360PR Blog

I am positively giddy with excitement about the implications of the command social media performance this week by the super-suave Isaiah Mustafa and the Old Spice digital and creative team. They produced 160 personalized videos in 48 hours as the viral online extension of their award-winning manmercials. As a result, Old Spice’s Twitter account acquired tens of thousands of new followers and The Old Spice YouTube channels have been viewed over 58 million times. Without a doubt, the Old Spice social media invasion was not only brave, but has seriously raised the bar on what it now means to create buzz and human-time engagement on the web.

What came off as an easy and breezy, dare I say organic execution on social media was undoubtedly a vast and deliberate production, orchestrated by dozens of Wieden + Kennedy writers, art directors, producers, editors and social media strategists, not to mention the camera and lighting crew, teleprompter worker person, etc. I can imagine the studio in Portland might have resembled Cape Canaveral when NASA readies to launch a shuttle into space.

The team averaged around 7 minutes to make each video, and released several videos per hour, responding in what felt like real-time to fans, stars and internet celebrities from Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, blogs and more. Check out the top 10 hottest videos here. Beyond the sheer creative talent at Weiden + Kennedy, there also had to be a sizeable creative and digital budget to support the production of so many well-lit commercials, not including Mustafa’s compensation (he is so handsome and clever he should ask for a raise anyway).

In an interview, the head of Digital for Weiden + Kennedy said that the digital push began with the notion of the character responding to people about the TV commercials. He said, “We knew there was a massive love for this guy and what people wanted was to be in the shower with him. So that’s where we started from.” The agency decided to really center the push around YouTube and Twitter. YouTube hosted the videos, while Twitter provided the bulk of the distribution.

The team made savvy moves. They activated influencers by pre-producing videos for people such as Perez Hilton, 4chan, and AdFreak, posting them on their blogs and @replying to them on Twitter. They also activated communities such as DIGG and Reddit. For example, they knew that Digg Founder Kevin Rose was sick so they made a get-well video for him and posted it on Digg with the title “Get Well, Kevin Rose! The video became the top content on Digg with over 5,000 Diggs. They even created a call for comments on Reddit and posted a time-stamped picture of Isaiah saying Hi to Reddit. And they bought a Twitter ad campaign to feature the push as a trending topic.

All of these tactics combined helped the Old Spice brand activate large communities and drum up buzz before they had even rolled out 10 videos. The social media team then scoured the Web for comments related to the campaign and fed the ones that were either funny or from interesting sources to the creatives, who determined which would make good fodder for the videos. It was clearly all a big commercial, but kudos to the creatives for being tongue-in-cheek and for talking about the use of Old Spice in a way that felt light hearted and fun. Mustafa’s baritone voice and convoluted wordplay made for such entertaining delivery. He even made us laugh and cry with this video to his daughter who posed a question to him on Twitter.

I don’t know if this campaign will help sell more Old Spice, but I do know that I no longer think of Old Spice as a Fuddy-Duddy brand. Smells like success to me!

Thank you, Old Spice and Wieden + Kennedy, for spicing up the viral marketing landscape.

Filed under: 360 Public Relations, Consumer Marketing, Digital PR, Internet, PR Industry, Social Marketing, Social Media, advertising by CindyGordon - 2 Comments →

The 2010 Bell Ringer Awards were bustling last night – nothing like a roomful of PR people with cocktails waiting to be recognized!  The awards cast a spotlight on the leading-edge campaigns of the past year by New England-based firms.

The lifetime achievement award was presented to Larry Weber, a reminder of the caliber of talent, entrepreneurship, and innovation that has come from the Boston PR community over the past 20+ years.  ”PR has always been the influence of opinion through the use of content,” said Weber, commenting on the opportunity for PR in today’s content-driven digital world.  It was a simple but inspiring statement.

360 was in great company and our team was truly honored to be recognized with 13 awards, including five gold Bell Ringers.  Garnering six awards, our launch of Dorel Juvenile Group’s AirProtect^TM car seat safety technology was among the most gratifying.  That campaign helped educate millions of parents on the very real dangers of side impact crashes and what can be done to help protect children.  And campaigns for Allrecipes and Snuggie® were just plain fun, in addition to meeting their very real business objectives.

You can read a full list of the winning campaigns on the Publicity Club’s site.  Congrats to the more than 40 agencies, companies and organizations recognized at the 41^st Bell Ringers!

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

Parents don’t let kids social network alone.

That’s the thinking behind Togetherville, a juvi-social network where the 10 and under set can hang out with their parents online and give social networking a whirl in a safe online neighborhood.

It’s free to join and parents create their child’s account through their own Facebook log-in. Parents can “play” with their kids online – hence the together in Togetherville – and can approve or reject friends that their children ask to bring into their neighborhood. Creator Mandeep Singh Dhillon told CNET.com that it’s all about creating accountability. He said, “Togetherville allows parents to create neighborhoods of the real people in their child’s life to be around their kid as they grow up online.”

Similar to Disney Digital Books, the site looks different for parents and children. And in this kiddie-size version of Facebook, your kids can comment on a status update using canned responses called “quips.” The site does let kids write their own free-form messages, but they must be approved by the parent before being sent. From the kids site, the games, videos and other activities are all pre-screened and no ads are allowed. From the parents site, you can send your kids notes and gifts, look at their activities and see what they’re creating. Kids also get passports that they can fill up with badges by playing games and watching videos on the site.

Let’s face it, kids under 13 are not allowed on Facebook, but they are joining anyway. And while there are some really nice things about Facebook, the perils aren’t worth the trouble that can happen if your young child isn’t supervised.

The question is whether parents will take the Togetherville step before letting their kids loose online. And, we’ll find out soon enough whether the Togetherville model even proves to be “safe enough.” Let’s also hope that Togetherville doesn’t turn into Addictedville and shut out important real-life experiences for young kids.

For now, it seems to me like a great solution for parents whose kids who are chomping at the bit to get online. It may just provide a valuable head start in teaching kids early on netiquette and the importance of safety and privacy on a social networking site. There is no denying, these sites are here to stay and will only evolve and grow.

So please share, would you use Togetherville with your child?

Filed under: 360 Public Relations, Consumer Marketing, Digital Books, Digital PR, FaceBook, Marketing to Moms, Media and Press, PR Industry, Parenting, Social Media, Social Networking, Togetherville, Video Games, Virtual Worlds by CindyGordon - 3 Comments →

Before the sounds of music permeated Austin’s air this year during the annual South By Southwest festival, SXSW Interactive attracted tech junkies from around the world.  One of the many companies represented was Digg.com, a news aggregate site where users submit stories that can be voted up the site by other users by ‘dig’ing them.  Do you dig it?

After the speakers silenced and the dust settled, Digg.com CEO Jay Adelson sat down with NPR this past Sunday to discuss the site’s goal – “the social curation of the world’s content and the conversation around it” – and crowd sourcing, a practice Digg recently implemented with their Dialogg site. In Adelson’s own words, crowd sourcing is:  ”you’ll see them all over the Internet, these little buttons next to articles. You know, you’ll see them on Web sites like The New York Times or, you know, NPR or elsewhere. And if you click that button, you’re basically sending a signal to Digg that you care about that topic. It doesn’t necessarily mean you agree with the content. It’s just a signal.  And we collect it all using crowd wisdom and we put some magic behind that and some algorithms and math and then we bubble up to the surface the stuff that’s interesting.”

The question for PR professionals, then, is this: do we ‘dig’ client news?  Full disclosure is necessary with any form of social media, but the issue lies in that Digg does not currently allow you to leave your name/organization on each individual dig. Then again, maybe us PR pros shouldn’t blur the line and should stay away from the site altogether.  What’s your opinion?

Filed under: Digital PR, Internet, PR Industry by SkyeMcIntyre - 1 Comment →

The life-size cardboard cut-out of Edward stopped me in my tracks as I walked the aisles at Toy Fair in New York this week.  ‘Twilight’ was one of the newer licenses dotting booths at the annual toy industry show.  Mattel has cast the Twilight stars – Edward and Bella – as Barbie dolls.  Mattel also unveiled the newest Barbie career dolls: News Anchor Barbie and Computer Engineer Barbie, as voted by fans and getting good buzz at the show.

Anniversaries were another dominant theme at Toy Fair: Etch a Sketch and Slinky celebrate their 50th and 65th (wow, I’m old!); Hello Kitty is 35; and Hasbro introduced a round Monopoly game board in honor of Monopoly’s 75th.   The makers of Rubik’s Cube (a 360 client), which turns 30 in 2010, have rolled out a campaign to empower America’s youth to solve the cube – check out the Rubik’s Facebook page we just set up for the You Can Do the Cube campaign.  You CAN do it!

Our friends at the Toy Book were offering to tweet show news for exhibitors.  Simply stop by Toy Book’s booth at the Javits with your 140 characters and the editors will tweet it out.  Social media made even easier.  You can read all the tweets from the show at #toyfair.

Looking at the appointment schedules our teams booked up for clients, it was striking just how many more bloggers made it to the show this year.  That added some welcomed immediacy and a real-parent perspective to the Toy Fair news stream.  (Love to read your post if you want to leave a link here.)

And here’s one of my favorite Toy Fair images - one that caught the attention of FOX Busiiness – the New York City skyline sculpted out of Bendaroos (a 360 client):

Filed under: Consumer Marketing, Events and Conferences, Industry Organizations, PR Industry, Retail by LauraTomasetti - 4 Comments →

It’s September and summer vacation’s clearly over.  Most of us have it engrained from the day we start kindergarten, backpacks on and lunchboxes in hand, that September means business.  This September’s no exception – and we’re thankful for that.

In one week at 360, we’ve had three client events spanning a range of product categories:  an event to introduce Stonyfield Farm’s YoBaby Meals featuring Stonyfield CE-Yo Gary Hirshberg and Boston Mama’s Christine Koh; a car seat safety briefing by Dorel Juvenile Group at the ABC KIDS Expo (#abckids on Twitter); and, a Snuggie fashion show during Fashion Week emceed by Ross “The Intern” Mathews from The Tonight Show.

A model wears one of the new Snuggie designs on the runway during Fall Fashion Week in New York.

We have two more events and multiple tours still to come this month, and we’re just one agency.  Multiply that by hundreds of agencies and brands with launches planned in September.  Imagine being a reporter or blogger on the receiving end of it all?  In fact, we’re hearing from bloggers that they’re being inundated with invitations – increasingly, it’s gotta be something pretty special to pull them out these days.

And at ABC Kids Expo in Las Vegas, editors from the leading parenting books were moving at a rapid clip, covering more ground with fewer staff.  Some were breathless.  It was interesting to see traditional media outnumbered by bloggers, and refreshing to see marketers spending after a cautious start to the year.

If September’s any indication, it’s going to be a noisy fall.  And it seems consumers are finally ready to listen – especially if the price is right!

Filed under: 360 Public Relations, Consumer Marketing, Events and Conferences, Media and Press, PR Industry by LauraTomasetti - No Comments →

We are about to dive into a new book for our 360PR Book Club. There is nothing better than reading up on public relations and social media while lying on the beach! Well at least everyone in our office thinks it’s exciting…

We are considering three books this summer, ranging in focus from how social media is taking over PR to why flash mobs actually work. Here are our picks for the summer session of the 360PR Book Club:

Putting the Public Back in Public Relations: How Social Media is Reinventing the Aging Business of PR  

By Brian Solis and Deirdre Breakenridge

Putting the Public Back in Public Relations focuses on how PR professionals have the opportunity to make PR succeed more powerfully with social media and Web 2.0 It seems like we have been doing this for a while, but maybe Solis and Breakenridge will give new tips and tricks to seasoned PR professionals.

Twitter Power: How to Dominate your Market One Tweet at a Time

By Joel Comm

As PR pros we’ve been using Twitter for a long time, but we are always open to hearing how to make Twitter work harder for our clients. Twitter Power discusses through case studies and best practices, how to build a brand via Twitter.

And Then There’s This: How Stories Live and Die in Viral Culture

By Bill Wasik

And Then There’s This highlights the phenomenon of viral culture, including the creation of flash mobs, memes, and other Internet sensations such as guerilla marketing and political blogs. The theory of why certain phenomenon take off and others are left in the dirt is important for all PR people to understand. Wasik may have some new insight that will help on our current campaigns.  

Let us know what’s on your book list this summer – for business or pleasure!

Filed under: 360 Public Relations, Books, PR Industry by Admin - 2 Comments →

Guess what the first and last topic was on the first day of Blogher? Right. That FTC stuff. Disclosure was the main message from the Blogher founders.  Blogher requires its network of 2,500 bloggers to aggregate product reviews to a separate review blog and note that reviews are sponsored.

But is disclosure enough?  Do we need or, let me rephrase, want “compensated reviews”?  If a product or service is truly break-through and relevant to the audience, and the outreach is well timed and appropriately targeted (if I can put in just a small plug for PR), reviews get written and for the right reasons.

There was a lot of discussion throughout Blogher Business about how bloggers “add value for marketers.”  But most blogs weren’t started as a marketing platform, and even as they’ve collectively evolved to be a viable channel for advertisers online, the audience needs to come first.  If it doesn’t, we all lose.

A group of bloggers we have a heck of a lot of respect for launched an initiative this week called Blog with Integrity, inviting bloggers to take a pledge of a code of conduct – totally voluntary and completely about raising the bar back up in the blogosphere for mom bloggers and all bloggers.

So what about us PR peeps?  Almost a decade ago, The Council of PR Firms set forth a code of ethics by which members firms (including 360PR) agree to conduct business – to help ensure PR with Integrity.  ”In communicating with the public and media, member firms will maintain total truthfulness and accuracy… the sources of communications and sponsors of activities will not be concealed,” reads an excerpt.

Social media, and PR’s prime-time role in social media, have raised the stakes.  We need to strive to be authentic, accurate and transparent in every interaction with bloggers, journalists and analysts every day.  What would our moms say?  Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should.

What are your thoughts?

Filed under: Blogger Relations, Digital PR, Events and Conferences, Industry Organizations, Internet, Marketing to Moms, PR Industry, Social Media by LauraTomasetti - 6 Comments →

So I’m just a wee bit late in the game with this post.  Hey, we’re busy with client work, a good thing right?  The New York Times published an article over the holiday weekend, Spinning the Web:  P.R. in Silicon Valley.

While some in the PR industry scoffed at the article (read Edelman’s rebuttal), there was at least an element of truth and a lesson or two to be learned by reading about the galavants (including bikini-clad client meetings) of Silicon Valley publicists.  Plus, let’s be honest, it was a fun, lighten-up, summertime read.

So here’s the true part:  PR is still about relationships.  That’s true whether dealing with influencers online or off, and it’s one of the reasons why PR practitioners are better equipped to lead brands into social media than other specialists who focus on transaction-based marketing.

There’s no denying the powerful combination of relationships + social media in the successful launch of Wordnik.   But it’s not simply ‘who you know.’  The nature and quality of the relationship is key.  How deep does the relationship run?  Is it truly two-way and built on mutual respect?  Will it last over time?

The Edelman blog brought to light another important point:  to reap the benefits of a sustained PR effort, you need a strategic approach, not just a whisper in so-and-so’s ear.

Filed under: Media and Press, PR Industry by LauraTomasetti - No Comments →

What would Chuck Norris do?  Or, as many of us at 360PR asked on Friday, how would MC Hammer reinvent something, or Donald Trump improve efficiency?

Our agency participated in a hands-on professional development session on Friday (courtesy of The Loeb Group) that focused on “Tools to Boost Our Individual & Collaborative Creativity” — and there were plenty of tactile toys and doohickeys supplied to prime the pump.

PR practitioners are generally quick, creative thinkers. But foosball tables and yoga balance balls aside, creativity is not simply a byproduct of an office’s environment.

Filed under: 360 Public Relations, Consumer Marketing, PR Industry by Admin - 2 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 →

Last week, I traveled down to New York for the Gift Guide Show Media Event put on by Propel Media Events.  Editors from some of the top national consumer outlets were out in full-force with eager eyes looking to identify the “latest and greatest” gift ideas for the upcoming holiday season.

While “value” was the name of the game for most media in attendance, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that higher price tags did not necessarily turn-off the media.  This left me wondering – is the recession coming to an end?

Just one year ago it seemed like a gift suggestion of more than $100 was practically a lost cause. But now, perhaps, consumers are ready to push through all of the doom and gloom that the recession has reaped.  In fact, consumer confidence appears to be on the rise – USA Today recently reported that consumer confidence in the month of May is the highest it has been since September 2008!

While we are definitely not out of the recession completely, the good news is that our moods are lifting and consumer goods companies have a positive outlook towards a boost in holiday sales in 2009 – and we as publicists can help keep the positivity coming.

Filed under: Events and Conferences, PR Industry, Retail by Admin - 1 Comment →

The final nominees for the 13th Annual Webby Awards were announced earlier this week, an occasion that slightly resembles the feeling of Christmas morning to me. While I technically don’t get to rip open any wrapping paper, clicking through the entries definitely produces a certain gleeful feeling

Webby Awards are handed out in over 100 categories including websites, interactive advertising, online film & video, and mobile. I spent some time browsing the entries and found that media companies have taken some of the limelight this year. I also find it pretty ironic that the website of the esteemed awards for the worldwide web doesn’t even have a simple search bar.

The New York Times got the most nominations (13) overall in categories such as best newspaper website and best political & business blogs. In addition, NBC.com received 12 nominations. It was somewhat bewildering to see that the newspaper category featured mostly UK websites – Guardian.co.uk, Independent.co.uk, and TimesOnline.co.uk, etc. But, I was happy to see that the website of our local Boston Globe, Boston.com, received a nomination for best use of photography for their Big Picture online feature – a personal favorite.

Consumer brand initiatives from companies like Nike, Volkswagen, Patagonia, Sony and Victoria’s Secret were represented in many categories. And brands in the kids and parenting/family space took multiple nominations, including the Disney Interactive Media Group, a 360PR client, for Pirates of the Caribbean Online, Disney Family.com and other properties. On the gaming front, Destructoid, GameSpot, and The Escapist – all top-notch editorial sites – were nominated in the games-related category.

If you’re looking for a little entertainment during your lunch break, check out some of the nominees for yourself. In addition to the judge-selected winners, the public has a chance to vote in the “People’s Choice” awards in each category. Voting ends April 30th, so be sure to cast your votes here.  The Webby Winners will be announced on May 5, 2009 – mark your calendars!

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

I spent a day in New York this week judging entries for the 2009 SABRE Awards (for Superior Achievement in Branding and Reputation), which are the brainchild of Paul Holmes , longtime industry observer and editor of The Holmes Report .

Entries were up this year, a bit surprising since everything, it seems, is down. I take that as a sign that a) we’re all looking for a little recognition, maybe even more so in turbulent times, and b) the PR industry isn’t ready to lay down for anyone or anything. Sure, we’re talking about PR people, the eternal optimists (at least on the bright, shiny consumer side of the business). But it’s hard to think of another industry that’s so vital today. Back to the awards…

I was blown away by the quality of entries. Any CEO or CMO who still questions the value of and ability to measure PR should have the opportunity to read a few of the SABRE entries. Business results – from driving downloads, sign-ups and traffic to jumpstarting or reinvigorating sales – were well documented, with many achieved solely by PR. The best programs were the ones that went beyond "creating awareness" to define tangible objectives and, consequently, were able to clearly measure results, mapping PR activity to business success factors.

A few other things that stood out: campaigns that took risks – going beyond established "best practices" to employ new methods of engaging the target, particularly online; at the same time, comprehensive brass tacks campaigns that were flawlessly executed – there’s something to be said for going beyond the big splash to mind (and mine) the details of story development and delivery; and, the more focused campaigns – the ones that honed in on a very specific audience segment, rather than casting a wide net to see what gets caught – often plenty, but not necessarily what you need.

Net-net: brands should expect more than coverage from PR and, likewise, they need to give their PR teams access to business-driving information – not for the sake of award entries, but to be able to shape meaningful, impactful campaigns and to be accountable, both for today and for setting up the next campaign. The awards are the icing on the cake, an encore, and, to borrow an oft-used phrase, it’s a thrill just to be nominated!

Filed under: PR Industry by LauraTomasetti - 1 Comment →

Today, I think most clients in most industries would agree the trade show is about PR – selling happens elsewhere.  We’ve seen clients pull out of a variety of shows in recent years and for good reason.  But the right approach around the right show can still prove valuable.  It takes a different approach, one that’s less and less about what happens on the show floor.

The big outlets typically have their stories researched and written – and often out – before the curtain goes up, like The Associated Press’ coverage of Toy Fair earlier this month.  Helping press and bloggers build their story remotely, weeks in advance of the show, is key to being part of feature coverage and the show buzz.

At CES, which is an extremely tough show for media and bloggers to traverse, you can’t count on everyone making it to your booth.  The preview events held the days leading up to CES are a hit with media and add minimal cost (and some let you participate without being an official exhibitor).  Mini-events within the main event, such as the “Silvers Summit” at CES, are another way to break through, putting the product story in context of a larger trend.  Check out USA Today’s CES story that ran on Day 1 and featured some Silvers Summit exhibitors.

Other shows, like Housewares (next month in Chicago), have seen media attendance steadily dwindle.  If media are going, there are fewer of them having to cover more ground.  That can make freelance relationships very valuable, as well as in-persons with press not traveling to the show.

Another trade show challenge?  Timing.  Take Toy Fair, for example.  Manufacturers debut the “hot holiday toys” for the coming season just six weeks after last holiday season and, in most cases, months before the new toys are on shelf.  How useful is February-timed coverage of a product that’s not releasing until August?  Sure, it can help to prime the pump.  But you’ll need an encore.  If budget allows, do more than mine the leads coming out of the show.  Time your biggest PR activity away from the show clutter and closer to your product’s release – when the resulting coverage will be truly meaningful for sales.

It’s easy to get swept up in the hype around trade shows.  But a trade show should be seen for what it is and not more – part of a comprehensive PR strategy, not THE strategy.

Filed under: Events and Conferences, Industry Organizations, PR Industry by LauraTomasetti - No Comments →