A Word About Blogging

The end is near…the end of the semester that is! With that comes a time of reflection on my blogging experience with Maria’s Minutes. There were highs and lows each week but overall it was a gratifying experience.

I have always enjoyed writing. There’s a freedom and personal feeling tied with it. This is particularly true with blog writing as there really is no right or wrong answer to what is being blogged about (except if it’s maybe a corporate blog offering expert advice on its own products. The blogger better know the product and corporation inside and out!)

Merriam-Webster defines blog as a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer.

That is exactly what this experience has felt like to me: an online personal journal. Though each week’s entries needed to relate to public relations, social media, or the communications industry as a whole, the subject matter did not limit my opinion. Don’t get me wrong; I still needed to write well and support my claims/statements with facts, but the commonality of the subject matter helped me to relate real-life events and situations to what I was learning about in class. Opening my mind and taking a position on issues is rewarding all in itself.

Photo: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Blogging each week also helped me stay on top of current events. Yet, this also brought a constant challenge: what to write about? With so much happening in domestic and international news, how do I pick what to blog about? What I discovered was that the topic would present itself to me. As I read the newspaper, I would start to form my own opinions and just react to something and I would think to myself, ‘This is a great topic to blog about’ or ‘This reminds me of something discussed in class or read about in one of our textbooks’ (See my blog post on convergence culture, “Media Convergence is Child’s Play,” and on privacy, “Smile, You’re on Candid Camera.” and “Google Found Guilty.”)

This new writing outlet certainly put me on the path of self-discovery. I was surprised to see that my blog posts were becoming longer and not shorter as the weeks went on. I may have broken the cardinal rule of keeping blog posts brief but these posts have helped me realize how strongly I feel about certain topics. Blog writing has given me a voice.

Photo: Danilo Rizzuti / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

So the question remains: Will I continue Maria’s Minutes after my class, Social Media: Objectives, Strategies, Tactics? I’m not sure but I do want to take the concept of blogging as an exchange of ideas between the writer and an audience and apply it at work. We have a blog but it’s used more as a bulletin board to post news, photos, and videos and not engage the reader. As a school we need to monitor comments to the blog but I feel there is an opportunity to create a new blog discussing topics relating to the one thing our audience has in common:  the arts. This would be different than a blog representing our programs. This would be a place to bring people together to share their opinions and maybe personal stories relating to the art topic of the week.

Photo: Danilo Rizzuti / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

So in the end, Maria’s Minutes has sparked a voice in me and has sparked new ideas for the new campaign at work. In regards to the whole experience, I would say the positive outweighs the negative.

Media Convergence is Child’s Play

There’s an old saying: Better late than never.

On Monday, April 12 DreamWorks Animation brought Kung Fu Panda World to the Web. This virtual world is based on DreamWorks’ hit movie “Kung Fu Panda” and provides children with an outlet to play games, chat with friends, learn kung fu styles and get a pet. But the movie came out in 2008; why enter the online arena now? Is it because there is a sequel on the way?

An image from Kung Fu Panda World.

The site took two years and $10 million to develop. It launched at a time when some believe children’s entertainment is inundated with virtual extensions of film, television, and toy “stories.” The Walt Disney Company has ClubPenguin.com where children could dress and groom penguin characters; and retail chain Build-A-Bear Workshop has their own followings of bear fanatics. On Webkinz.com children can care for stuffed animals that later come to life.

The New York Times’ April 11 article states:

DreamWorks has been notably absent from virtual worlds for children, a business that has expanded rapidly in recent years by serving as part online role-playing game and part social scene.

Ok, so DreamWorks was a little slow to engage their audience online but what is this really about? I’ll tell you: Kung Fu Panda World is transmedia storytelling for children.

Let’s go to chapter three in Convergence Culture by Henry Jenkins. On page 98 Jenkins says:

A transmedia story unfolds across multiple media platforms, with each new text making a distinctive and valuable contribution to the whole. In the ideal form of transmedia storytelling, each medium does what it does best—so that a story might be introduced in a film, expanded through television, novels, and comics; its world might be explored through game play or experienced as an amusement park attraction. Each franchise entry needs to be self-contained so you don’t need to have seen the film to enjoy the game, and vice versa.

This is all true for Kung Fu Panda World. I have never seen Kung Fu Panda (the movie) and was able to interact on Kung Fu Panda World without a hitch. The virtual world of Kung Fu Panda is full of game play. According to The New York Times:

Kung Fu Panda World is built around the concept of sash levels; players start as a white belt and try to work up through 21 colors. A map shows where your friends are playing within the game — no need to call each other on the phone to figure it out, as many children do when playing in virtual worlds. There is shopping (with coins earned by winning arcade-style games) and players can send gifts to one another.

So the gifts concept starts in the early years you see. Later those children can share gifts on Facebook—a drink, a teddy bear, a rose, you name it! But going back to DreamWorks’ attempt at transmedia storytelling…they’ve got the right idea.

Another online component of Kung Fu Panda (the movie) is Kung Fu Panda the Game. Here visitors can partake in game lessons and be a part of an “action packed adventure from the movie and beyond.” A guest to the site can team-up with or battle against friends in multiplayer mode.

With these two tactics already in place, I wonder how DreamWorks will incorporate Kung Fu Panda’s sequel into both sites: Kung Fu Panda World and Kung Fu Panda the Game. As animators, I find that this should be a no-brainer for them and they shouldn’t be so behind in media convergence. The correlation between the sequel and the virtual worlds should happen sooner. Surely they have thought of the economic gains, like higher ticket sales, sponsorships, and a boost in video game sales; not to mention the retention of their audience…or haven’t they?

iPad is Released

Well, it’s here. On Saturday, April 3, 2010 iPad, Apple Inc.’s latest invention hit the stores. This “magical” and “revolutionary” product, as Apple describes it, promises a much more engaging relationship between a user and their device apps.

iPad

Now I’m not a gadget-geek or “techie” as some would say—I don’t even own an iPhone. I purchased my Blackberry almost one year ago when a majority of the population was probably purchasing the iPhone 3GS. But I am slightly enamored by the new device. Maybe it’s the all the media hype, maybe it’s how beautiful the applications look on the iPad’s screen, or maybe it’s the feeling of wanting to catch-up to the rest of the world. I don’t know if it’s worth the $499 price tag but I do love the expansive on-screen keyboard.

What else impresses me about the iPad? Well, that remains to be discovered. But the interactivity on the Web, now that’s a force to be reckoned with. I don’t know what Apple’s social media plan was or is for the iPad but there’s the chatter, the videos, the photos, the product reviews, and journalists’ reports… all revolving around today’s new toy.

Let’s take a trip around the Web for a sample of the iPad’s debut:

• There was live-blogging of the “big day” courtesy of David Gallagher of The New York Times (NYT).

• Talk about the iPad on Twitter varied; some people were content and some were repulsed. Here are a few tweets from April 3 that crossed my TweetDeck:

Sarcasm
Direct Message from Conan O’Brien: Just got the new iPad. This amazing device has already revolutionized the way I use a calculator.

Appreciation of blogging from an iPad
Direct Message from Mashable: Can You Blog From an iPad? I Just Did

Cynicism
Direct Message from Steve Rubel: Tweetdeck for the iPad is slow to refresh.

The product review was on the homepage of wired.com.

The writing on Apple Inc.’s Facebook wall includes iPad approvals from fans and uploads of fan photos.

The Apple website is full of interesting content to rev-up the excitement (and it’s a plus that their site is easy to navigate.) The iPad is given prominence on the homepage (which it should). There are videos with various topics: discovering the apps made for iPad, guided tours of iPad, see the iPad in action, and standard-based websites that look great in iPad. Apple also lists abbreviated positive reviews from journalists in their “Hot News Headlines” section. Potential buyers could read reviews from USA Today and the Wall Street Journal. Apple also invites websites to make themselves iPad ready.

The excitement also stirred offline. People camped outside Apple and Best Buy stores all night. Employees applauded customers as they exited the store with their iPad.

Image courtesy of The New York Times.

Fans talked to journalists from NYT. Here’s an excerpt from the article Across the Country, Fans Gather for iPad:

“It’s beyond technology. It’s a culture. It’s a community,” said Rey Gutierrez, a die-hard loyalist with a tattoo of the Apple logo on his left hand, who had waited outside the San Francisco Apple store since 4 a.m. “No other company can drop a device and generate this much energy. Every big brand is envious of what Apple can do.”

Fans also became one while they waited to get their hands on the iPad. Here’s more from The Times:

Most Apple fans passed the time in line bonding with one another, and with their devices — iPhones, iPods and Mac laptops. Some dressed up for the occasion, bringing a circus-like atmosphere to the proceedings.
“We’re totally excited. It’s going to change everything,” Tracy Kahney said while her son, Lyle, 9, fidgeted uncomfortably in the cardboard iPad costume she had made for him.

Excitement or no excitement, as with any new product, only time will tell if the iPad is a sure thing. Some upgrades may be necessary to use it to its fullest capacity. Maybe a camera will be installed in the new version.

But here’s what Steve Jobs had to say on Twitter last I checked:
752,000 iPads sold. And 3G has yet to arrive.

In the meantime, maybe I’ll upgrade to an iPhone.

Celebrating Birthdays to Support a Cause

My father died of cancer on August 19, 2009. What started out as lung cancer in 2006 later metastasized to brain cancer; he was only 61 years old.

My father’s three-year fight with the incurable disease was filled with medical strategies to remove the cancer or at least prevent it from spreading: chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery. But for every success, there was another hurdle. With the hurdles came elevated emotions and fear.

Dad, January 2009.

Throughout my father’s sickness and then with his death, my support network was (and still is) my family and friends. The prayers, well-wishes, words of hope, and acts of kindness, all came from off-line relationships. I never spoke of my father’s illness on Facebook, never participated in online chats or contributed to a thread on a discussion board. I knew that there were thousands, maybe even millions, of people “out there” feeling the same anger and sadness that I was feeling because of their own experiences but to me, this was a private matter. The internet was not the place to go to for a mood-boost. To me, the people “out there” were strangers.

Then the assignment came for this week’s blog post: Pick a nonprofit organization or cause you are interested in and look at how they’re using social media.

The American Cancer Society (ACS) was the first organization that came to mind. Although I haven’t participated in their online forums, this was a great time to research the support that they offer patients and their families, and families who have survived a patient.

First stop, the ACS Web site. The Web site offers a plethora of information: types of cancer, treatments, donating time and money, as well as tips on living a healthy lifestyle and how to reduce your risk of cancer. It took a little while for me to find any tools related to social media. No icons for Facebook or Twitter and nothing directing me to YouTube. Then I see it. Towards the bottom of the homepage there’s the invite Join the Discussion. Here I find an online community for patients and caregivers. This is a great tool but one must be a member of the Cancer Survivor Network (CSN) to post to a forum topic. The Web site also provides “Stories of Hope.” These are 5-minute videos dedicated to “helping people, saving lives, and fighting back against cancer.” People also have the option of following a link to read more “Stories of Hope.”

When I return to the ACS homepage, I notice the animated banner at the top relating to the print campaign, “The Official Sponsor of Birthdays.” I click on ‘learn more’ and here is where I discover the ACS social media map.

The online arm of the ‘birthday’ campaign is more than asking people to “Become a fan” on Facebook or to follow on Twitter. Although these social media applications are available, Facebook and Twitter are part of a larger effort. The Website invites people to “join the movement.” This really means take action, make a difference, or do your part, if you will. There are many tools on the campaign site to keep people engaged and keep the awareness growing, like sending an E-card (for a birthday or a message of inspiration), creating a personal birthday page to help collect donations for ACS, a birthday kit which includes tips on throwing birthday parties and healthy recipes, and simply adding the ACS blog badge to one’s own personal blog and adding the ACS wallpaper to a computer’s desktop just to show support. ACS even collaborated with the Culinary Institute of America for a competition to “reinvent the birthday cake” for ACS’ official birthday cake. Celebrity Chef Duff Goldman from Charm City Cakes judged the competition; his YouTube video along with the winning recipe and the winner’s video are all available on the ACS Web site. ACS even makes it easy to forward ‘birthday’  information to a friend.

Overall, there is a very personal feeling to the ‘birthday’ campaign. Who doesn’t want to celebrate more birthdays? Who wouldn’t want a loved one to celebrate more birthdays? ACS has packaged the ‘birthday’ campaign as one that would appeal to anyone: Birthdays are common, everyone has one, and they are considered milestones. The campaign is branded across mediums, print and Web, and has built communities, offering tools that are customizable and allows users to connect to each other and to the organization. To borrow social media tactic #14 from Chad Norman’s Social Media for Nonprofits, ACS is “empowering followers with actionable information in support of their mission.”

The American Cancer Society has certainly empowered me.

Smile, You’re on Candid Camera

Tracking consumer behavior is nothing new to marketing. Companies have been organizing focus groups and creating surveys for some time as ways to learn more about product preferences, spending power, and demographics. However, this research was typically done with the consumer’s knowledge; their participation was requested and upon completion, the consumers were given some kind of compensation, maybe a gift certificate, free meal, or movie tickets.

The New York Times reports that some stores are monitoring shoppers as they browse a store, handle merchandise, goof off with a funky wig, squirm at a price tag, scold their children, and even look at mannequins inappropriately. Anything else a shopper does while walking the aisles is being captured on videotape. This is not part of the usual surveillance system that stores have set up to capture shoplifters; this is a new method of tracking consumer behavior.

Envirosell workers watch customers browsing in stores, noting what they look at and if they buy. Photo courtesy of The New York Times.

This also taps into new privacy issues. It’s one thing to make sure people are not stealing but a whole other ball game to analyze shoppers for anything that is going to boost sales…especially if people are being monitored without their permission. When I worked in a supermarket I caught someone stealing baby formula just by watching the surveillance video. I wasn’t watching the surveillance video to see which brand of baby food he was stealing, what size container it was, or how the teenager decided to steal that particular one. The supermarket customers were also aware that the store was under surveillance (we had notices posted around the store and there was a “Wall of Shame,” a place where pictures of captured shoplifters was posted.) Will the stores analyzing shoppers notify the shoppers that this is happening? I am going to say probably not because otherwise the shopper’s behavior may be modified and the data being captured may not be true. If a shopper knows he/she is being watched and information about what they look at and buy is being collected, they may amend their usual shopping behavior.

As one shopper told The New York Times:
“When someone’s watching me, I’m going to act differently than when I think I’m alone,” Ms. Albrecht said. “Did I pick my nose? What was I doing? What did they see?”

The “eyes in the sky” are usually there to catch thugs and not conduct market research. But if consumers want to have a better shopping experience and eventually be catered to, are the cameras such a bad thing? Companies are monitoring social media for positive and negative comments about their products, services, or organization and the press is being scoured for any reports relating to the company. This is all done without a consumer’s permission yet their blog posts and product reviews are out there for anyone to see and use to their advantage. Retailers are using what they find to change product packaging, make their brand the brand of choice, or better their service to customers. The extreme with this new tracking shopper initiative is the facial technology, which determines characteristics like someone’s age and gender. This crosses the privacy line in that people can become easily identified and possibly targeted for more research based on their shopping behavior.

I have to agree with Paco Underhill, the founder of Envirosell and a leader in observational research. As stated in The New York Times:

As Mr. Underhill pointed out, people are taped dozens of times each day doing routine chores like pumping gas. Cameras, it seems, are pervasive. Stores are merely the latest frontier.

Help Wanted: Uninformed Jurors

Where do trial lawyers go to get a fair trial for their clients? Definitely not the source of the crime; and by that I mean the hometown of the murder, fraud, terrorist attacks, or any other illegal monstrosities. But where could a criminal go to escape prejudices against him/her? Not far, and not in the age of the internet.

Photo courtesy of vegadsl.

There was an interesting article in The New York Times recently about the influence of the internet on potential jurors. Finding Untainted Jurors in the Age of the Internet states:

How potential jurors become informed in the Internet era, experts in jury behavior said, cuts in two directions. It may now be harder than ever for defendants to find wholly untainted jurors in their own communities. At the same time, a change of venue in a truly high-profile case is less likely than ever to solve the problem.

And I have to agree, on both counts. Information spreads like wildfire on the internet and opinions and alliances form quickly. Just as people come together offline and form supports systems, the online communities are just as strong and can be extremely persuasive. Moving a trial to a supposedly unbiased location is not going to escape the internet. It’s a move to look for emotionally less charged people as jurors. However, just because someone is not intimately affected by the case, it doesn’t mean that they don’t sympathize with the situation. An example of this in the article:

The trial of Timothy J. McVeigh for his role in the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, which killed 168 people, was moved from Oklahoma City to Denver. (Mr. McVeigh was convicted and later executed.)

Exactly. If someone is guilty, then he’s guilty regardless of where the case is held. The article further states:

The judge in the case, Richard P. Matsch, explained why he had granted a change of venue motion: “The entire state had become a unified community, sharing the emotional trauma of those who had been directly victimized.”

People don’t need to empathize with each other to unify.

Just as there are spoilers on the internet for movies and television shows (which gives people something to talk about), extensive digital news coverage of defendants and wrong-doings coupled with ease of video sharing, gives people, or potential jurors, also something to talk about, eventually forming some kind of community. The internet is everywhere and changing the location of a trial is not going to minimize its influence.

Google Found Guilty

So I open up the paper today (okay, I physically did not open the paper) but I went to The New York Times Web site to read the latest news. Guess what? Google is on the front page again. The headline: Italian Court Rules That Google Violated Privacy.

I am going to say right off the bat that I do not agree with this verdict. What did Google do you ask? Nothing but host videos on Google Video, a video sharing service that Google ran before its acquisition of YouTube. The videos, posted in 2006, were of an autistic boy being bullied by classmates in Turin. In turn, Google executives Peter Fleisher, Google’s chief privacy counsel, David Drummond, senior vice president and chief legal officer, and George Reyes, former chief financial officer, were convicted of violating Italian privacy laws.

I do not think that the executives at Google should have been held responsible, unless they are part of a Google watchdog group that should not have let this kind of content make it online. I think the company as a whole should have been fined or maybe shut down for a period of time for not being more responsible.

Apparently there is a European law which states that video-sharing sites and other Internet companies are protected from liability for the content of material posted. However this was adopted 10 years ago before, as The New York Times states, ‘user-generated content was the popular phenomenon it is today. While Internet service providers are protected from so-called intermediate liability for the content they convey, the law does not specifically address user-generated content.’

According to The New York Times, prosecutors charged that the videos violated Italian personal privacy protections. They said the clips were removed only after complaints from Vivi Down, an Italian organization representing people with Down syndrome, whose name was mentioned in the videos. The article also states that Google ‘denounced this as an “astonishing” attack on freedom of expression on the Internet.’

Image courtesy of Clker.com

Yes, the videos were inhumane and offensive but why are these three executives being held responsible for the insensitive acts of others? Since when are employees at a company criminally liable for hosting content? There’s the age-old saying “Don’t kill the messenger.” Paolo Brini, a Perugia-based spokesman for Movimento ScambioEtico, a group that campaigns for an unfettered Internet, said it best: “In all of history, nobody ever thought you had to put in jail a postman because a package contained something illegal.”

Society as a whole should self-monitor, I mean what is entertaining about an autistic child being bullied, anyway? If the video producers were looking for attention on this issue then he/she should have sent the video a news broadcaster, like RAI, the leading television network in Italy. But where does the responsibility of the user-generated video sites start and end? There is a high volume of content to monitor but maybe Google Video, YouTube, and similar sites with user-generated content should form its own watchdog groups to maintain its own integrity.

As I read this article about Italy and its case against Google, I could not help but be reminded of the story about Digg.com in chapter 1 of groundswell. A blogger named Rudd-O posted the secret encryption key for high-definition DVDs on Digg.com. Before you knew it this was the most popular news story of the day. Lawyers then sent Kevin Rose, the founder of Digg.com, a cease-and-desist email. To avoid a lawsuit, the link was removed. Of course, by this time the secret encryption key had made its way around the net and people were posting it on their own blogs. I appreciate groundswell’s reference to a comment from the 1990s TV show NewsRadio: “You can’t take something off the Internet. That’s like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.”

What a great point. The same could have happened with the Italian video from 2006. It could be on someone’s personal blog right now getting hundreds of hits. Where are the Italian authorities there?

To text or not to text? That is the question.

Let me begin by admitting that I am not a fan of texting. Call me old fashioned but I miss the good old days when someone would pick up the phone and call me. Don’t get me wrong, a quick, short text to tell me that my friend will be late for our lunch date is ok. But what is with the long narratives about the latest office politics, weekend plans, or dating dilemmas? I believe texts should be short and sweet; just quick announcements or simple questions like, “What’s the address to the café near Washington Square Park?”

Many times I return lengthy text messages with a phone call. I just feel that with the time it takes me to type everything out, I could have had a more personable and meaningful conversation, albeit brief. Not too mention some phones (like mine) have a character limit and replies would need to be divided into two separate text messages. That’s too many clicks around my keypad. I’d rather go to my address book and just click ‘send’ to dial the person I wish to speak to.

So just when is it ok to text? What kinds of messages are appropriate? Well, if you ask my brother and sister-n-law, anything at anytime. I have received joke forwards at 6 a.m. on a Saturday (my brother’s awake so we should all be up) and paragraphs of text from my sister-n-law complaining about my brother’s texting habits. I have requested that this all stop but seriously, when should texting be used as a communication tool?

Last week New York University sent a text regarding the blizzard and the school’s early closing. (I also received a similar message via Email.) This was an effective use of texting: reaching people on their phones while in transit. Not everyone has access to email while traveling or away from their computers so sending a text is a way to share important information quickly and efficiently. Recipients don’t even need to go online or log-in with a password to get text messages. Of course, your cell phone number needs to be registered with the University to receive these types of announcements.

Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village during blizzard on February 10, 2010.

Texting was also a key part of the campaign to raise money for Haiti after the earthquake on January 12. The following excerpt is from an article published on Reuters.com on January 15:

Cellphone users in the United States have contributed more than $11 million to Haitian earthquake relief through text messages in what is being hailed as an unprecedented mobile response to a natural disaster.

The Mobile Giving Foundation called it a “mobile-giving record” for funds raised for a single cause. Donations are rising swiftly, it said, as former President Bill Clinton and other politicians urge the American people to give.

Jim Manis, chief executive officer of the foundation helping to manage cellphone donations, said it was receiving up to 10,000 text messages per second. The foundation said more than $11 million has been donated.

Cellphone users can donate $5 to Haiti-born hip-hop musician Wyclef Jean’s Yele Haiti Earthquake Fund by texting the word “Yele” to 501501, or they can donate $10 to other nonprofit organizations, such as the American Red Cross, by texting the word “Haiti” to a specified number, like 90999.

See, there’s brevity to texting. That’s the beauty of it. And yet, it made such an impact. The article also makes a good point about social media: Friends were encouraging each other on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to make a donation. Donating was easy; for the most part the money would be added to a user’s cell phone bill. No need to write a check.

Will all text messages be this powerful? Probably not. Should all text messages lead to fundraising? Not necessarily. Should texting be used as a quick communication tool? Yes, but messages should be kept concise.

A Little of This, A Little of That

The past week offered an interesting combination of events for me. None were directed at me or affected me personally, (ok, one out of the three things did strike a chord with me), but they all involved public relations or communications on some level. Luckily I was all ears this week.

You Give PR a Bad Name

I attended a meeting last week where there was some banter about New York University’s new benefits package for faculty and administrators. No one in the room was pleased with the changes. In fact, no one was even content with the town hall meeting itself. Someone at my meeting even said that the town hall meeting was “a PR show.” Whoa! That stung a little. What was that supposed to mean? The person went on to say that the town hall meeting was very well orchestrated, giving the NYU community the impression that the changes were up for discussion and debate, when in fact the changes were already decided. The comment alone was offensive to all the communication professionals in the world who try to keep the public engaged and informed, and build positive relationships with its audience. As a candidate of the Master of Science in Public Relations and Corporate Communications at the School of Continuing and Professional Studies at NYU, I feel that statement signals the idea that public relations is still not a fully respected field and that some people think all PR people do is spin messages. Am I completely happy with the new benefits package? Not at all. Would I go as far as saying the University pulled out its bag of tricks and gave the community the old dog and pony show? Nope.

Overheard at the Super Bowl Party

Thirsty football fans were able to quench their parched lips with Coca-Cola and Budweiser during Sunday’s game. Where was Pepsi? Not on television, but on Facebook. I blogged about Pepsi’s decision to not run ads during the Super Bowl last week and on Sunday it was a topic talked about over chips and dip. I heard a friend say to my husband, “Did you hear that Pepsi decided they wouldn’t run any ads during the Super Bowl? They got more press by not running ads than if they were to run ad!” Was he reading Maria’s Minutes? I don’t think so, but my friend’s reaction was right on the money. Pepsi got their press coverage, which wasn’t bad, and they got people talking about their product and their strategy. I don’t know if this is going to make more people drink the soda but Pepsi got conversations going within communities, on- and off-line.

Public Relations 101

Akio Toyoda, Toyota’s president. Photo courtesy of The New York Times.

Toyota’s got problems. And I’m not just talking about the faulty brakes in their Prius Hybrid. The Japanese automaker needs a little lesson in communication and crises management. The New York Times had a great article about the ‘rising pressure’ on Toyota. Toyota has lost all its customers’ confidence. They have the wrong people facing the cameras and speaking to the public. Why is executive James E. Lentz III put on the front lines when Toyota’s CEO Akio Toyoda should be the voice of the company and the one leading this battle? Why is Mr. Toyoda delaying his comments/responses to the safety, or lack thereof, of his cars? I took a look at Toyota’s Website to check out what they’re offering concerned customers. I found recall information, an apology for long wait times when calling the customer service center, videos from Jim Lentz, and a television ad aimed at confirming Toyota’s commitment to safety. But where is Akin Toyoda? That, my friend, is the problem.

Virtual Cola Wars

It wasn’t that long ago that Super Bowl Sunday was the place to be. Not for the showdown between the best two teams in the NFL or the half-time show, but for the commercials. Those 15 or 30 seconds of consumer product and services advertising were as highly anticipated as the summer line-up at the box office. What will Geico’s gecko do next? Will Budweiser still be the “king of beers?” Will the battle of the soft drinks continue between Coke and Pepsi?

Of course it will. Except this year the battle is not on the small screen, but in social media.

Pepsi is doing more than promote its brand as the better beverage while the pig skin is being thrown around. According to The New York Times, Pepsi will be using Facebook and Twitter for what is known as cause-related marketing or pro-social marketing. This is a trend where corporations try to prove they are do-gooders. Pepsi is asking consumers to participate in the Pepsi Refresh Projects by proposing local organizations and causes in the health, arts and culture, environment, and education sectors that will benefit from a donation by Pepsi.

Photo courtesy of The New York Times.

People can visit refresheverything.com and vote on the suggested ideas. The campaign includes paid pitches on the “Today” show on NBC; ads on ABC and CBS and 30 cable channels; 10 print publications; and on Websites like Yahoo. Pepsi will also sponsor an online reality show and have the lead ad position on Facebook on Super Bowl Sunday.

How’s that for a marketing plan in the 21st century? Not only will Pepsi be visible in multiple mediums, but they are giving those with purchasing power the power to make a difference. Lee Clow, chief creative officer and global director for media arts at the Pepsi-Cola agency, TBWA Worldwide in Los Angeles, part of the Omni Group, tells The New York Times, “The goal is to develop a mechanism for young people to create ideas to make things better.” Pepsi is making consumers a part of something bigger, bigger than videos of which tastes better, Pepsi or Coke. This is an awareness of the world around the consumer and what they can do to help. Someone may not have the money to donate but they can at least “do good” by suggesting a good cause to Pepsi and offering additional support by voting on their favorite organization. Chase had a similar campaign on Facebook called Chase Community Giving. Through work I was familiar with some community-based organizations that could use some financial support so I joined the cause and voted.

What is Pepsi’s rival going to do? Aside from the traditional route of commercials during the Super Bowl, The New York Times reports that Coca-Cola will have a social media component to its campaign. For every virtual Coke gift a visitor to the Coca-Cola Facbook fan page shares, Coca-Cola will donate a dollar to the Boys and Girls Club of America.

Ooh, how original. Still playing it safe with the television ads but sneaking in social media. Yes, Coke’s approach gives the audience a part in the social conversation but it seems like such a small role compared to what Pepsi is offering.

So how about those Saints? Whose money is on the Colts? I don’t know about football but I’ll be there for the commercials and online conversations…drinking a diet Coke.