One of my first jobs out of college was working as a temporary administrative assistant.  The hallway outside my office was old and any noise made carried a great echo.  Also in this hallway was a conference room where Aflac representatives would meet with employees and encourage them to sign up for the company’s benefit plan.  As a way of drumming up business, the representatives would take out a stuffed Aflac duck and have it squawk AAFFLLLAAACC through out the echoing hallway.  The first few times I was ok with it.  By the end of the week I was ready to storm out of the office, take the duck and rip its beak off.  What an obnoxious voice!

I later found out the voice of the duck was none other than Gilbert Gottfried, also known as the voice of the parrot in Disney’s Aladdin.  Apparently Gottfried has the perfect voice for annoying birds.

Gottfried was recently involved in a scandal that made Aflac look bad in the media.  Gottfried posted inappropriate jokes about the natural disaster in Japan on his twitter page.  Not only is his voice annoying but even the words he types sends shivers down peoples’ spines!

Because the jokes were made in such poor taste, and Gottfried is known as the voice of the famous (infamous in my book) duck, Aflac immediately made a statement apologizing for the inappropriate comments and fired Gottfried.  Aflac followed PR rule number one, apologize for your mistakes.

Aflac did turn the negative situation around and came up with a really creative idea that would not only help the public forget about Gottfried’s association with the company, but would also generate great PR, help with the unemployment problem and give the spokesperson for the company, the duck, it’s much needed voice back.

Aflac launched a national casting call to audition new duck voices.  Auditions were held in six major cities.  If an applicant was unable to travel, Aflac offered the opportunity to record auditions on the company’s website.  In total, the company heard 1,000 in person auditions and 12,000 online auditions.  That is a lot of quacks!

The person who wins the coveted role receives a six figure salary plus benefits.  Not too bad for a voice over job huh?

Here is where Aflac got it right when it comes to PR.  The company apologized, and came up with a creative way to fix its two biggest PR problems:

1)      The company’s main branding vehicle was voiceless.

2)      The company’s reputation was slightly damaged for being associated with Gottfried.

Aflac turned lemons into lemonade by coming up with a great way to not only give the duck a voice, but promote the company’s product. Instead of calling a casting agency, the company took its need right to the public and its potential customer base.

In order for quacking wannabes to audition for the job, they went to the Aflac website, facebook or twitter pages, all great places to put controlled information in front of an attentive audience.   The company is also updating these pages to keep people informed of how the competition is going.  The story in the news changed from Gottfried’s inappropriate jokes and association with Aflac, to the company coming up with a creative way to hire a new voice.

Another way Aflac showed that it did not agree with the statements made by Gottfried was putting a link on the company’s website and facebook page to support the disaster in Japan.  A link to donate to the American Red Cross relief fund for Japan was prominently placed on these social media vehicles.  This shows that the company is genuine in its statement that it supports Japan and will do what it can to help.

All in all, I think Aflac did it right.  The company apologized, was creative, turned a negative news story into a positive one, is helping those suffering in Japan, and building a stronger brand.  Most importantly the company understands the importance of social media.

I don’t remember seeing a commercial promoting the contest, but it’s all over Aflac’s social media sites.  The company really took advantage of new and low cost technology that make exceptional public relations tools.  The added bonus is social media is a healthy choice for any budget.

It will be interesting to see how Aflac decides to announce the winner of the quaking auditions to create further positive buzz about the company.  Will the company hire someone down on their luck so it has a feel good story to pitch?  Will Aflac make the announcement on its social media sites or website?  Will the company hold a press conference?  How do you think the company should announce the new AAAFFFLLLAAACCC voice?

Pandora Radio has always done a great job forming and presenting their image to the public. Taking co-founder Tim Westergren’s

Tim Westergren, Founder of Pandora

“Music Genome Project” and turning it into the most popular consumer based internet radio, the company has created their brand as being cool, innovative, grassroots and most importantly, user focused.

Their back story is a good one too. Created in 2000, the project has been a rags to riches type tale. Along the way Pandora watched as other music services such as Napster and imeem all met their slow and painful demise, but still they persevered. Westergren maxed out twelve credit cards, had no means to pay employees for two years, and failed on 383 pitches to gain any investor interest in the organization. That was until his 384^th pitch in early 2004 to Larry Marcus, a musician and venture capitalist, who decided to endow $9 million into the project. It was all they needed. Listenership quickly rose, and in 2005 they sold their first ad.

As the site’s popularity grew so did their headaches. In 2007, the federal royalty board significantly increased the rate paid by online radio stations to musicians. After two years of lobbying and uncertainty in the company’s future, Pandora and the royalty board reached an agreement on a still high, but lower rate. Pandora could no longer provide a “free” service, but they were able to alter their structure with little effect on their user base. Presently, users are permitted 40 hours of music per month at no cost. After hitting that 40 hour mark, registrants are given the option to pay .99 cents to go unlimited for the remainder of the month – a pretty good deal if you ask me.

It wasn’t until 2008 that business began to surge. Realizing that the internet was moving beyond a computer screen, Pandora was one of the first companies to use developing technologies to integrate their business into their consumers every day, or should we say every hour, life. First was the release of their mobile app, which allowed consumers to stream music to their mobile devices. Almost immediately, user registration doubled, averaging some 35,000 new users a day.

Pandora iPhone App

They didn’t stop there. A few months later Pandora announced they were teaming with automotive companies like Ford, Mercedes Benz, Toyota and Hyundai to offer drivers the ability to sync their mobile Pandora app to their car radio by use of their smart phones. Since the announcement, other electronic companies like Samsung and Vizio are also working to integrate Pandora into their blu-ray DVD players, TVs, and music stereos.

Ford Sync: Pandora

But Pandora has more than just a cool brand, a great back story and product integration, they have user loyalty. There are plenty of other music services that offer things Pandora does not: specific song selection, 1 million + song catalogs or completely free services, yet Pandora continues to be overwhelmingly the most popular choice. Which is why plenty were shocked when just last week the Wall Street Journal broke news of a federal investigation into whether or not Pandora, along with other app publishers, were collecting and distributing private user data without proper consent.

Software analysis firm, Veracode, publicly confirmed that both Pandora’s Android and iOs app logs and transmits a user’s GPS coordinates, age, gender, unique mobile code and birth date to several advertising firms. While each independent piece of information does not seem significant, when grouped all together it is definitely viable to determine the kind of person that specific user is – scary. Pandora claims that the subpoena was delivered ”on an industry-wide basis to the publishers of numerous other smartphone applications.” Makes sense I suppose, but other apps like Twitter and FourSquare tend to make it pretty obvious that they are tracking user data like location, birthdate, and interests to enhance the user experience. But who would of ever thought that a company like Pandora would sneakily be distributing such specific personal data without user consent?

The investigation centers around the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, a law created to prosecute hackers. If found guilty, the consequences and legal matters could potentially shut down a company indefinitely. How can Pandora, an organization only just beginning to reach a comfortable financial position, reflect, or if proven guilty, rebound from these allegations? Will Pandora’s good image and public trust be affected by the investigation? Should we as app users be concerned with this matter, or is it a price we pay for a free service?

[images via New York Times/Pandora]

The decade dating from 1990 to 2000 saw the rebirth of Indian PR system as whole. In October 1996 the ED (Enforcement Directorate) and DRI (Customs and Department of revenue intelligence) conducted raids on ITC (Indian Tobacco Company), one of the biggest tobacco companies in India and world.

Troubled Times

ITC was accused of mismanaging foreign exchange and ED found sufficient evidence against ITC which resulted in a number of arrests including K L Chugh, ITC chairman under FERA (Foreign Exchange Regulation Authority) violations act. ED even suspected that ITC has contravened FERA regulations up to $100 million.

http://www.icmrindia.org/free%20resources/casestudies/The%20ITC%20Classic%20Story1.htm

ITC vs BAT

BAT (British American Tobacco) was the major share holder at about 32% in ITC’s stocks and debentures. In late 1991 the differences regarding ways of working between the two companies began to increase and in 1995 K L Chugh stirred a new controversy by accusing that BAT was trying to overtake ITC. K L Chugh always wanted ITC to be an independent body. Regarding the case the Indian Media produced reports out of proportion and created a lot of negative publicity for ITC that eventually forced Mr. Chugh to resign which he did almost after a year.

http://www.corporatebattles.com/2010/11/itc-vs-bat/

The PR Department

For the first time in Indian history the whole PR department was fired as the board members of ITC accused the department of not acting swiftly in a crisis situation. They even called the entire incident as, “Death of Public Relations”. Some stated that, the incident delineated the true and ugly face of Indian PR system. Many confessed that Public Relation personals are not employed for warm handshakes or sunny smiles; they do not only have to promote company’s new policies but as well to help overcome companies reputation and goodwill in crisis situations.

Indian Media on Public Relations

On the other hand, Indian Media supported PR personals. Media wrote that, “it was because of them (PR Personals) such a big fraud was highlighted”. Often PR department tries to overshadow the wrongdoings of their, “big bosses” in order to save company’s reputation in market which eventually acts against nation’s interest.

Question-

Should the PR Department of a company restrict themselves in sensitive cases, especially those cases which are against the nation’s interest?

By Brian Hubert

Baseball fans love this time of year. The early spring sees their favorite Major League Baseball teams return to the diamond, after a long cold winter, but for Mets fans, and the organization itself, it is start of a season of uncertainty on the field and off it.

The trouble began earlier this year when it was revealed that Fred Wilpon ,and Saul Katz, who own this popular Major League Baseball franchise, had a connection to Bernie Madoff, the investor who swindled his victims out of Billions of Dollars.

This prompted a lawsuit by the victims of the ponzi scheme.  Before Madoff was revealed as a scam artist, he was a close friend of both Wilpon and Katz.

2011 is predicted to be a rough season for Mets fans including Team Mascot "Mr. Met"

A February New York Times article stated that, “The lawsuit, says the owners, Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz, their families and their businesses “made so much easy money from Madoff for so long” that despite the many warnings — from within their own inner circle, and by other investors and financial institutions — they “chose to simply look the other way.”, The New York Times said.

Soon after the announcement of the suit, the Wilpon’s put a 25% ownership stake of the team on the block.  As of March 31st The New York Times stated, interested parties include, Ason Reese, the chairman of Imperial Capital, a Los Angeles-based investment bank. David Heller, a Goldman Sachs executive, and Marc Spilker, the president of Apollo Global Management, Steven Starker, a co-founder of global trading firm BTIG, would join with Kenny Dichter, Doug Ellin and Randy Frankel to put together their own group. Dichter is the co-founder of Marquis Jet, and Ellis is the creator of the HBO program “Entourage,” while Frankel already owns a minority stake of the Tampa Bay Rays.  there also a few others as well.

This is on top of a revelation that the Mets took a $25 Million Dollar loan from Major League Baseball in November.  News of the loan did not reach fans, and the media, until February, raising more questions about the stability of the Mets ownership.

 

Citi Field, home of the New York Mets, opened in 2009

In 2010, the Mets faced  a 17.2% decline in attendance in just the second year in their state of the art ballpark, Citi Field.  The state of the art ballpark could not excite fans when the team plunged below .500 for a 79 and 83 finish, and finished the season in 4th out of 5 teams in the National League East Division.

So far this year, the Mets have sold just 600,000 tickets for the whole season.   Sources told the New York Daily news that a half-empty ballpark could bring further financial woes for the troubled franchise.

Things don’t look much better this year.   Forbes claims that the Mets value declined %13 over the last year to $747 million dollars as a result of the Madoff ties, and the attendance decline.

Major League Baseball, and it’s small market clubs are concerned about the declining value of the Mets and ownership problems that are also hovering over the NL’s other flagship franchise, The Los Angeles Dodgers.  Any decrease in the value of these flagship franchises would decrease the pool of money available for “revenue sharing” with smaller teams.  Small market teams like the Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates and Minnesota Twins count on revenue shared by the larger more profitable teams to survive in smaller cities with lower attendance.

Mets left fielder Jason Bay had just 47 R.B.I and Six homers last year. All of this for $6.5 million

There are plenty of woes on the field as well.   Last Wednesday, the Mets star left fielder Jason Bay suffered another injury.  This comes on top of a 2010 season where he had just 47 Runs Batted In, with just six homers.

This is just another blow to the team, who already ate the 12 million dollars left on the contract of pitcher Oliver Perez when they released him during spring training, and six million dollars on the contract of 2nd basemen Luis Castillo when they released him.

The question I have for the class is what should the Mets do during this crisis to better communicate with their fans, and the media, about the ownership issues?  What should the Mets do to keep people filling the ballpark as they rebuild their team with a lower payroll?  What should be Major League Baseball’s role in this crisis?

On Friday, March 25 Time Warner Cable met its first serious competitor in the Capital Region cable market when Verizon announced that it has begun providing Fios TV service to residents in the Towns of Colonie, Guilderland, Bethlehem and Scotia. This represents some serious public relations opportunities and issues for both of the providers.

Time Warner Cable is the area’s primary source of cable, television, and Internet service. They’ve faced competition from various other providers in the past, such as Direct TV or DSL Internet, but Verizon’s Fios is probably their first serious competitor in recent years.

Before when Time Warner faced competition, they had the upper hand in that they had the more reliable, faster technology. They were accurately able to communicate to their customers that their service, though more expensive, was a lot stronger and faster. Take for example the transition period between dial up Internet service and Broadband. At the time the phone companies tried to promote their DSL connection, but consumers knew the service couldn’t compare with the cable company’s high speed Internet.

Another reason Time Warner has been at the top so long is that no one else has delivered as comparable a product for the price. Fios, however, brings a lot more to the table than past competitors, and has shown it in their new Capital Region campaign. One of the best things they’re doing now is showing the advantages of their network. The service is run across a completely fiber optic network. This allows them to easily and more reliably transmit HD video and sound to their consumers. They also have a larger selection of High Definition channels and are competitively priced.

Verizon is also spreading the message that residents “now” have a choice as to where they get their cable/internet/telephone services from.  This is a bit misleading, as people could have chosen to go the satellite or antenna route before, but I think this is just the message that could get them more deeply imbedded in the market.  The message sets up Time Warner as the “old” choice, the relic of an ancient time when Capital Region residents were savagely forced to choose between them or not having cable (the horror!).  Alternatively, it sets up Fios as the new service everyone should want because it’s so shiny and polished and not Time Warner.

Time Warner is likely to promote themselves as “old reliable.” Whether or not Fios’s network may be better, Time Warner has been servicing this area for years. People tend to dislike change, even if it’s for the better.  The cable company should also keep rolling out the extra features, like the recently released iPad application that allows customers to watch TV anywhere there’s Internet on their tablet device. It’ll be extras like this that give Time Warner an edge in keeping their old customers.

Though Fios TV has only just cracked the nutshell that is the Capital Region market, I think this is an issue we’re going to hear a lot more about in the coming years.  It’ll be interesting and educational for PR practioners and students to see from where and how hard the two companies come down on each other in the coming public relations battle.

In April 1966, 30 years after Hitler’s Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany; Munich, West Germany beat out Madrid, Montreal and Detroit to win the right to host the 20th Olympiad in 1972.  These Olympic Games were going to help heal old wounds from those dark 1936 Games and mend fences, not only with Jews but the world as a whole over World War 2.  These would be known as “The Serene Games.”  A joyous celebration of sport and culture in one of the oldest cities in Europe as a back drop.  The people of Munich and West Germany worked tirelessly for years to ensure their Olympic Games came off without a hitch.  The Opening Ceremony was the most spectacular every staged by a host city and for the first 10 days it seemed as though Munich had delivered their “Serene Games.”  However, that serenity was shattered in the early morning hours of September 5, 1972 as 8 Arab terrorists seized 11 Israeli athletes and killed two others.  Time Magazine ran an article a week after the attacks which describes in detail, all of the events of September 5 and 6, 1972.  However, it barely touches the surface of the ramifications of the terror attacks.  On September 2, 2002, Time ran another article, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the attack, this time looking more closely not just at the physical attacks, but the ramifications they had on the Olympic Movement and future host cities.

The attacks at Munich ushered in a dark time for the Olympic Movement.  There was no way to spin the attacks to make the Olympic Games look good.  Munich had lost out on its opportunity for redemption.  Public Relations professionals can call the Munich Massacre a teachable or learning moment, there was much to learn about what happened during those two days in September 1972. But it would take nearly 20 years for the Olympic Movement to recover from these atrocities.  From 1976 to 1988 the Olympic Games were marred by boycotts and bankruptcy.  Few cities around the world were willing to take on the task of organizing such a large project with as many unknown variables as an Olympic Games has.  Even as sports heroes were breaking records, the games were breaking the bank.  It would be very hard to pitch a city into bidding for an Olympic Games if the previous host had lost one billion dollars or the image of masked gunman holding hostages in the Olympic Village  were burned in one’s mind.  What Olympic PR needed was a break.  They needed something that would get the world energized again and wanting to host the largest sporting event on the planet.

In 1984, Los Angeles played host to the 23rd Olympiad.  They became the most successful games to date and even manged to make a profit of over 200 million dollars for the organizing committee.  This is what would help turn the Olympic Movement around.  Twelve years after the terrorist attacks at Munich, Los Angeles would find the redemption which Munich had longed for.  Public relations professionals could use and did use the success of the Los Angeles Games to pitch Olympic sponsorships and show how they were not investing in a dying tradition.  The Los Angeles Olympic Games would show the world that the Olympic Movement was alive and well.  If I were attempting to revitalize this failing franchise, this is what I would do:  I would present the games as a classic tale of loss and redemption. Being brought the brink of extinction and finding your way back.  It is a heroes tale; of athletes who have struggled from all over the world, to find a dream.  For those 11 Israeli athletes, that dream is cut short. Yet, in continuing on with the Games, not just after the attacks in Munich, but every four years hence, every athlete who competes is competing for those who were lost.  When broadcaster Jim McKay uttered those infamous words, “They’re all gone,” one would have thought the Olympic Movement would be gone as well.

Today, the Olympic movement is moving forward, presenting itself to a new generation of athletes and fans around the world.  They can be found on Facebook , at their webpage: Olympic.org, and even on their sponsors pages.  Their image has been brought back, though it sometimes gets tarnished the public relations professional is there to help make it shiny again.   Finally, Munich is trying once again at a shot for redemption.  The city is bidding to host the 2018 Winter Olympics.  If the city is selected, it will be the biggest public relations coup for the city and for the Olympic Movement since Atlanta beat Athens to host the Centennial Games in 1996. Never before has a for has a former Summer Games host played host to a Winter Games.  No city is as infamous in the Olympic Movement as Munich.  Lastly, no city  has as much to prove to themselves and to the world, as Munich does.

When it became apparent that one of the major outgrowths of the earthquake and tsunami that recently hit Japan would be a potentially uncontrolled radiation leak at the island nation’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex, it’s likely those managing the reputations of nuclear plants here in the states saw the writing on the wall.

Steam rising from the No. 3 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex

The situation at the Daiichi plant deteriorated rapidly post-quake, a fact that did not bode well for operators of similar plants on American soil. This went double for facilities susceptible to damage from a shifting of terra firma similar to the one seen in Japan, even if these events are predicted to be more tame by comparison, if they occur at all.

The net effect of all this has been an increased focus on the vulnerability of existing nuclear plants to natural disasters. Americans are asking, “what if this happens in my backyard?” Responses to this question have been numerous, and are coming from a variety of interested parties.

On Wednesday, MSNBC released a report analyzing a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission summary that calculates the odds of an earthquake causing catastrophic failure to American nuclear plants. Since the release of this report, politicians have been quick to offer their perceptions of the risks and benefits associated with the generation of nuclear power. For those who had taken issue with a specific facility in the past or were simply anti-nuclear on principle, the meltdown unfolding in Japan has offered them a convenient way to make their case.

The same day the MSNBC report was published, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered a safety review of the Indian Point Nuclear Center. This is a facility Cuomo has been interested in closing since his time as state attorney general.

Looking northeast into the green mountain state, lawmakers seem more determined than ever to resist the continued operation of their own source of nuclear power: Vermont Yankee. This is a facility for which Entergy Nuclear PR practitioners had just scored a significant victory in the form of a twenty-year license extension granted by the NRC in the previous week. This topic had been controversial enough in Vermont two weeks ago. The ongoing crisis situation seen at Japan’s Daiichi nuclear station has added additional fuel to the debate.

Lawmakers in nearby states have also been eager to voice their opinions on the issue of nuclear power generation. Over the past week, the public has heard from elected officials in Massachusetts and Connecticut, all of whom have varied perspectives on what has happened in Japan, and how it relates to nuclear energy in America.

The problem created by the above events for public relations practitioners in the nuclear industry centers on the birth of a newly invigorated debate over the safety of nuclear power in the United States. Why is this a problem? Because such a debate implies there is some reason to assume the way nuclear energy is harnessed in America is unsafe. Beyond this, practitioners have no control over the flow of information that is setting the agenda in this debate. The event that sparked it is occurring at a Japanese facility thousands of miles away, and the information surrounding it is both incomplete by circumstance and controlled by a foreign government. For this reason, practitioners are being forced into positions that are often more reactive than they would like.

To effectively respond to this public relations dilemma, practitioners need to understand three relationships that determine how the majority of Americans relate to nuclear power generation, and energy policy as a whole. These relationships are:

Risk vs. Benefit: Senator John Kerry said Monday that new plants shouldn’t be built until they can be designed to guarantee that the nuclear core won’t break apart even under the most extreme kinds of stress like an earthquake. He said without that guarantee no community will accept a nuclear plant nearby. This is telling. It reveals the public is willing to accept the benefits associated with large-scale energy production, but unwilling to shoulder the risk associated with such an endeavor.

Logic vs. Emotion: The public demands 100% safety from nuclear facilities. Nuclear facilities are needed due to the vast amounts of energy the public requires to run manufacturing facilities, homes and consumer electronics, among other things. At the same time, 100% safety cannot be guaranteed by nuclear facilities as the human beings who maintain them are fallible. Additionally, the majority of Americans show little interest in the level of energy conservation necessary to negate the need for facilities like nuclear plants. Therefore, the above expectations are illogical and irrational. They are driven by emotion.

Knowledge vs. Ignorance: A Gallop poll taken immediately following the earthquake and nuclear troubles in Japan finds seven in ten Americans say they are now more concerned about a nuclear disaster occurring in the United States. The poll also finds that support for the construction of nuclear power plants rises with education level. It’s worth noting that about one in four Americans has a college degree, and even fewer are nuclear physicists. People fear what they don’t understand. For this reason, they will view something as complex as nuclear power with some degree of skepticism.

To mount a successful response to the negative press affecting the U.S. nuclear industry that’s been generated by recent events in Japan, practitioners must communicate with the public in ways that emphasize the benefits of nuclear power over the risks. They must appeal to the emotional needs of the public (100% safety) at the expense of arguments grounded solely in logic (high energy demand implies acceptance of risks associated with facilities capable of meeting said demand). Finally, practitioners must take into account the limited experience the public has with the mechanics of nuclear power generation, and communicate accordingly.

The nuclear industry needs to make up any ground lost due to the ongoing issues in Japan quickly. Nature abhors a vacuum. If this method of energy production continues to fall out of favor with the public to a significant degree as a result of all this, a different method will step in to take its place. The natural gas industry is already on the way to doing just that.

At a first glance of Chrysler’s super bowl ad and follow up commercials for its new car the Chrysler 200, one might think this is a public relations advertising campaign for the city of Detroit.

This is why I love this campaign so much it really isn’t just about the car. It’s not even about rebranding a city that has been known for its imports.  Instead it is an image reinforcement for a city that has experienced hard times in the worst way. A failing industry that supports its economy, a housing crisis, and worst a crime rate that is through the roof. Yet you see in this commercial a city that hasn’t given up but instead one that is rising from the ashes.

Who better a celebrity endorsement then the hometown boy done good, rap star Eminem, someone who has a comeback story of his own. What started as a commercial has turned into a Public Relations campaign for the city of Detroit, Imported from Detroit.

With its own website, “Imported from Detroit” offers t’shirts with the emblem “Imported from Detroit” emblazed on the front. A portion of the proceeds from the sales are donated to Detroit charities like the Boy and Girls Club of Southeastern Michigan, Habitat for Humanity Detroit, Think Detroit PAL and the Marshall Mathers Foundation.

With the celebrity power of Eminem and Chrysler together, the “Imported from Detroit” merchandise has been selling out and these charities are benefiting from it. This was all borne from a car ad.

According to Seital 1936 marked the beginning of Public Relations advertising. Spearheaded by Warner & Swasey, which was bought out by Bendix in the 80’s, this type of Public Relations dealt more with promoting an ideal instead of a product. After all Public Relations just isn’t for a company or product.

The city of Detroit was not involved with the Chyrsler campaign but nevertheless profited from it in the form of monetary proceeds and promotion. Might I add that Chrysler is coming out of this campaign looking very good, in the eyes of their consumers but also in the city where some of its plant still remain.

What Chrysler has done is genius it has taking marketing and public relations to promote its product, by not promoting its product. When you visit the Chrysler website the landing page says “this is the motor city and this is what we do.” Not “this is Chrysler and this is what we do.”

I do not have the metrics to show how this campaign has helped Chrysler or Detroit as a whole but as I said previously the “Imported from Detroit” merchandise is selling out, and those proceeds are donated to the previously mentioned charities in Detroit.

With that being said the question I pose is can Public Relations advertising help other failing metropolitan cities like Newark, N.J.? There’s a documentary about Newark titled Brick City, showing what the city is doing to clean up its streets and restore pride to New Jersey’s largest city.

The crime rate in the city is down and last year they had one month where there were no murders, if you are familiar with Newark, that’s a big deal. More recently Mark Zuckerberg donated 100 million dollars to Newark’s public school system.

I view these outcomes as a result of not just the hard work the mayor and other public officials are conducting, but also the PR campaigns coming out of these cities.

–Chloe Mister

On March 7th Skype announced that it will be introducing display advertising for users in the US, UK and Germany. The ads will appear on the Skype homepage and many major companies such as Visa, Universal Pictures, and Nokia have already signed on to sponsor this development. According to Skype’s director of advertising Andy Sims, the ads can include audio, video and social media tags. Companies will also have the option to include a click-to-call feature enabling users to use Skype for immediate contact if they so choose.

Skype’s popularity has grown exponentially since its birth in 2003. At the end of 2010 it boasted 663 million users and its revenue grew to $860 million (compared to $719 million in 2009). Despite this success, this latest advertising introduction is obviously an attempt to generate more profit and growth. However as would be expected, many Skype users are less than thrilled that they will have to be bombarded with these ads.

In order to reassure their users that they are being sensitive to their needs, the Skype team has approached this new change carefully, most notably through the internet. Skype has an impressive online presence with over 2 million likes on Facebook, a frequently updated Twitter account and a well-maintained blog. They have in the past shown their ability to construct effective viral campaigns such as my personal favorite, the hilarious Skype Laughter Chain that was hugely popular in 2008.

On their March 7th blog post announcing the advertising introduction they wrote,

“The Skype experience is our first priority, which is why we’ve taken a lot of time working through and testing what kind of advertising would work best in the Skype environment…”

They then continued on to give users details about the kind of advertising to expect, and were even upfront about the fact that they may be using demographic data such as gender, age or location to better target the ads. The blog post is well-written, open, and provides users with all the relevant information that this change will have on their Skype experience.

I think overall, Skype’s approach to unveiling the introduction to advertising has been well done and highly effective. As you can see below, they got only positive responses on their Twitter from users after the announcement. I think the reason for this is two-fold; first because Skype offers an incredible free service, and secondly because over the years they have proved to their consumers that they take their feedback and overall Skype experience seriously. As a frequent Skype user myself, although I’m a little annoyed about the introduction of ads I know I will certainly not be deterred from using it because of this.

What are your thoughts, do you think Skype will suffer a loss of consumers because of this? What, if anything, could they have done differently to introduce this change to their users more effectively?

Joe Mauer for Head & Shoulders

Joe Mauer, catcher for the Minnesota Twins, is the face of Head & Shoulders’ new campaign.  Subsequently, Head & Shoulders is now the Official Shampoo of the MLB.

The campaign will combine traditional print and television advertising with public relations techniques, like a Facebook fan page and a consumer engagement movement.

Already the official shampoo of the NFL, Head & Shoulders has previously used Troy Polamalu , safety for the Pittsburgh Steelers, in their campaigns. Polamalu was a clear choice because of his infamous mane of curls and popularity with fans.

This promotional video featuring Polamalu shows the online campaign Head & Shoulders used to garner interest in their products, while enticing consumers with Super Bowl tickets. Although the Steelers didn’t win the game, Head & Shoulders definitely gained some winning points for the fun and interactive site.

In recent years, Head & Shoulders has been pushing a younger, more active target audience. This strategy is supported through the use of sports starts like Polamalu and Mauer.

Head & Shoulders has also established an online presence through both their own website and the social networking site, Facebook.

The creation of a fan page on Facebook gives Head & Shoulders the opportunity to communicate with consumers in a public forum. Additionally, they are able to post links to videos, alert fans of new developments, and facilitate discussion.

While it’s hard to argue that this method of building client relations is ineffective, the ethics of celebrity endorsement is an issue of debate.

Some claim that celebrity endorsements foster unrealistic expectation for consumers. For example, no matter how often you wash your hair using Head & Shoulders, your hair will probably never look like Polamalu’s without the help of extensions and you won’t be acquiring a handful of Superbowl rings.

But younger fans, who are still developing critical analysis skills, may be unable to see that distinction. Imagine a hoard of teen boys buying out the shampoo section…

That being said, I don’t think there is any scientific evidence citing that Head & Shoulders has a number of negative side effects, absolving them of any backlash due to health concerns.

Another issue is the brand association. If Mauer is involved in some sort of scandal in the coming months, will Head & Shoulders have to get involved?

Celebrities gone “bad,” like Tiger Woods, can sway consumer opinions on the products they are associated with. Situations like that require a wave of crisis communication efforts from the business’ PR professionals – a costly and messy experience.

So, here’s to hoping that this works out for Head & Shoulders.  On a personal note, I am very supportive of guys with well-conditioned hair. Take a note from Mauer, boys!