360PR Blog

Many brands have been leveraging social media as part of their communications strategy for several years now.  But our thinking about how to use social media has evolved tremendously, especially during the past 12 months.  And it’s not just the digital natives who get it.

The most senior-level marketers, with 20, 30, or more years in the business, see social media for its true potential – as a catalyst, more than a way to keep the conversation going.  Sure it’s that too, but the idea of putting social media first, ahead of other tried-and-true PR tools and strategies, is fairly new.

That changes everything – from how we think about solving a communications challenge to how we hire and staff a campaign.  For me, 2011 will be remembered as the year that social media went from a layer that gets added to a campaign – almost like frosting to a cake – to become a driving communications strategy, the means to the end.

Today a brainstorm starts with online communities.  We understand not just the power of fans, but how to effectively tap into them and how to measure.  This was evident in many of the high-caliber PRWeek award entries I helped judge earlier this month, and reinforced by an AYTM Marker Research study (December 2011) that found more consumers prefer to receive updates from brands via social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, instead of traditional media.

Importantly, social media is not a quick in-out strategy.  Deploy a video and, as Emeril says, BAM!  But a video does not a campaign make.  It can, however, be a compelling tool in a broader, integrated campaign.  And that’s what it’s really about, isn’t it?  The broader campaign platform and strategy:  from there, all else flows.  At 360, we think of it as our “full circle” approach.

But kicking off that campaign may not be your ‘typical’ big splash, physical event. More and more, social media comes first – with a reveal, some other special access, a video that gets passed, the simultaneous take-over of multiple channels, and more.  Heinz’s introduction of its new ketchup with balsamic vinegar is a great example of a brand leading with social media, in Heinz’s case tapping into its more than 800,000 Facebook fans to start the buzz about a new product.  We did something along those lines when revealing the new Disney Baby collection available at Target stores and fans responded enthusiastically, helping us spread the word.  There are countless success stories and more on the way.

What role will social media play for your brand in 2012?

Filed under: 360 Public Relations, PR Industry, Social Marketing, Social Media by LauraTomasetti - No Comments →

In 360PR’s 10th year, we are celebrating by sharing some of the things we’ve learned along the way in a “10 minutes with…” series featuring interviews with our practice leaders! Last time we chatted with SVP of our Entertainment & Electronics practice, Stacey Clement. Now we’ve sat down  with Victoria Renwick, SVP of our Healthy Living practice, to learn more about her and some of the trends she has spotted over the past 10!

What are some of the trends you’re seeing in the Healthy Living practice?

One of the most significant trends we’re seeing is the stepped up role consumers are playing in educating and empowering themselves before they make a purchase.  So much is happening before the consumer gets to the grocery store or other store or considers an online purchase.  Yes, price is still a consideration, but there’s a lot more that factors into what we buy these days.  This presents an opportunity for brands to act as educators, resources and connectors, instead of marketers.

How important is it for brands to “go green”?

The term ‘green’ has been thrown around pretty freely.  Brands were calling themselves and their products ‘green’ or ‘natural’ and the public, for the most part, took that at face value.  Consumers are more cognizant of green washing now and are making brands more accountable for their claims. People are more aware of how to read labels and investigate the products they are bringing into their homes  – and certainly there are a proliferation of resources at consumers’ fingertips to help. I love the Environmental Working Group site – The Skin Deep section is especially eye opening and a great place to decode confusing labels for cosmetics and health & beauty. The Organic Trade Association is also a great resource consumers can turn to for the latest news on organics and legislation as well as practical tips.

Green business practices are no longer a ‘nice to have’ but an expectation. We expect companies to be conducting business in a way that is ethically sound, better for the environment and better for us as consumers. A broad spectrum of CPG companies and food manufacturers has sustainability plans and goals in place to quantifiably demonstrate how they will be greener in the coming years. It’s all a step in the right direction.

Are there any particularly memorable 360 moments that stick out in your mind?

The way 360PR has been a leader in the social media space stands out to me.  Being part of that evolution over the last three years has been really exciting.  360 was one of the first agencies to really get the mom blogger space. We started connecting bloggers and brands in high touch settings like our Blunch™ series. That was right around the time I started here.

We’ve worked on some really fun campaigns over the years too. Just recently we were teaching the country to can as part of National Can-It-Forward Day, a campaign we created for the Ball® brand. From grassroots to top-tier media, we really struck a chord with people looking to eat more fresh and local year round.

You spent a good part of your early career in the event-planning industry.  How important do you find events to be to your client work here at 360PR and for public relations in general?

Events are part of our 360 full-circle approach.  We’re an agency that does events and does them well.  Events offer brands a high-touch, relationship-building forum with consumers and consumer-influencers, and that’s important as part of an integrated strategy to engage consumers.    At 360, we always have something exciting on tap – whether it’s cooking in the Muppets’ Kitchen or solving the Rubik’s Cube on the National Mall!  It’s also important to keep the formula fresh – virtual events via Livestream & Facebook help us extend the reach of ROI of a client’s investment in a physical event.

As the head of 360PR’s healthy living practice, have you found that your client work has had a significant impact on your personal life?

Absolutely. I’m so lucky to be exposed to the type of clients we have and the resources and knowledge that comes with them.  We’re PR practitioners but we’re also consumers.  Keeping on top trends for clients, you can’t help but take what you learn and apply it to your personal life.

For example, we conducted a speaking tour recently with food activist Robyn O’Brien on behalf of our Stonyfield Farm client. Robin’s a mom of four who compiled a staggering amount of information about our broken food system. As a new mom, I was a sponge, soaking up everything she had to offer.  I’ve bought her book, The Unhealthy Truth, for everyone of my friends who is a mother. It’s just too important not to share!

We also work with PBS KIDS.  When my son is ready to start watching TV or go online, I feel lucky to know what to look for when it comes to healthy, educational media. And as a busy mom, I really do rely on our clients’ services to make like easier. I use Peapod for grocery delivery every week (it’s a lifesaver!) and I do my family’s meal planning through Allrecipes.com.   This summer I planted a (small!) garden, started composting (it’s surprisingly easy!) and joined a CSA too – all things I probably wouldn’t have tried previous to heading the Healthy Living practice.

Filed under: 10 Minutes With Our Practice Leaders, 360 Public Relations, Consumer Marketing, Events and Conferences, Food Industry, Green Marketing, Marketing to Moms, PR Industry by EliciaBasoli - 5 Comments →

Time flies when you’re having fun!  It’s been 10 years since 360 launched.  So, in the spirit of celebrating the past 10 years – and with an eye to the next 10 – we’ll be sharing some of the things we’ve learned along the way.  Be sure to check our 10^th site for a look at some of our favorite campaigns, 10 trends to watch, and a “Faces of 360” employee spotlight.  Here on our blog, we’re launching our “10 Minutes with…” series, which will feature interviews with our practice leaders.  First up is 360PR Founder Laura Tomasetti!

If you had to choose one trait that a successful PR practitioner  absolutely has to employ, what would it be?

It’s hard to choose just one, because PR requires so many skills and qualities. The best PR people can do a lot of things well – create, communicate, listen, analyze.  One trait I’ve seen in the youngest and the most seasoned PR professionals is that ‘fire in the belly.’  PR is hard.  It takes a real commitment, focus, authenticity and energy every day to produce the desired results.

At what point in your career did you know you wanted to start your own business?  What were your motivations and goals?

I had always worked in larger organizations and thought of myself as a “big company” person.  But when it got down to it, what I really enjoyed was the work – the size of the organization didn’t matter, it was more about the quality of the client, the brand, the campaign.  Our very first client was Wizards of the Coast, a division of Hasbro, and the agency grew from there.  The goal from the start was pretty simple – do great work for great brands.  Everything else came out of that singular goal – attracting and getting to work with great people, for example.  And it still does.

Do you think it’s feasible for a PR firm to exist solely virtually in 2011?  If not,  do you think “the office” will ever be obsolete?

There are several virtual agencies that have been quite successful.  However, from my perspective at 360, our most valuable thinking and best results come from the dynamic and often unpredictable interchange you get in-person.  Technology has yet to replace that, though tools like IM and Skype are pretty cool and should be part of the day-to-day.  The creative process will always be #1 in our business and we’re most creative when we’re together, collaborating and building on each other’s ideas.  Plus that’s more fun.

Is there any particular trend or innovation from the past 10 years that has fundamentally changed the field of public relations?

That’s an easy but important one – social media and, as part of that, brands’ and organizations’ ability to talk directly with their audience and receive instant feedback – and to be able to adjust and amplify just as quickly.  It’s really an amazing time to be in PR.  There are so many more places to go with your story in so many different ways – to be able to really target specific communities and, at the same time, to be able to go mass.  The audience, and what they will do with a story or a thread of a story, is paramount.  How do we tap into that?  We must constantly ask and challenge ourselves with that question.

In what ways do you think that PR has really set itself apart from other marketing functions in recent years?  What do we “get” that others may not?

It’s not so much what we get as what we do – fuel the conversation in ways that are authentic and credible.  That’s worth so much more than paid media.  Another thing we do well is to see and set the broader communications strategy.  The idea of connecting the dots between all media and all stakeholders is really what we at 360 set out to do 10 years ago and that full circle, integrated approach is even more relevant today.

What do you think will be the driving trend in PR for the next 10 years?

That’s a hard one to call.  In the past few years, authenticity and transparency have been pervasive communications themes and I believe they’ll continue to be the guiding principles of everything we do in PR.  Functionally, I think you’re going to see audiences become more channel agnostic.  They may not know if they saw something on Twitter or YouTube or Facebook, but they’ll most likely have seen and shared the news, the recommendation, the video via their mobile device – at least for the next few years.  In terms of the content that compels the audience, I think it will be less about celebrity and more about the user – hyper-local, hyper-personal, truly relevant and useful to the consumer’s day to day routine and world.  And all of that will be highly measureable.  We’re already making great strides in understanding and proving PR’s value.  Certainly the ability to benchmark and track social media campaigns – with volume, engagement and sentiment metrics – has helped, and the PR industry is focused on developing standards that will extend across media and campaigns.

Filed under: 10 Minutes With Our Practice Leaders, 360 Public Relations, Digital PR, PR Industry by EliciaBasoli - 8 Comments →

‘Tis the season for  awards in the public relations industry! The 360PR crew attended  The Publicity Club of New England’s Bell Ringer Awards last night. Our teams and client campaigns were nominated in multiple categories and we walked away with 2 Gold bells for Dorel Juvenile Group and Ball in the “Event Series” category, as well as a Silver and Bronze bell for the You Can Do the Rubik’s Cube program for Seven Towns in the “Marketing Communications Campaign” & “National TV Placement” categories. We also recieved a Merit for Snuggie in the “National Print Placement” category. What a great night!

Check out our Facebook page for more photos!

Filed under: 360 Public Relations, PR Industry by EliciaBasoli - No Comments →

To call all PR people social butterflies would be a generalization. If you don’t consider yourself an extrovert, however, you’re probably in the wrong profession. It’s our job to gain awareness for our clients, and in doing so, we do a LOT of talking. The panel I attended yesterday, Successful Social Marketing: Cultivating Advocates and Driving Sales, served as a reminder that listening is equally, if not more, important. And, as we all can attest here at 360PR, listening to a brand’s chatter online across forums, blogs, Twitter, Facebook and beyond takes time, patience, and an analytical eye.

The discussion was part of a series of events hosted by Mitx, a group of industry thought leaders dedicated to, in part, keeping on top of trends. Speakers from BzzAgent, New Balance and EMC offered their experience and expertise on utilizing outlets including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter to assist in a successful campaign – from planning stages, through launch, and beyond.  Among their suggestions: leverage employees to be brand ambassadors, engage influencers in the early stages, map your content to what people are already searching for, and strike a balance between knowing your brand and listening to your customers.

As speaker Polly Pearson wisely said, social media is a relationship accelerator. So save your breath, because tapping in and listening to the conversation regarding your company/brand/product could prove more valuable than all of your planned email and phone pitches combined.

Filed under: Consumer Marketing, Digital PR, Events and Conferences, Industry Organizations, Interactive Marketing, PR Industry, Social Marketing, Social Media by SkyeMcIntyre - 1 Comment →

By Caitlin McNamara

Every day, PR professionals write thousands of words. We draft and finalize press releases, write client emails, create business proposals and so on and so forth. With the written word playing such a key role in our day-to-day life, a few of us here at 360PR attended a Publicity Club of New England seminar to get a writing “refresher.”

Below are some key take-aways. While these are basic tips, they are also essential for PR industry pros, no matter how many years in the industry are under your belt!

• Remember to read. When you read, you learn.
• When writing, consider your audience and voice. Think to yourself, “who will read/hear this?”
• Embrace the style guide (i.e. AP Stylebook).
• Do not trust Microsoft Word’s spell check and grammar check… always proofread carefully!
• Consider your quote structures and remember that the commas and periods are always within the quotes!
• Be aware of the pronouns. Make them agree!
• And lastly… always, ALWAYS give time for your work to breathe. Step away and come back to your work to proofread it one last time!

Filed under: PR Industry by Admin - 1 Comment →

After almost 7 years of being a part of the 360PR team, I can tell you first hand that 360 is a great place to work and thrive! We are honored to be a part of The Holmes Report’s list of the 30 Best Agencies to Work for in 2011!

And, we’re always on the lookout for talented and passionate PR professionals to join our team! For more info, visit www.360publicrelations.com.

Filed under: 360 Public Relations, PR Industry by EliciaBasoli - No Comments →

This was a week for the books!

The 360 crew headed down to NYC for The Holmes Report’s annual SABRE Awards dinner on Tuesday night. Cipriani was buzzing with all of the industry’s biggest and longtime players. Our own Stacey Clement shared the stage with Harold Burson. And Ray Day from Ford was among those honored for individual achievement.

As the world’s largest PR awards competition, we are extremely proud to have walked away with the honor of being named “Boutique Agency of the Year.” It was truly a special moment….and we’ve all been soaking it in!

Filed under: 360 Public Relations, Industry Organizations, PR Industry by EliciaBasoli - No Comments →

By Kerry Murphy

Attention. This blog post is going to be revolutionary, cutting edge, unique and state of the art.  It will be the leading provider in blog satisfaction through its state of the art tone and delivery with its exclusive real time content.

Buzzwords. I think it’s safe to say that most of us communications professionals have been guilty of using, and overusing them, at one moment or another. Why do we do this? We know it’s wrong. We know it reflects poorly on us as communications (ironic, eh?) professionals. We know influencers hate it. We know these words end up as e-mails in spam folders and cause a glazing (or even rolling) of the eyes for those who read them.

So why do we do it? After reading PR Daily’s recent piece on the subject, we started talking and thinking about all this here at 360. What did we come up with? We don’t really know why these words are still so pervasive in the industry. Why they just won’t go away.

We at 360 pledge to make a conscientious effort to ban the buzzwords, get out a thesaurus, dig deep into those word and language sharp brains of ours, and come up with words that simply say what we want them to say and speak to the people we are trying to reach in a way that makes sense and delivers value for our clients.

What do you say? We’re in…

Filed under: 360 Public Relations, Media and Press, PR Industry, Pitch tips by Admin - 2 Comments →

I just spent a couple of days surrounded by leaders in the PR industry, at the Council of PR Firms annual Critical Issues Forum.  One clear take-away for me is that this is an industry that’s more than bouncing back.  It’s invigorated – with ideas, new technologies and new ways to help brands fuel conversation, particularly in social media.

Another key take-away: PR’s value has grown tremendously in the new communications economy.  This was articulated by CMOs and senior communications officers from P&G, Heineken, IKEA, AT&T, American Express and Monster Worldwide.

The “huge shift” in how marketers advance their brands is peer-to-peer recommendations, said Heineken USA CMO Christian McMahan, who cited Trip Advisor as a shining example of a brand benefiting from peer-to-peer communications.

“The only way we’re going to get there is not paid media – it’s by earning the trust of consumers through peer recommendations,” added Leontyne Green, CMO for IKEA USA.

Building trust by listening to customers and through transparent, authentic conversation have always been core PR competencies.  That’s one of the reasons PR is driving the hottest area of brand communications – social media.

“PR is the most authentic form of marketing,” said P&G CMO Marc Pritchard, fresh off successful campaigns for P&G’s Old Spice, Head & Shoulders and Olympic Games campaigns.  “PR is the megaphone that amplifies the campaign,” Pritchard explained.

PR can also spark the conversation.  A successful campaign today can start with just 10 of the right influencers if the platform and the delivery are compelling, with social media as the thread that keeps the conversation going.

A third and final take-away: Big ideas can come from anywhere – advertising, PR, research, customer service – and what makes the big idea bigger is integration.  The fact is there are a lot of big ideas and your brand and your idea are in the most competitive communications environment marketers have known.  “From a PR perspective, you need to bring in people who understand [broader] marketing.  There’s no way you cannot be integrated,” said Monster Worldwide CMO Ted Gilvar.

For more, read Advertising Age’s coverage of Marc Pritchard’s remarks to the Council of PR Firms, and check out the Council’s Twitter stream.

Filed under: Digital PR, Events and Conferences, Industry Organizations, PR Industry, Social Marketing, Social Media by LauraTomasetti - 2 Comments →

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: Consumer Marketing, Digital PR, Internet, PR Industry, Social Marketing, Social Media, advertising by Admin - 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 Admin - 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 →