2008 August — 360PR Blog

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Fun at the Grocery Store?

Posted on August 28th, 2008

Stop & Shop Manic Mommies

Who knew an evening at the supermarket could be so much fun? Well, when you spend it chatting with the women behind Manic Mommies , Erin and Kristin, and Stop & Shop (a 360 client) Consumer Advisor Andrea Astrachan , it sure is.

Last week I got to leave the office and head to the Natick Super Stop & Shop to tape a podcast with the Manic Mommies and our client Andrea. The topic of the conversation was how to reduce those nasty “pain points” moms experience at the supermarket. Andrea, a mom herself, offered some great ideas on how to get in and out of the store more quickly (lists really do help), how to save money by shopping seasonally (which means more money for new shoes, right?!) and how to get kids involved in the shopping process - those Easy Scan hand-held devices (they’re kind of like laser guns) certainly seem to be a big hit with the little ones.

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Filed under: Food Industry, Media and Press, Parenting by VictoriaBreglio - 1 Comment →

I love the Olympics

Posted on August 26th, 2008

Olympic Rings

I always have. As a kid, I remember my parents allowed me to watch TV in my bedroom (a rare occurrence) for the Olympics and I would fall asleep watching the athletes compete. From the touching athlete profiles to the gold medal competitions, I couldn’t (and can’t) get enough.

Prior to this summer’s Olympics Jim Caple wrote and interesting article on ESPN.com about the recent lack of excitement surrounding the Olympics and steady decline in popularity and television ratings. His take was that the Olympics need controversy to generate buzz and interest. And China did not disappoint. China is one of the most controversial countries to host the games and there hasn’t been Olympic buzz like this in quite some time. From world-record marathon runner Haile Gebreselassie (Ethiopia) bowing out of the games due to the poor air quality conditions to the visa being revoked of former speedskater and founder of Team Darfur, Joey Cheek, there was always a captivating headline. [Read more →]

Filed under: Media and Press, PR Industry by CarolinePierce - 1 Comment →

Harry Potter Film Bumped - Dealing with Delays

Posted on August 20th, 2008

Harry Potter Logo

The trailer for the sixth Harry Potter film (The Half-blood Prince) spread on the web recently, sparking the excitement of millions of fans looking forward to seeing the movie this fall. To fans’ disappointment, however, Warner Brothers announced late last week that they had to delay the film until July 2009, leading to some uproar in the Potter community. Some fans even started a Facebook group called “The Delay of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Has Ruined My Life.” Yikes!

Product delays are not uncommon, and can sometimes provide an opportunity to extend PR efforts and build more anticipation. In the video game industry, massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) are especially prone to delays as they can take a significantly longer amount of time to develop compared to console games. They are a living, breathing, constantly growing online world where players interact with one another in real-time over the Internet. Because MMO players tend to invest many hours of their time in these virtual worlds, I can understand their disappointment if a game is delayed (just as I can understand Potter fans’ disappointment).

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Filed under: PR Industry, Video Games by EliciaBasoli - No Comments →

China’s PR Machine

Posted on August 17th, 2008

I’ve been watching my fair share of NBC’s coverage of the Olympics these past two weeks (and I’m toting around some serious luggage under both eyes as a result). As impressive as the athletic competitions have been to watch, equally amazing to me has been the obvious coaching that China did before allowing athletes and others to be interviewed by US media.

In Mary Carillo’s interview with Han Meilin, the artist who created the official Beijing Games’ logo and mascots, dubbed the Fuwa for “good luck dolls,” the artist was asked about his imprisonment during China’s “Cultural Revolution.” His response blew me away, though I’m sure it was exactly as expected by Chinese officials. Mr. Han said that that his time in prison helped “focus” him. Talk about the ultimate spin – and the ultimate talking point apparently. [Read more →]

Filed under: Media and Press by LauraTomasetti - 5 Comments →

Summer in the City: 360’s Annual Outing

Posted on August 14th, 2008

Ah, summer! Barbeques, beach days, vacations… AND the annual 360PR Summer Outing. A day where we forget about press releases, holiday gift guides and editor events and focus on having fun!

We’ve pretty much conquered the city - and beyond - over the last few years with a scavenger hunt, beach outing, tour of Fenway Park, clam bake and even a night on The Vineyard. So, this year we decided to take to the water on a cruise to the Boston Harbor Islands.

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Filed under: 360 Public Relations by StaceyClement - 1 Comment →

From Mortgage Crisis to Education Crisis

Posted on August 8th, 2008

It’s August and that means back-to-school time. But many students planning to enter college this fall still have not secured financing. According to a July survey by Tuitionbids.com (a 360PR client), 60% of students/parents seeking school loans were still trying to lock down financing for the upcoming semester. More than half said they will have to change their plans to attend college this fall if their loan applications aren’t approved.

On top of this all, last week Beth Healy’s article in The Boston Globe reported that the Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority would not be able to provide financial assistance to more than 40,000 families who were depending on that money to pay for school, blaming “ongoing turmoil in the nation’s credit markets.” That’s just one state, but unfortunately it’s a nationwide trend. Wachovia is the latest of the major banks to pull out of student lending and if the current trend continues, they won’t be the last. [Read more →]

Filed under: 360 Public Relations, Internet by JohnLeRoy - 2 Comments →

Why the Boss Rocks

Posted on August 5th, 2008

Not THAT boss. THE Boss. I got to see Bruce Springsteen at Gillette Stadium over the weekend, along with Stacey Clement from our office and our SOs. The concert was rain-delayed (they actually had to clear the field of fans as lightening passed through Foxboro), but worth the wait, of course.

There are so many reasons why Bruce Springsteen rocks, but one that I always come back to is that the guy loves what he does - and he shows it night after night on stage. I’ve seen him three times and watched countless interviews and he always brings his full game. “What else am I going to do? I like the way it makes me feel…it thrills me, it excites me,” Springsteen said in the 60 Minutes interview. [Read more →]

Filed under: Events and Conferences by LauraTomasetti - 2 Comments →