360PR Blog

Some of the smartest minds in social media gathered recently at the Society of New Communications Research (SNCR) Symposium at Harvard for a discussion of the group’s latest research findings. This is my third year attending the event and it has been hugely interesting to see the progression of each of SNCR’s studies. A couple of trends really POPPED for me this year…

Surprisingly, corporations are still behind the curve with social media adoption. Nora Ganim Barnes (University of Massachusetts Dartmouth) found this in the Social Media Adoption Trends Among Inc. 500, Fortune 500, Higher Education and Charities study. While many of the world’s biggest brands have a presence on social media platforms, Fortune 500 and Inc. 500 companies are still behind Charities and Higher Education in their use of social media to communicate with stakeholders. The proof is in the pudding. Check this out:

What does this tell me? While many companies “get it”, there is still more work to do in educating consumer brands (our clients) on the value of social media in helping them to connect with their customers. With changing media consumption habits, the methods in which we communicate must also continue to evolve!

While corporations still have some catching up to do, media and journalists are using social media for their story-telling and reporting in a BIG way. In a separate session, Jen McClure and Don Middleberg presented the “3^rd Annual SNCR/Middleberg Survey of Media in the Wired World”. In this study, it was found that 90% of journalists say that their reliance on social media has increased significantly in the past year. 75% of journalists are using Facebook in generating content. 70% are using blogs. 69% are using Twitter. 54% are using online video. 53% are using Wikipedia. 31% use LinkedIn and 28% use citizen photos.

So, to those Fortune 500 / Inc. 500 corporations that have not yet adopted social media as a significant portion of their communications strategy, you might want to take another look at what the cool kids (i.e. influencers and journalists) are doing!

Thanks to SNCR for organizing yet another great Symposium, as well as for honoring 360PR’s work with the Ball brand National Can-It Forward Day campaign in the Excellence in New Communications Awards.

Filed under: 360 Public Relations, Boston, Digital PR, Events and Conferences, Industry Organizations, Social Marketing, Social Media by EliciaBasoli - 2 Comments →

By Caitlin McNamara

The JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge Series is a 12-city, six-country, five-continent road race, making it the largest road race series in the world. The Corporate Challenge provides an evening of healthy competition, camaraderie and teamwork for local companies to get to know all of their employees. This year, the Corporate Challenge continued its success with a projected number of 250,000 participants.

360PR was lucky to be involved in the race series by taking the communications lead in Chicago (May 26), Boston (June 2) and New York (June 15 and June 16). In addition to focusing on JPMorgan Chase, the bank, we also worked with companies that participated including Caterpillar and Molex (Chicago), Dassault Systemes and Fidelity (Boston), as well as Coach and Johnson & Johnson (New York). Learning about the individual runners and the companies as a whole, we were able to fine tune our pitches leading to national and regional coverage with Banker & Tradesmen, Mass High Tech, the WSJ Dealbreaker Blog and many more.

Each year, companies from all different industries participate in this 12-city road race series – ranging from Tassimo, to WebMD, to Bloomingdales. In Boston, the 360PR crew took part in the 3.5 mile race around the Boston Common. And, while we didn’t win the race, we’re proud to say that 360PR made it to the top 10 in the Boston  t-shirt contest this year!

Filed under: 360 Public Relations, Boston, Cause-Related, Events and Conferences, Industry Organizations by Admin - No Comments →

360 recently hosted members of the new Boston Parent Bloggers Network for a discussion on what’s next for bloggers and brands and what’s working now.  The meeting was spurred by a rigorous schedule of blogger events we have underway this fall for an array of brands.

We’ve had great turnout at our first few events.  But if you’re a blogger, how many events for how many brands can you get to in a given week, especially if blogging is a part-time gig as it is for many?  And how can agencies and brands take it the next level?

All of the bloggers we met with are active on Twitter – some to promote their blogs and give-aways and others for purely social reasons.  The group agreed that on the whole Twitter is a platform for influencers, not the average consumer.  Facebook is also part of bloggers’ daily routines and bloggers “like” brands that fit their lifestyle.  If you’re not interacting with bloggers on Facebook, consider how you can.

Bloggers stressed that once they have become invested in a brand by participating in events, writing posts, etc., they expect to be kept in contact with.  The best programs, like relationships, are ongoing.  For example, a food council sent a different “recipe in a box” to bloggers every month for a year.

Bloggers said they’ll continue to take the time to go to events, but certain times work better than others – for mom bloggers it’s Monday-Thursday mid-morning, after school, or after 7PM.

Virtual events are catching on with busy bloggers.  Some factors for success include special access to a celebrity or other high-profile speaker, a charitable tie-in, and limiting the event to no more than one hour.

We talked about the value of tapping into existing events instead of, or to supplement, your own.  Conferences like Type A Mom, Blissdom and Blogalicious are drawing hundreds of bloggers and offer a captive audience for quality interactions.  But you have to have a strategy to stand out.

Bloggers are also interested in ambassadorships, which might entail producing content for a brand – a video series, for example.

When asked how they measure their influence and success, bloggers cited their loyal readers and the quality of their writing as most important.  It’s that personal relationship with their readers that continues to differentiate blogs from traditional media.  Brands that are succeeding in the blogosphere have a similar respect for bloggers, and an ongoing, integrated approach.

Many thanks to Christy Matte, Jodi Grundig, Erin Furey, Melanie Feehan and Kate Hayes for contributing their time and insights for this post.

Filed under: 360 Public Relations, Blogger Relations, Boston, Digital PR, Marketing to Moms, Social Media by LauraTomasetti - No Comments →

I’ve walked through Copley Place and the Prudential many times. But, instead of grabbing a bite to eat in the food court last Friday, I speed-walked through the mall to the Hynes Convention Center for the first annual Penny Arcade Expo East (PAX East). It was quite a sight…over 60K gamers, many fan boys and girls in full costume, descended on Boston and captured the attention of the Pru “suits” on their lunch break, as well as the local media. Multiple features in Mass High Tech, the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Xconomy.com and others chronicled the success story that was PAX East.

Held for the past four years in Seattle (PAX West), PAX organizers decided to branch out to the East coast and Boston was a natural choice – as a HUGE college town, Boston is filled with gamers! Thousands of attendees and about 70 hardware and software companies, including 360 clients Turbine and Immerz, crammed into the tiny Hynes Convention Center for a sold out show. And I’ve heard that in 2011 the event will be held at the much larger Boston Convention & Exhibition Center – the open space will provide more room for the nerd herd to really spread out next year.

The gamers are gone, for now. But it’s clear that PAX East was a milestone event for Boston, the first gaming event of its size to be held in our backyard. While Massachusetts has long been known as a leader in various technology sectors, in recent years the gaming cluster has really started to shine becoming a key growth area for the state.

According to a 2009 survey by the Mass Tech Leadership Council, the state’s video game makers, which include industry heavyweights Harmonix and Turbine, take in $2 billion in revenue per year.  There are over 70 companies in MA dedicated to games, employing over 1,200 people. There are also multiple local organizations dedicated to fostering the community, including the New England Games SIG (of which I participate as a steering committee member), the Boston Post Mortem, and the MassTLC Games Cluster.

Did you get your game on at PAX? What did you think? We at 360 can’t wait until next year! Check out some photos of the 360 team at PAX on our Facebook page.

The 360PR team at PAX East - Elicia, Stacey, and Amanda

Filed under: Boston, Events and Conferences, Industry Organizations, Media and Press, Video Games by EliciaBasoli - 2 Comments →

A good parody is an attention grabber, especially when it’s on YouTube.

That’s one of the lessons I learned first hand at the “how to make a viral video” session at SXSW, where along with 500 other people, I had the good fortune to star in a parody video that since it’s posting only four days ago, has already been viewed over 34,0000 times on YouTube.

So here’s what happened. Spoofing the highly popular  surprised kitten video – as in viewed 21 million times popular – Damian Kulash, the You Tube sensation from the OK GO band, pretended to tickle a room full of people in the SXSW audience. See  surprised SXSW audience. If you like this spoof, check out Damian’s attempt to tickle his pet dog, who doesn’t seem at all surprised. See surprised dog.

The SXSW viral video seminar was led by Jonathan Wells, the creative director at Flux,  Margaret Gould Stewart from YouTube, Jason Wishnow from TedTalks and Damian Kulash from OK GO. They were informed and articulate, and it was one of the  more meaningful and lively discussions at SXSW. I learned that many popular viral videos happen not on purpose like, Charlie bit my finger.  So the question is, how do you create a successful viral video on purpose? Here are 10 secrets I learned from this panel of pros:

1. Don’t be a Debbie Downer. Most videos that go viral spread happiness.

2. Go for a sense of wonder, inspiration and surprise, and create content around the unexpected and the great reveal.

3. Use multiple camera angles and close ups so viewers can develop an emotional connection with those on camera. Watch James Watson on TedTalks to see some awesome camera angles and inspired delivery of content, in turn creating  both an emotional and intellectual connection with the speaker.

4. Exclusivity online doesn’t work. Allowing people to embed your video is good common sense.  Science has it that the traffic that drives virality in the first 48 hours is due to embedded video on blogs, not on You Tube.

5. Viral doesn’t always mean having to create original content. You can also curate original content from others and provide a platform to help them gain a larger audience for their content.

6. Create a video people will compulsively want to watch over and over again. One way is to think of the most impossible thing to do. Then do it. That’s the approach taken by  OK GO on their latest video, which took 6 months, 65 takes and 60 engineers to create. But it averages 4-5 views per session.

7. Metadata is the SEO equivalent of making your video go viral. Make sure you tag your video properly once it’s on YouTube so people can find it. It’s also recommended that you connect your YouTube channel with your Facebook account. This way all your YouTube updates will get automatically posted on Facebook.

8. People are compulsive about sharing human experiences. Visceral emotions in video around love, food, sex, and laughter generally get passed around.

9. Viral is in the eye of the beholder. People who come to YouTube from social networks are more interested in what else their friends are watching. The idea is to understand the mindset that people bring with them and build off that in creating your video.

10. Be quirky.YouTube’s top celebs are quirky and lo-fi, but they draw audiences any cable network would envy.

Without a doubt, it’s always fascinating to see smart, unique, and occasionally crazy concepts come to life. Most interesting are those that connect with a brand and really support brand awareness.

I welcome your comments and love to hear what you see working to hook fans with video!

Filed under: 360 Public Relations, Boston, Social Media, Uncategorized by Admin - 1 Comment →

For the past 48 years, The Hatch Awards, hosted by the Ad Club, have been New England’s premier creative awards show.  Over 1200 entries are reviewed by a dozen judges – high-ranking creative executives from outside the New England area.  Awards are presented across 32 categories including every kind of media possible.

As part of the Ad Club’s PR Committee, 360PR attended the show on Tuesday night…and was blown away (props to Boston University’s drum corps)!

Hatch Awards 2009

I serve on the Ad Club PR Committee and one of the things we try to do is to cast a light on the young, diverse creative ad biz in Boston – the industry has moved well beyond the bygone “Mad Men” era.  This year, we invited some special guests to attend — some leading bloggers from the Boston area.  As we all know, mom bloggers are the movers and shakers of the world — they can topple brands or create success stories in the blink of an eye.  In fact, U.S. moms say 80% of ads miss the mark (via M2Moms).  But experts say that we can improve those results by using social media to create online communities and brand advocates. 

We also set up a hash tag for bloggers and members of the Hatch audience to follow.  Over the course of the evening, there were over 70 Twitter status updates using #AdClub.  The following local bloggers in attendance driving the conversation were:

• Christy Matte, More than Mommy (http://morethanmommy.com/) 
• Nirasha Jaganath, Mommy Niri (http://www.mommyniri.com/) 
• Susan Getgood, Marketing Roadmaps (http://getgood.com/roadmaps/) 
• Jennifer Leal, Savor the Thyme (http://savorthethyme.blogspot.com/) 

Some of the gold bowl recipients were Arnold’s picturesque FootJoy print ads (something any golf fanatic would love) in the Consumer Magazine Spread category, Mullen’s hilarious Boston Bruins national TV spots (my personal favs), and Hill Holliday’s sobering Liberty Mutual TV spots.

Filed under: 360 Public Relations, Blogger Relations, Boston, Consumer Marketing, Events and Conferences, Marketing to Moms, Social Media by Admin - No Comments →

Keeping a secret in an office full of hyper-communicators is never easy (is a secret ever safe with Twitter these days?!). And when it comes to keeping the activities of the annual 360PR summer outing under wraps, well, the stakes are even higher.

For the better part of the summer, our team members have tried trickery, bribery and all out guessing to try and uncover the itinerary of one of our favorite days of the year. Luckily, our planning team channeled their inner Cloak & Dagger and we kept them in the dark until the big unveiling this past Friday. Over ‘ritas and lunch at Cottonwood, each 360 team member finally received their “case briefing.”

As part of the clever game produced by Urban Interactive, our team was being sent on a mission throughout downtown Boston working for one of our most unique clients ever – The Society of the Commons. As “urban sleuths,” our mission was to uncover a Colonial relic lost somewhere in Boston.

Armed with a tricked out iTouch, a (limited) map of Boston and four envelopes marked top secret (to be opened along the course of the hunt), our six teams tooks to the streets in search of the relic. Along the way, we met up with rival spies from the SmartMax-86 organization and had to fool them into revealing their secrets to us. Since we’re in PR, we had no touble smooth talking them into that one! Some teams chased down the operatives across Boston Common much to the amusement of sane businesspeople on their lunch breaks, while others wooed them with some on-the-spot musical improv. If our blog had audio, I’d ask Skye to record her fantastic tune which is best accompanied by a ukulele!

Bad Tip: Clearly this donkey didn’t give us the clues we needed: My team came in last, but we had a great time doing it! (l-r) The donkey in front of Ruth’s Chris steakhouse, Skye, Elicia and Mike

By the time 5:00 rolled around, we’d traversed the city, met lots of helpful strangers and were ready for some celebrarory cocktails at Jury’s pub. Some of us arrived faster than others (apparently John has a competitive nature we just never really knew about), and while the relic never was actually located (we’re more Spies Like Us rather than Indiana Jones truth be told!), we had lots of laughs discovering hidden parts of Boston and our team members’ many hidden talents.  Here are some of the superlatives we awarded our colleagues:

• Best Musical Improv (for her SmartMax-86 rap) – Skye
• Best Spy Lingo – Mike
• Best Hula Dance & Cartwheel – Caitlin D.
• Sharpest Eye  - Lindsay
• Sneakiest  – India
• Best Pick-up Line to a SmartMax-86 Agent – Caitlin M.
• Most Competitive – John

The Winning Team (l-r): Stacey, Caroline, Lindsay and Caitlin

Now, if only we can keep the holiday party under wraps until December!

Filed under: 360 Public Relations, Boston by Admin - 4 Comments →

I need to start with a disclaimer.  There’s no way around it, this is a self-serving post, but hopefully still of some interest.  360 went 10 for 12 at last night’s New England Publicity Club Bell Ringer Awards.  That’s an enviable batting average even here in Red Sox Nation.

A glance at the list of campaigns by 360 and other award-winners, including our friends at Cone and Kel and Partners, speaks to the awesome national work that’s emanating from Boston.  As traditional media have downsized and shifted more and more to contributors working virtually, and social media has sprung from all corners of the globe, physical proximity has become less relevant.  But that’s a whole other post.

Back to the red carpet and a look at some of our “stars” accepting awards…

Crock-Pot cookers Brittany & Merideth

Team Xenith Caitlin & John

A jubilant Stephanie with a shiny award plaque for Ball Jars and Mike in his WowWee afterglow

360 took home top honors in several categories, reminding us of the great clients and brands we’re fortunate to work with:

Best Consumer Product/Service Publicity Campaign for Ball® jars

Best Special Event Series for Stop & Shop®

Best National Television News Placement for Crock-Pot® slow cookers on The Rachel Ray Show

Best Regional Television News Placement for Xenith’s X1™ football helmet on WBZ-TV/Boston

Best Feature or Commentary Placement for WowWee’s Alive Cubs™ in TIME Magazine

Best Response to Breaking News for WowWee’s FlyTech™ Dragonfly

[Read more →]

Filed under: 360 Public Relations, Boston, Industry Organizations, PR Industry by LauraTomasetti - 4 Comments →

I went to the Social Media Club Boston event last week hosted by Hill Holiday.  The discussion focused on brands’ use of social media and the panel included executives from Forrester, Street Attack, and Visible Technologies, among others.

Speakers presented some interesting case studies, including the Best Buy @15 Challenge, the Hershey “House of Bliss” parties, and the Nike+ online community.

The use of social media by brands is a strategy that has fully blossomed. More important, is recognizing that we are all still learning – social media tools and how consumers interact with brands (and each other) online evolves so quickly, we have no choice but to keep “taking notes.”  And so I did.

One of the more interesting analogies came from Mike Spataro of Visible Technologies when he said that “social media is A1 sauce, not the steak. Social media is a supplement, not a substitute.” He later added that “Defining success [with social media] depends on your objectives. You have to ask yourself, ‘what do you want to know about your brand?”

When I first attended an SMC event a couple years ago, it seemed as though very few were actively tweeting.  But, last week the Tweets were flying! There was even a screen up next to the panel to display the Twitter stream – a nice touch! Check out #SMCBoston to read up on some of the discussion for yourself.

Filed under: Boston, Digital PR, Social Media by EliciaBasoli - 2 Comments →

Though I think I speak for most, if not all of the 360PR staff when I say we could use at least 5 more hours in every day, we’ve managed to find time to comb through our inboxes, RSS feeds and favorite sites to bring you a few of this week’s best articles on social media. The links below will provide insight on how women spend their time online, how Twitter is becoming easier to track and how Target is doing good by giving back.

Mashable “Social Media Giving: Target’s Smart Facebook Campaign” – Working in PR, stories of brands getting it wrong using social media spread like wild fire.  Target’s “Bullseye Gives” campaign on Facebook is an inspiring study of a brand getting it right.

TwiTip “Brand Monitoring in Twitter: BackTweets Allows you to Linking Activity” – Several services allow you to track Twitter conversation by searching for key words and hash tags.  But how do you know who’s linking to your client, cause, or brand?  Introducing Backtweets, the newest way to keep on top of what all the buzz is about.

Marketing VOX “Women Use Blogs for Info, SocNets to Connect” – It’s not surprising that women go online in search of information, but there is more to this subject than meets the eye.   BlogHer, iVillage and Compass Partners combined their savvy and recently released results from their 2009 Women in Social Media Study.  Though the results likely won’t shock you, it’s an important read for anyone trying to reach the female demographic.

Filed under: Boston, Internet, Media and Press, Social Media by SkyeMcIntyre - No Comments →

It must be surreal to be a newspaper editor these days, having to cover your own demise.  Yesterday’s Boston Globe led with a feature on the Times Co.’s plans to potentially shut it down.  But as I thumbed through the still-thick sections of my Sunday Globe, reading comfortably in a recliner instead of hunched over my computer (my Monday-Friday news-consuming mode), I earnestly hoped for the future of the Sunday paper.

Much of the traditional publishers’ woes have been blamed on the digital generation who, for the most part, have demonstrated an adversity to the print medium.  For us "more mature" readers, the issue is perhaps more a lack of time.  Reading the paper page by page doesn’t fit my Monday-Friday schedule or needs.  For better — and sometimes worse – I rely on RSS feeds, Google News , Twitter and other more immediate, key word-driven sources.

I think there is a place for paper — on Sundays and at the most local level.  The community weekly paper distinguishes itself by offering something I haven’t seen done as well online (yet).  I look forward to flipping through the three weeklies in my neighborhood, cover to cover, reading about this neighbor and that school and finding out what events are coming to town.  I also pay attention to local merchants’ ads.

The big dailies face a more difficult landscape.  Ad revenues are down and not coming back.   Online, they can’t simply convert to a paid model overnight.  But hybrid models are catching on online, where some premium features are offered alongside free, ad-supported content.

What I’m really interested to see from content powerhouses, which the dailies are, are new products and platforms of delivery.  A Blackberry edition of the Globe, for example, would be extremely useful to me Monday-Friday.  I’d also be willing to pay for more immediate or expanded access.

It’s easy to look backward and doom an industy for "missing the boat."  It’s far less easy to innovate.  This week, 10 publishing veterans share their vision for the newspaper of the future in "Don’t Stop the Presses," a new cover story from, who else?,  the Newspaper Association of America .

Filed under: Boston, Media and Press by LauraTomasetti - 2 Comments →

As a follow-up a blogger relations session we had a few weeks back with Susan Getgood, which Elicia posted about, we were lucky to have a top locally based mom blogger come to our office and talk to 360ers about what works – and what doesn’t – when working with bloggers.  Christine Koh is the brain behind BostonMamas.com.  And when I say brain, I mean brain.  Among her many other accomplishments, Christine Koh has a Ph.D. in music and brain science!  Christine had some great tips when it comes to planning events for bloggers.  At 360, we typically call them “blunches!”  Her tips include:

• First and foremost, don’t request (or require for that matter) that if a blogger come to an event that they post about it.  Not only is it an immediate turnoff, but PR people and marketers should think of events as a way to build relationships with bloggers.  And hey, if it is a good, meaningful event, then chances are bloggers will have something to post about anyway, which leads me to Christine’s second point…

• The best events are multifaceted and can appeal to a wide range of bloggers and subject matters.  For example, Christine went to a blogger event that was put together by a family vacation destination where there were speakers and sessions on multiple subject matters.  For instance, the chef of the resort offered recipes for the whole family while someone else spoke about economical travel tips so virtually everyone that attended the event had something they wanted to write about coming out of the event. 

Speaking of blogger relations and events – I hope that everyone caught Susan Getgood’s post on Monday about another blogger relations campaign gone bad that spreading like wildfire on Twitter.  Just search #fishfulthinking and you will see what I mean!

Filed under: 360 Public Relations, Blogger Relations, Boston, Pitch tips by Admin - 1 Comment →

The Council of PR Firms is hosting a series of workshops to help non-profits leverage digital media.  Perhaps more than any sector, non-profits have been hit hardest by the economy.  Donations to candidates’ campaigns in this year’s Presidential election also have taken away precious dollars from non-profit organizations.

At the same time, non-profits operating in the social services sector, such as The Women’s Lunch Place here in Boston, have had to balance inceased needs and the higher cost of providing services (for example, food and health care costs have skyrocketed) with tighter support.

Digital and social media could be a big boon to non-profits looking to extend their donor base, especially those trying to tap into younger philanthropists and volunteers whose first interaction with a non-profit may be online.  In addition, social media provides a more interactive environment to engage existing supporters, and can also save thousands of dollars in printed materials.

The Council’s digital workshops for non-profits will be held beginning this month and into early next year in Los Angeles (Dec. 11), Boston (Jan. 14), San Francisco (Jan. 27), Raleigh (Feb. 19), Dallas (date TBD) and Washington, DC (date TBD).

Filed under: Blogger Relations, Boston, Cause-Related, Digital PR, Events and Conferences, Industry Organizations, Internet by LauraTomasetti - 2 Comments →

On Tuesday the MIT Enterprise Forum Interactive Entertainment Special Interest Group hosted a panel and networking event in Cambridge bringing together local game industry executives to discuss video game marketing and PR. Rodney Brown of Mass High Tech moderated the panel and 360′s own Stacey Clement, as well as Sarah McIlroy of Fashion Playtes, Alex Rodberg of Turbine, and Joe McDonagh of 2K Boston, participated as panelists.Mass High Tech wrote a great article yesterday summarizing the event (check it out here), but I also wanted to share a few additional valuable points that Stacey and the other panelists touched upon:

[Read more →]

Filed under: 360 Public Relations, Boston, Video Games by EliciaBasoli - No Comments →

Last night, the 360 crew headed to the Boston Common for “Shakespeare on the Common.”  This year’s production is As You Like It it’s the 13th annual production of Shakespeare on the Common.  We had the nose-bleed seats and it was a little hard to hear, so it was mainly a social event and just a beautiful night in the park.  Boston summers almost make you forget Boston winters.  Almost.

Watching Shakespeare together was a first for our group.  But unlike an episode of The Office, where things inevitably turn painfully awkward, we just had a lot of fun.

Filed under: 360 Public Relations, Boston by EliciaBasoli - 1 Comment →