrum in a hot minute. Allow me to share a quick example to illustrate my solution.

Many years ago I worked for Samsung Customer Service. During my days as a customer representative, people would call us and then absolutely throw a fit when you didn’t do whatever it is that they wanted you to do. They would scream, yell, and curse.  Some wanted to exchange the device, some wanted you to refund and some wanted you to force an engineer to reschedule so they could get their device fixed ASAP at their convenience.  What was shocking is that the people who do this are not “children”, they are “grown folk”, meaning someone over the age of 40!

I remember one time this elderly gentleman trying to get refund, yelling at me. The moment that he was told that he would be unable to get refund because it was his fault, not ours, he screamed quite aggressively and yelled at the top of his lungs, and demanding to speak to a supervisor on the phone.  I sent him over to my supervisor because I loved to watch her “conflict resolution skills” in action.

She took a deep breath and said “Yes Sir, how may I help you?” He then went into a tirade about how we were wasting his time when we could be sending him over to the supervisor. She expressed that all customer representatives have protocols to follow prior to sending over customers to me.  He then threw bad words over the phone and demanded to get refund since we were so unhelpful.

She looked at his information about the TV he got, and shared that although his situation was NOT suitable for getting refund, this was unacceptable to him and he once again started yelling. She smiled stopped him cold in his tracks, and said in a low voice “You know, when I was a child, there was a thing called ‘shame’ and we were too embarrassed to behave in such a manner, publicly or privately. I am trying to help you out and I’m stunned that you keep yelling at me when your anger has nothing to do with us, you just broke your device with your inappropriate usage, and you are behaving in this manner”. He became pretty quiet and replied “Well I was taught that the squeaky wheel gets the grease!” She laughed and relied “I was taught NEVER to reward ‘bad-behavior and /or temper tantrums’.  Thank goodness he also laughed.  You see, I was in my early twenties and he was in his seventies. Needless to say, he took his “act right” medication, accepted our offer and sent an engineer over to his place to get it fixed properly.

You might be thinking about now “What in the world does this have to do specifically with me  – an author, coach, consultant, speaker or trainer – when I have to deal with difficult people?”  This is a great question and my answer is “everything”.  If you “give away the store” simply because you lack conflict resolution skills, you will find yourself in the shoes of my colleague, filled with anger, rage, bitterness and resentment whenever people show up in tantrum mode.   When you are self-employed, there are not thousands of people standing between you and the direct customer.  You must learn how to say no to high maintenance, high drama people. The simple, fast and in a hurry answer is this "Put your big girl panties on and develop protocols for handling irate customers". You will not be in business very long if you give into every customer demand. It doesn’t matter whether you are a big or small business, you must take the time to develop customer service protocols.

 

How do you deal with people in challenging situations? What has worked well for you in the past? How do you remain calm when a person is yelling, screaming and cursing at you?

Social Timing Insights - Markerters Post at Work Instead When Their Audience is Listening

5 Lessons from Coca Cola’s New Content Marketing Strategy

 Coca Cola has been part of popular culture for over 100 years and has been called a “Vision Brand“. Its marketing and communication is purposeful and connects with its audience in a way that makes it stand out from its competitors. Its mission is not about selling products but to create significant positive change in the world that makes the world a better place.

Coca Cola’s mission statement

• To refresh the world
• To inspire moments of optimism and happiness
• To create value and make a difference

Recently they have realised that their marketing strategy that has worked well for them for decades needed to evolve and as such they are moving from “Creative Excellence” to “Content  Excellence”
Creative excellence has always been at the heart of Coca Cola’s advertising and they have decided that content is now the key to marketing in the 21st century on a social web.
Content for Coca Cola is is now the “Matter” and “Substance” of “Brand Engagement”
So what can we learn from Coca Cola’s new marketing strategy?

Lesson 1: Create Liquid Content

The purpose of content excellence is to create “Ideas” so contagious that they cannot be controlled this is what is called “liquid content”.
On a social web people can easily share ideas, videos and photos on social networks such Facebook.
So create content that begs to be shared whether that be an image, a video or an article.

Lesson 2: Ensure your Content is Linked

The next part of the equation is to ensure that these ideas create content that is innately relevant to

• The business objectives of your company
• The brand
• Your customer interests

This is “Linked” content…. Content that is relevant and connected to the companies goals and brand.
Ensure that the content communicates your message that is congruent with your mission and values.

Lesson 3: Create Conversations

Coca Cola has realised that the consumer creates more stories and ideas than they do so the goal is provoke conversations and then “Act” and “React” to those conversations 365 days of the year.
The new “Distribution Technologies” of Twitter, YouTube and Facebook provide greater connectivity and consumer empowerment than ever before.
Don’t just publish but interact with your audience and tribe.

Lesson 4. Move onto Dynamic Story Telling

On traditional media in the past story telling was static and a one way street. Television and newspapers shouted at you with no interaction.
Coca Cola has come the realisation that to grow their business on the social web they need to move on from “One Way Story Telling” to “Dynamic Story Telling”
This means you need to allow the story to evolve as you interact and converse with your customers. You need to converse with your customers in many media formats and social networks.
Storytelling has moved on from static and synchronous to multifaceted, engaged and spreadable.

Lesson 5: Be Brave and Creative with Your Content Creation

Part of the new Coca Cola content strategy is applying a 70/20/10 Investment principle to creating “Liquid content“.

• 70% of your content should be low risk. It pays the rent and is your bread and butter marketing.(should be easy to do and only consumes 50% of your time)
• 20% of your content creation should innovate of the what works.
• 10% of your content marketing is high risk ideas that will be tomorrows 70% or 20%. (be prepared to fail)

This provides a blueprint regarding moving on from just developing white papers to maybe trying some content that is more visual and engaging in web world that has embraced multimedia and interactive content.

The 30 Second TV Ad is no Longer King

Coca Cola has come to the conclusion that the world has moved on from the 30 second TV ad. So has the the Old Spice brand and many other businesses who are embracing social media as part of their marketing strategy.
We need to move towards a genuine consumer collaboration model that builds buzz and adopts a more iterative approach to content creation.
Learning how to fuel the conversations and interact has never been more important.
Consumers ideas, creativity and conversations have been set free with the evolution of social networks, learning to leverage and wrangle those conversations to increase your brand visibility is now a vital part of your marketing.

What About You?

Do you create conversations with your marketing? How many people are talking about your stories on Facebook?
Is your content liquid, linked and multi-faceted?

[2012 trends] Brand purpose to take lead in brand strategy

Brands can no longer rely solely on gaining consumers at pre-purchase with TV commercials to guarantee success. Products and brands aren't differentiated merely on functional or even emotional propositions anymore. You may think you can shout all you want with your advertising and sponsorships: no one will buy.


Authentic brand value


We are moving into the era of calculated, monitored and measured authentic brand value... delivered by positive brand experiences or brand engagements in both the online and offline environments, where advertising and PR just merely amplify these experiences.


Consumers are looking to brands that add real tangible value to their lives; clients are looking to us (as their agencies) to deliver real money-making value to their marketing strategies and their business as a whole (internally and externally); and employees are looking to us to deliver real motivations to their role within that organisation and the brands it serves.


The brand now needs not only to represent its product but the people behind the product and why they do what they do for that product's success.


Driving factors


The factors driving this desire for value are numerous and varied, depending on who you are talking to, so you need to consider the main influences driving the value era:

1. Rising expectations
   
   The global recession and its aftermath have destroyed people's trust in companies and brands to the core. Consumers are wiser and will continue to rise up against the unethical or greedy companies.
2. The rise of Gen Y and Gen Z
   
   These generations are the future markets. They are optimistic, entrepreneurial and the most socially connected generation ever. They bring a new mind-set. They want to do well by 'doing good' and see themselves with a mandate to affect positive social change.
3. Competitive and government pressures
   
   Legal requirements and competitive pressures are forcing businesses to disclose everything, from carbon footprint to labour practices. 
4. The race for resources
   
   We all know that we are facing looming shortages of various crucial resources but demand for them continues to increase exponentially. Businesses and brands, therefore, have a moral responsibility to ensure the sustainability of these resources for future generations.
5. Connected conversations
   
   Social media has fundamentally changed the way we communicate and engage. Consumers are talking to each other before talking to the brand, and trusting total strangers. Friendtelligence is driving choice; brands, therefore have to drive positive talkability, both in the online and offline world (equally well), to have any chance of success.

Marketers are asking


Critically, brands have moved towards trying to own more value-adding brand communities. In a marketing world, where content, digital assets, brand activations and share of voice (online and offline) are now the norm, marketers are asking themselves:

• How do they give their brand the competitive buzz?
• Where do they start?
• What should they be focusing on - is it digital, is it social media?
• Where does advertising fit into this new world?
• Is my brand CI still relevant to all my markets?
• How do I measure this, and
• How do I get the power of communities (starting internally) to rally positive conversations around my brand?

I believe a solution exists for marketers and should be the starting point for every single brand.


The answer is brand purpose.


Powerfully defined


Brand purpose has been powerfully defined as the company's definitive position it is trying to make in the world. It is based on what a company believes in and what difference it can make in the lives of the people it is trying to serve.


A lot of companies know what they do and how they do it, but not many know why they do it. The why is what will differentiate you from the competition and result in a sustainable advantage. It's the answers that marketers need to know to enable them to build platforms on which to attract sustainable value-adding brand communities.


It's no surprise that sector leading brands all have a clearly defined purpose on which to build value-adding brand communities:

• Ritz Carlton: ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen
• Apple: to become the brand that is indispensable to anyone willing to develop his/her mind-power
• Pritt: to bond parents, teachers and children through character-building creativity
• Nike: to bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world

Help employees and shareholders understand


The importance of building a brand on purpose, rather than on a promise or a proposition, is not just to help your audience understand what the brand stands for, but perhaps more critical to help employees and shareholders understand "why we are here" and to signify their intrinsic value to the organisation and its reputation as a brand.


Once they understand this, they can deliver (with confidence) the optimum brand experience that delivers brand value.


In summary, brand purpose is a very important trend we see not only for 2012 but well into the future. Not only will consumers win in the long term but the world will benefit, too. Therefore, brand purpose and the process of getting it right should be on the agenda for every organisation and led by the top but built bottom-up.

Our thinking on brand purpose:

Best of 2011: The Most Popular Tips, Interviews & Think Pieces

How can we manage our energy and attention for peak performance? How does a constant barrage of information affect our decision-making skills? How can we build better habits, embrace risk-taking, and truly realize our creative potential? We're not saying we have all the answers, but this Best of 2011 collection does attempt to provide insight on these questions - and to empower you to work with more smarts, more purpose, and more results.

1. 25 Insights on Becoming a Better Writer
We round up 25 nuggets of writing wisdom from Kurt Vonnegut, Margaret Atwood, Joyce Carol Oates, Augusten Burroughs, Geoff Dyer, Steven Pressfield, and more.

 

2. The Resume Is Dead, The Bio Is King
Why writing a compelling personal bio is crucial to your career, and tips on how to craft one.

3. Francis Ford Coppola: On Risk, Money, Craft & Collaboration
Legendary film director Francis Ford Coppola talks about how he self-finances all his films, why the artist must never lie, and how true collaboration is like great sex.

 

4. A Day Without Distraction: Lessons from 12 Hrs of Forced Focus
What if you had to focus for at least 30 minutes on every single task that you did? Would it improve your productivity? Cal Newport takes hard focus for a test drive.

 

5. Why Creative People Need to Be Eccentric

Do you ever feel like your regular habits are a little bit crazy? We investigate why eccentricity is essential to doing great work.

6. Email Etiquette for the Super-Busy
It's time to take a leaner, meaner approach to email. We lay out 10 simple tips for making email more efficient, and more actionable.

7. Fix Bad Habits: Insights from a 7-Year Obsession
Getting rid of bad habits isn't just about saying NO. To truly succeed, we must replace the bad behavior with a better behavior. Here's how.

 

8. Don't Overthink It: 5 Tips for Daily Decision-Making
Indecisiveness is a productivity killer. We look at the science of decision-making, and how you can make better choices.

9. Setting the Scene for a Productive Day
Your desk setup and surrounding environment play a huge role in your ability to focus and produce great work. A look at how to "script" your space for creative success.

 

10. A Master Plan for Taking Back Control of Your Life
Our willpower is a highly limited resource, and it gets depleted by every act that requires its use. We outline 8 steps you can take to maintain peak performance.

11. Simon Sinek: If You Don't Understand People, You Don't Understand Business (Video)
"We're not good at everything, we're not good by ourselves," says Simon Sinek. Our ability to build trust and relationships is the key to our survival as a race, and to thriving as ideamakers.
12. Vision Without Obstruction: What We Learn From Steve Jobs
Self-doubt, short-term expectations, bureaucracy. How can we pursue bold ideas without letting these everyday obstacles get in the way?

13. Developing Your Creative Practice: Tips from Brian Eno
What if you don't have a good idea today? Lessons in training and building your creativity muscles from legendary musician Brian Eno.

14. How to Create a Captivating Presentation
Terrified of presenting in front of an audience? Or just a little shy? How to take your public speaking ability and slide presentations from uncomfortable to awesome.

 

15. The Future of Self-Improvement: Grit Is More Important Than Talent
What if long-term success doesn't really have that much to do with your "potential"? A look at recent research that debunks talent in favor of true grit.

2 Great Car Ads on What Brain is and How to Use It by Benz & VW

Car is so much more than a vehicle taking you from place A to place B. It is part of people's lifestyle and allows me to live life to the fullest. Here is a sample how car companies communicate us what their brand is all about and how they try to give that warm and fuzzy feeling inside making us feel “this is my car” on the top of all of the rational reasons why one car is better than the other one.

Mercedes-Benz Left Brain, Right Brain Ad Campaign

I love this ad campaign by Mercedes-Benz earlier this year. They created different pictures showing the difference between the left brain and right side of the brain and communicated us that Mercedes-Benz combines the latest technology and superior quality with innovation and emotion. The text in the ads read:

(Left:) “I am the left brain. I am a scientist. A mathematician. I love the familiar. I categorize. I am accurate. Linear. Analytical. Strategic. I am practical. Always in control. A master of words and language. Realis…tic. I calculate equations and play with numbers. I am order. I am logic. I know exactly who I am.”

(Right:) “I am the right brain. I am creativity. A free spirit. I am passion. Yearning. Sensuality. I am the sound of roaring laughter. I am taste. The feeling of sand beneath bare feet. I am movement. Vivid colors. I am the urge to paint on an empty canvas. I am boundless imagination. Art. Poetry. I sense. I feel. I am everything I wanted to be.”

Volkswagen Makes Art You Can Steal

I think VW used some serious brain when they created this fun campaign for Jetta GLI in Canada. VW Canada created several pop-up outdoor exhibits featuring limited edition long-exposure light paintings, created by taillights of the Jetta GLI as it moved. The paintings were hand numbered and VW encouraged people to ‘steal’ them. Soon the paintings started popping back up – but this time on social media networks people showing what they had done with their painting from the pop up exhibit. While I might not agree with the “stealing” message, I love how this campaign was done using both left and right sides of the brain and communicating how much fun VW Jetta is.

Edelman's 7 Rules of Public Engagement

In his 2011 PRSA Leadership Rally keynote address, “The Third Way – Public Engagement," Richard Edelman, CEO of Edelman, gave the following counsel on engaging consumers effectively:

1. Listen with new intelligence.
There are new kinds of influentials now, conversation-starters. Cultivate relationships with them.

2. Create galvanizing ideas.
Find something that’s visual and simple. Don’t be biased against an idea. Be creative.

3. Know the socialized approach to media relations.
The media cloverleaf now consists of traditional media, hybrid media, social media and owned media. Broadcast tailored messages across each space with different spokespeople.

4. Create and co-create content.
SEO(Search Engine Optimization) is important, but it won’t help boring content. Use video and other multimedia. “I believe any company can be a media company.”

5. Participate in the conversation.
Conversations happen in real time, all the time. Go where the people are.

6. Build active partnerships for common good.
The new CSR mantra is “immediate justification.”  When consumers buy a product, they want to feel like they’re doing the right thing. Do your part to help.

7. Embrace complexity.
Issues are complex. Embrace a coherent way of thinking about them and analytical methods to identify and address problems.

3 Reasons Why Fluff Pieces are Good or Bad Marketing

Admit it, some of us like reading (or watching) fluff every now and again. Fluff takes us to a world that is not our own reality, and let’s us tune out for a bit.

Fluff pieces are stories that don’t have real value or strong content. They are stories that have fun stories, but serve no real purpose except to entertain.

As I venture into this world of PR and content marketing, learning and writing about best practices on blogging and writing headlines, I notice a lot of fluff out there. Fluff that has managed to receive 40+ “Likes” and reTweets. This made me think about fluff as a form of marketing. Good or bad practice, it is out there, and from the surface, seems to be effective marketing.

Does fluff work?
I have surmised that fluff can be a good marketing strategy, if just to capture initial attention.

Fluff is good marketing:

1) Makes you feel good – Fluff writing doesn’t require a lot of researched data and information. The story tends to be something cutesy or non-consequential. Like an FYI that you can take or leave.

2) Makes you forget current challenges – Alcohol marketers know all about making you forget your present troubles. Notwithstanding that alcohol in itself makes you do that anyway, savvy marketing lets you see the “fun” and party aspect of having a drink. With fluff, you forget, even for a brief moment, present problems. Think about the phenomenon of romance novels and soap operas for so many women.

3) Lets you escape – Tied into my point in #2 above, fluff promotes escapism. Look at an advertisement for a luxury auto. The shots are gauzy, the women and men are insanely hot, and the car makes you feel giddy – all while you are sitting in your living room eating a bowl of popcorn.


However, this is where it gets bad, literally.

1) You get lazy – Since they have no real substance, fluff tends to make you lazy. No fact-checking, no research just makes for a written piece that is sedentary. Since there are no real calls to action to motivate your audience, i.e. to look at your product, sign up for your newsletter, or to even navigate through your website. Fluff pieces are pure brain candy!

2) Doesn’t make you smart or learned – We all know that garbage in, garbage out. Though fluff pieces are fun and exciting, they don’t really bring the reader valuable information. As a blogger, and PR student, I love to read, but I hope to learn from what I read. This is where “content is king” rings true. Articles about Justin Bieber’s hair is pure fluffy fluff! Give me pointers on how to be a blogging sensation that brings me a million dollars by next Friday.

3) Shallow - This summarizes it all. There is nothing truly deep and abiding with a fluff article. The elements of escape from reality and into fantasy does not solve your target audience’s problems or make their lives better. Nothing gained and nothing lost.
The marketing takeaway is that fluff can produce the initial desired result: bring interest to a product or service. Fluff can also be good PR because it makes things look pretty and enticing. But fluff, as the word itself is defined does nothing more than to bring short-term attention. I say use the advantages of a fluff piece, but make sure to back it up with something worthwhile and valuable.

Infographic : A simple history of top PR campaigns!

Ever wonder what made PR what it is today? Without first knowing where PR started and where it came from, it is blasphemy (ok, maybe not blasphemy, but it’s still important)! The best part about knowing a little history of PR is that though the principles may be as old as time, the fundamentals still apply: evoking emotions in PR campaigns and creating a call-to-action are only two of many timeless PR campaign tactics you should incorporate into your plan. Check out this infographic for a brief history of top PR campaigns.

(click to enlarge)

5 Lessons from the story of Swiffer

Now Swiffer is a verb! Here are 5 lessons we can learn form the story of Swiffer.

1. Demographic changes open up new oppertunities.
The fact that more women work outside the home has increased the level of frustration with household chores, creating an opening for solution like Swiffer.


2. If something is a common problem that everyone recognizes, its solution would be universally embraced.
Everybody hates mopping. Look for ideas hidden in the obvious, the mundane, the negative, and the bothersome.

3. Thoughtful details make the difference between a product women like and a product women love.
Details are what seperate the good fromm the great. A mop that doesn't tip over when you lean it against the wall? Ingenious!

4. How you innovate is just as important as what you innovate.
Watching your customers in their natural habitate may lead you to innovations faster than any simulated environments or well-written research reports.

5. Simplicity matters
If the customer needs a manuual the size of a dictionary to use your product, then you're creating a barrier to women embracing your product. Whatever it is, make it easy to open and operate!

The Fail Trail: Understanding the impact of a social media PR Crisis

The folks at Alterian created an infographic that exposes the effect of a PR crisis on three brands: Nestle, Domino’s, and United Airlines.

Following PR crises faced by each of these brands, positive sentiment dropped sharply—as much as 36 percent in Nestle’s case.

The infographic also documents these brands’ road to recovery:

What Makes People Want to Follow a Brand?

People love to get deals—or at least they love to think they’re getting a deal.

That’s the driving force behind the decision by many social media users to follow a particular brand on Twitter and Facebook.

For this and several other revelations about the wonders of brand following in social spaces, check out this infographic from Razorfish, Econsultancy, and Social Media Today:


(via Ragan.com)

5 tips to make your press even better!

Any press may be good press, but good press is even better. Yet, how do you stand out among your competitors and catch the attention of journalists? The traditional route is to pitch your story directly to reporters and hope it’s compelling enough that they’ll bite.

I got some tips on how sources can improve chances of being noticed when responding to queries from journalists.

1. Be Fast

Speed matters when it comes to catching the eye of a busy journalist for two reasons. First, he is probably operating on deadline, so getting connected to a solid source quickly is important. Second, there are a huge number of other qualified sources trying to catch his eye at the same time.

Respond as soon as you see the query and well before the deadline. Once a reporter has what he/she needs, he doesn’t usually continue sifting through query responses. Being quick is also the number one piece of advice from HARO founder, Peter Shankman.

2. Be On Target

One thing all journalists universally hate is having their time wasted. Make sure your pitch is on target. Journalists are looking for sources that match their needs, not people who maybe, sort of, might have some expertise in a kind of, semi-related area.

Don’t respond to a query unless what you are offering is truly a fit. Responses need to be kept to the point and devoid of fluff, but still full of relevant information. The trick here is to still keep it short while including the pertinent info.

Colorful examples, links to fitting images, engaging background briefs and on-target experts with clout, character and ready accessibility all help set you apart.

3. Be Honest

If you offer an executive for an interview, make sure you can deliver. Reporters don’t have the time or patience for your CEO to somehow now be on a plane to Rome and have only an assistant VP able to chat.

Coming off as dishonest is the best way to sour what could have been a long-term relationship with a reporter. If a journalist doesn’t think he can trust you, there’s very little incentive to ever quote you (or your client) as an expert in the future.
Many sources see every journalist lead as an opportunity to finagle their way into publicity, jazz up their client reports or nurture new contacts. Leads can offer all of these, but only if you tackle replies with transparency and sincerity.


4. Be Personal

Remember that when using these types of source-matching sites, yours is likely one of hundreds of responses that the reporter has received. Sometimes a personal touch goes a long way toward making you stand out from the crowd.
A well-written, personalized and targeted response where there is a clear fit will get you noticed. Similarly, Google journalists before pitching them to familiarize yourself with what they write. Check out the style of their stories and how they typically present info and mimic that in your pitchs.


5. Be Precise

Make sure your responses are accessible. No reporter has time to sift through a wordy or poorly composed pitch to try to find that nugget of expertise or the unique perspective that you might be able to offer. Craft a response that is straightforward and to the point and you’ll increase your chances of being tapped as a source.
Make your reply easy to scan with bullet points and rich context. Rather than bulk up an email with attachments that call for an extra step to open and review, links are handier. Keep your response lean yet workable, colorful yet specific. Look for niche services that tailor to specific beats to up your odds even more.

What other tips do you have for being a good source? Let me know!

How to Do Health and Beauty PR

Beauty and health care products are perhaps the most sensitive products in the entire consumer industry whose success or failure solely depends upon the consumer satisfaction. Most people do not compromise on cost when it comes to looking good and feeling great and therefore the stakes in this industry are pretty high and consumers are prone to switch to competitive brands at the slightest inconvenience. Under such circumstances, public relations generally play a very important role in reducing market challenges and forming a loyal customer base. Understanding the requirement and trend is an important part of public relations as it can often make or break the fortune of any company.
 
You may consider the following ways to help with health and beauty PR.
 
Marketing with a cause. Cause related marketing PR is mainly a type of emotional marketing and appeals to the public from a social standpoint. Increasingly, manufactures are advertising their products as a part of a campaign where they promise to donate a certain percentage of the earning to a specific social cause. This type of marketing calls for extensive PR activity as this is a type of passive marketing where the PR officers need to understand the taste of the target audience and the cause itself.
 
Celebrity endorsements. The relation between celebrities and beauty products has been like the relation between fish and water. The common man has always been fascinated by their idols on the silver screen and it is needless to say that any product advertised by celebrities has an edge over other brand ambassadors. However, the most critical part of this PR trick lies in actually choosing a celebrity whose image corresponds to the particular product.
 
Advice from industry experts. Opinions from industry experts always carry more credibility than any celebrity and promoting a particular product by an industry insider often appeals to the educated masses who believe more in quality than in mere outward beautification. They generally provide useful guidance to consumers regarding their problems and help create an interest among the potential and existing consumers.
 
Quiz shows, contests and events. Any type of quiz, contest or big event by a company is the latest trend in the PR market that is being used to promote a particular brand. Quiz shows indirectly encourage participants to study about the product, by luring them with attractive gifts. Certain shows and contests hire celebrities as their judges who are also brand ambassadors of certain products and their presence also generates considerable enthusiasm. Beauty contests are wonderful ways of promoting a beauty product where manufactures can actually sponsor the show, with such shows having huge reach throughout the country, allowing them to take the advertisers message directly to the target audience.

Public relations along with a proper marketing can help a product to stand out among the crowd of various different competing brands. However, it is very important to educate the consumer about the product and its uses and convince them about its utility above other products if the company plans to leave permanent footprints in this competitive market.

The Main Difference of Online and Traditional PR and its Connection to Reputation Management

Traditional PR and what’s called online Public relations are 2 very different types. Generally, the PR or media relations that individuals were used to had something to do with placing segments or articles in news papers, magazines, TV and radio. However, unlike other kinds of marketing like direct marketing or advertising, the process of Public relations is story-based. More often than not, you’ll be needing reputation management services to determine which option is best for your company.

Its goal is to throw a persuasive story to the media, who’ll meet its needs, and also garnering coverage for you or your organization. When doing this, highlighting your service or product is important. However, helpful PR is absolutely not about hype and fluff. For your pitch to be a success, you should also enlighten, educate, and if you can, entertain combined with giving the readers, viewers or listeners information on a particular field or topic which they don’t have access to otherwise.


Possibly, the most important feature that differs public relations from other marketing types is that the stories are looked at the way that other articles or segments featured in the news are. They are evaluated and verified. Editors and segment producers are designated to assess the stories before getting run. This validation gives the news trust value which the print ad or commercial cannot deliver.


A person with the capability to pay for an ad can buy it, and that is fine. However, there’s a really huge difference between appearing in an ad from being featured within an editorial story. The value of trust that is achieved from being featured in the news is incalculable.


On the other side, online PR is a bit more akin to marketing or advertising as opposed to the traditional public relations. Generally, there is no third party involved to verify the story, no editors or segment producer to complete the vetting process or evaluate the article or segment which has been tendered. Online PR generally has something to do with posting information regarding online communities, blogging, email marketing campaign and distribution of online press release.

Unique online is the process of pitching bloggers. It is extremely different from a pitch to the usual media outlet because different bloggers discuss various things. Create your contact personal and don’t turn it into a pitch since bloggers aren’t in search of media oriented pitches and also PR releases.

Press releases being sent through PRWeb and PR Newswire are another online PR approach. And once again, this is accomplished very differently from the traditional media strategy. With this, landing mainstream media through your releases isn’t the main goal, if it is, then its time you think your strategy over. Primarily, press releases sent through such distribution sites are simply tools to aid your online visibility and ranking. Often, when using this method, the more releases you send out, the better for your company.
Keywords should be well mapped throughout the release, utilizing the proper keywords within the title, sub-title, as well as the body of the release. If it is the online press release route that you chose to do, utilize social bookmark services like onlywire or furl.net to archive your releases.


Even though the media can be influenced by online PR, its main purpose is always to correspond with others on the net using different websites and blogs. A great way though would be to fuse traditional PR with an online marketing approach. With this type of approach, you can use the validation of the traditional PR as well as the global scope of online Public Relations that allows you to develop a marketing program which is more better than the total of the parts. It is also a good move to consult online reputation management services to help you pick the best option for your company.

Haruki Murakami: Talent is Nothing Without Focus and Endurance

Renowned Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami’s memoir, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running.

 

Murakami came to writing later in life. After running a successful jazz bar in Tokyo for about ten years, he suddenly had the notion to write a novel. After his first two novels — both written after he closed the bar — were well-received, he decided to shut down his business and try his hand at writing full-time. To balance the sedentary nature of this new lifestyle, he also started running.

 

It's not surprising then that, for Murakami, the act of running and the act of creating are inextricably linked. As he writes about the evolution of his running career — from his first marathon to his first ultramarathon (62 miles) to his first triathlon — he constantly circles back to how his athletic experiences have impacted his writing practice, and vice versa. For Murakami, the creative process is a sport.

 

Here's what he has to say about talent, focus, and endurance:

In every interview I'm asked what's the most important quality a novelist has to have. It’s pretty obvious: talent. Now matter how much enthusiasm and effort you put into writing, if you totally lack literary talent you can forget about being a novelist. This is more of a prerequisite than a necessary quality. If you don’t have any fuel, even the best car won’t run.

The problem with talent, though, is that in most cases the person involved can’t control its amount or quality. You might find the amount isn’t enough and you want to increase it, or you might try to be frugal and make it last longer, but in neither case do things work out that easily. Talent has a mind of its own and wells up when it wants to, and once it dries up, that’s it. Of course, certain poets and rock singers whose genius went out in a blaze of glory—people like Schubert and Mozart, whose dramatic early deaths turned them into legends—have a certain appeal, but for the vast majority of us this isn’t the model we follow.

If I’m asked what the next most important quality is for a novelist, that’s easy too: focus—the ability to concentrate all your limited talents on whatever’s critical at the moment. Without that you can’t accomplish anything of value, while, if you can focus effectively, you’ll be able to compensate for an erratic talent or even a shortage of it. I generally concentrate on work for three or four hours every morning. I sit at my desk and focus totally on what I’m writing. I don’t see anything else, I don’t think about anything else.
...
After focus, the next most important thing for a novelist is, hands down, endurance. If you concentrate on writing three or four hours a day and feel tired after a week of this, you’re not going to be able to write a long work. What’s needed of the writer of fiction—at least one who hopes to write a novel—is the energy to focus every day for half a year, or a year, or two years.
...
Fortunately, these two disciplines—focus and endurance—are different from talent, since they can be acquired and sharpened through training. You’ll naturally learn both concentration and endurance when you sit down every day at your desk and train yourself to focus on one point. This is a lot like the training of muscles I wrote of a moment ago. You have to continually transmit the object of your focus to your entire body, and make sure it thoroughly assimilates the information necessary for you to write every single day and concentrate on the work at hand. And gradually you’ll expand the limits of what you’re able to do. Almost imperceptibly you’ll make the bar rise. This involves the same process as jogging every day to strengthen your muscles and develop a runner’s physique. Add a stimulus and keep it up. And repeat. Patience is a must in this process, but I guarantee results will come.

In private correspondence the great mystery writer Raymond Chandler once confessed that even if he didn’t write anything, he made sure he sat down at his desk every single day and concentrated. I understand the purpose behind his doing this. This is the way Chandler gave himself the physical stamina a professional writer needs, quietly strengthening his willpower. This sort of daily training was indispensable to him.
...
Most of what I know about writing I’ve learned through running every day. These are practical, physical lessons. How much can I push myself? How much rest is appropriate—and how much is too much? How far can I take something and still keep it decent and consistent? When does it become narrow-minded and inflexible? How much should I be aware of the world outside, and how much should I focus on my inner world? To what extent should I be confident in my abilities, and when should I start doubting myself? I know that if I hadn’t become a long-distance runner when I became a novelist, my work would have been vastly different. How different? Hard to say. But something would definitely have been different.

 

Indeed, practice makes perfect!