By Shannon on July 28th, 2010 in General Thoughts | No Comments
Make sure you set your DVR for tomorrow to record “The View” since President Obama is scheduled to make a visit (unless of course your DVR is broken…as mine is at the moment). Presidents through the years have been known to make occasional visits to the late night talk shows or evening news programs but this is the first time a sitting president will visit a day time show. Analysts are divided on whether this is a good idea. On the positive side it’ll reach an audience of stay at home moms (coincidentally votes the president will probably want) and allows viewers to see a more accessible down to earth side of the president. On the negative side “The View” has had its share of controversies in the past and tends to focus more on tabloid and celebrity stories.
CNN has an interesting article up about why President Obama would visit a day time talk show from a PR perspective and what he might talk about on the program. Be sure to give it a read and see if what he talks about matches up with what CNN predicts.
Read about it here: http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/07/28/obama.the.view/
Social Media – We Use It Socially Too
By Jae on July 27th, 2010 in General Thoughts Inside DBC | No Comments
We know you know it by now: Businesses need to get on board with social media… how else are they going to keep up-to-date with the latest news and keep in touch with their customers? (i.e. What do they think of your product? What are they telling other people about your product? - and so forth and so on.)
But the truth is that it is social media. So yes, we might be a little (or a whole lot) obsessed with social media in the business world here at DBC, but we also have lives outside of work (although I do wonder who uses that sleeping bag in the office…hmm) which means we have personal Facebook and a personal Twitter accounts as well — which we use for fun too.
Speaking of, over the past couple of weeks social media has been multifunctional for us DBCers. Sure we’ve been keeping the tweets and status updates coming for several clients, but what with the heat wave, the earthquake, and now, the power outage, social media has played a major role in helping us keeping track of whose doing what, where, when, etc. at the office:
You know, just little updates. Not serious enough to make a phone call – like when I have to call in sick or let someone know that I can’t make it to the office because of a family emergency. But just a little posting here and there to let everyone know my apartment wasn’t demolished by a rogue tornado or anything (in case anyone’s interested.)
And we aren’t the only ones! Here are some of the interesting tweets from other folks around the District about the crazy, unnatural weather we’ve been having lately:
About the #DCquake:
- From @Darrell Issa: Small earthquake in DC this morning…someone must have dropped a copy of ObamaCare.
- From @charlie_savage: earthquake devastation in the DC area: http://twitpic.com/25txue(h/t JC)
About the #heatwave:
- From @cnichols14: You know it’s been hot when the weather person says, “It will ONLY be a high of 93 this week.”
- From @Smartslink: The air feels as if there’s no air in it.
- From @articulategeek: It’s 99 degrees in Washington, DC at 8:56 p.m. Those temperatures are only allowed when a beach is nearby.
And my personal favorite tweet that essentially sums up DC’s weather:
- From @16thstreetj: #snOMG #DCQuake #tornadoes #powerfailures –if it begins to rain frogs we’re going start making matzohs…
Hope everyone is dealing well with the heat, lack of power, tornadoes, humidity and overall crazy weather! We’d love to hear about how you are “weathering the storm”…
So You Want To Be A Social Media Guru?
By AJ on July 23rd, 2010 in Blogs General Thoughts PR+New Media 2.0 | No Comments
A little overwhelming, right? There is already something new in Social Media that wasn’t there yesterday. From Friendster to Facebook to LinkedIn to Twitter to YouTube to StumbledUpon to Digg to Skype to ICQ to FourSquare… Yes, that’s how fast Social Media is evolving. So how do you keep up with it all? Well thanks to Social Media, it’s not too hard. The following is a checklist that you should start immediately and if you follow each rule, I can guarantee that you will be a certified Social Media guru.
√ Step 1: Follow the Rule of Three R’s
If you don’t have a Facebook or Twitter account, shame on you! If you’re one of the few that are reluctant to put info out there on the net b/c information posted can NEVER go away or you’re afraid of the “the man” – honestly, privacy has come a LONG way, see. Well, kinda. So go on, register now, you know you really want to! For the majority, it’s important to keep profiles updated and maintained as well as being involved in all your social networks. Follow the rule of three R’s: Retweet/Repost, Reply, Repeat. Remember, it is SOCIAL media. Don’t be intimidated by others on or off the web b/c at the end of the day it’s all about an open dialogue and sharing of information of personal interest to YOU, no matter what anyone else says or does.
√ Step 2: Read Blogs
I’ll make this pretty easy for you. Bookmark the following blogs and check back regularly.
- Mashable.com - The Social Media guide. “Mashable is the most prolific news site reporting breaking web news, providing analysis of trends, reviewing new Web sites and services, and offering social media resources and guides.” – Mashable.com
- PR 2.0 - Brian Solis is among the top 1.5% of all blogs tracked by Technorati and is ranked as one of the leading voices in the Ad Age Power 150 index of worldwide marketing bloggers. Enough said; this is a gold mine for Social Media news.
- Digital Buzz - This blog is fun, entertaining and time consuming. Be sure you don’t have too much on your plate when you visit…it’s easy to spend more time on it than planned.
A great way to stay up to date with these blogs is to follow the authors on Twitter – here, here and here. Not only do they typically tweet about their recent post but will share other blogs that you may decide to start following.
√ Step 3: Tweet, Share, Grow
Did you just read a post from one of the aforementioned blogs that made you go, “ahhh, neat.” Well then share it silly! Like this article from Mashable about Facebook’s 500 million members that I read today, good stuff! So if you enjoyed a news article or blog post, your friends and followers will most likely be just as interested. And let’s not forget Step 1 – it’s SOCIAL media, so Retweet/Repost, Reply and Repeat as much as you can. Not to mention it gets your name out there when people re-share from your original post.
There you have it. Now go out there and socialize!
Thoughtful Meanderings From The New Girl
By Marisa on July 23rd, 2010 in General Thoughts Inside DBC | No Comments
Hello out there. It’s the New Girl here. I am the latest installment to the DBC PR + New Media team, after spending a few years digging my heels into the technology and government contracting PR world. I’ve rolled up my sleeves, hiked up my bootstraps and dove in headfirst. Working with new clients? Easy-peasy. Pitching mainstream media outlets? No prob, Bob. Learning the phone system? Wait… what? How does this thing work again? Bueller…Bueller … anyone out there?
So, what do I do here, you ask? As Account Director I help oversee the strategy and management of some of our accounts as well as execute on day-to-day, week-to-week and month-to-month activities. Sound exciting? You bet it is – us public relaters live our lives based on the latest news and most current trends. That and we can spin a story like nobody’s business!
In all seriousness though, I’m excited for this new endeavor and the chance to work with some great people at a great company. We’ve got some awe-inspiring, funky and, sometimes downright bizarre things coming down the pipe and the ideas just keep coming. Basically, you ain’t see nothin’ yet.
Now…if only I could figure out these phones… (Beep) Hello? (Beep) Hello?
A Luxurious New Media Experience
By Jae on July 20th, 2010 in General Thoughts | No Comments
It’s iconic – that legendary plaid, that classic trench coat. Burberry – oozing fashion and luxury out of the very pore of its famous, fashionable British self.
But this was not always the case. Not too long ago, Burberry was at the bottom of the luxury totem pole, and a common staple in a chav’s wardrobe. Now what’s a chav you ask? A chav is British slang for what we Americans would call a hooligan – an overly loud, knock-off designer walking mess that talks in a way that only other fellow chavs can understand. (Thank God for Urban Dictionary!) In fact, when I typed in “chav” into Google, the top two related searches were “chavette” (the female chav) and “chav Burberry.”
Gasp!
To have this luxury brand associated with a chav? As a person, this makes my heart ache with hurt for Burberry’s past pain. As a PR pro, this leaves me both mystified and amazed. How did they come so far, so fast?
Enter a brilliant re-branding, marketing and public relations strategy.
First – after realizing that many of their products were trickling into discount outlets, Burberry quickly pulled back on their distribution. One of the wonderful snobby things about luxury items is how hard it is to purchase: it’s limited edition, it’s sold out, there’s a wait list for it or it’s only available in select stores. The more difficult it is to get your hands on it, the more people seem to want it (see: iPhone 4 wait lines).
Second – eye candy! It’s the perfect, sweet cherry on the top of the ice cream that just completes the sundae. Burberry partnered with the beautiful, gorgeous, famous, well-loved by anybody and everybody fashionista, Emma Watson. The ads were everywhere. Like seriously, everywhere. Because not only were the ads popular just as regular (stunning) ads, but they were also blogged about, talked about, tweeted about, FB’ed about, YouTube’d, etc. I’m surprised it wasn’t painted onto the side of the DBC office building! (or was it?)
Burberry completed their campaign when they brought luxury fashion and new media to the next level when they started presenting their fashion shows in 3D, and soon after, launched an interactive campaign, where consumers could “click, drag and control their views of the ad,” as reported by MarketingVox.com. They may not be the first company to use new media to take their company to the next level, but they are definitely one of the first luxury fashion brands to do so, successfully.
And now, others are following their lead. Rolls Royce is making also making an attempt at re-branding itself. Not that Rolls Royce could ever be considered to be cheap by any means (it’s the car David Beckham drives – I doubt that man doesn’t even eat regular, cheap bananas. He probably gets them custom-order imported from Papua New Guinea in gold crates). BUT that isn’t to say that their brand doesn’t have their problems too. Cheap isn’t their problem – stodgy is their problem. So they too are going venture out from traditional marketing and media and into new media, like Facebook. So far, they haven’t quite made the same splash that Burberry did – they don’t have their own YouTube channel as of yet, nor do their FB posts maximize the powers of social media – but then again let’s give the “old relic” some time to catch up.
The Man Your Company Should Be Like
By Nicole on July 16th, 2010 in General Thoughts | No Comments
Whether you want your man to smell like him or not, it’s fair to say that almost everyone wants to be him (or if you’re one of the ladies here at DBC, be WITH him) — or at least gain the same popularity, whether it’s for you or a brand you work with/for!
Old Spice’s The Man Your Man Could Smell Like (TMYMCSL), aka Isaiah Mustafa, has become the ultimate icon of marketing/PR success. He captivated audiences everywhere with his deep voice, hilarious banter and ability to practically make you smell his musk through the computer/TV/radio.
With help from the team at Wieden + Kennedy, Old Spice launched it’s campaign by attacking every major medium (social, broadcast, etc.) out there. It’s most recent iteration has been a full blown attack of all things social media with a tweet on July 13, saying “Today could be just like the other 364 days you log into Twitter, Or maybe the Old Spice man shows up.” The group then encouraged Facebook users, Tweeters, bloggers, journalists, etc., to submit questions for TMYMCSL, and within hours they recorded video responses. A user named @wspencer tweeted, “@oldspice Am typing while running from stampede of scantily-clad female admirers who appeared after trying #oldspice. Is there an antidote?” TMYMCSL answered with this video. Getting personal—LOVE IT!
So what can we take away from this besides uncontrollable laughter? It’s apparent that the success of the current campaign was not just because the Old Spice crew used social networking—it’s how they used it. Their innovative ways of communicating with people about their product without shoving it down their throats is genius! It’s all too often that we hear BUY THIS PRODUCT in more than one way. We also want to tip our hats to Old Spice for their thoroughly planned execution strategy. In an interview, Interactive Producer of the campaign, Josh Millrod, said the group wanted to “activate communities” rather than just followers. By doing this, Old Spice was able to gain more exposure and success. Brilliant if you ask me.
Congrats Old Spice - today we offer you the honor of “Social Media Guru” (but JUST for today *wink, wink*).
Say Sayonara to the Facebook Gift Shop
By Erin on July 12th, 2010 in General Thoughts | No Comments
If you’re one of those Facebook users who have a fondness for sending your friends virtual birthday cakes, teddy bears, eCards, celebrity mugshot and/or the occasional martini from the Facebook Gift Shop, you’re soon going to be S.O.L. It seems the folks over at Facebook have opted to close up shop starting in August in order to make room for bigger, better or possibly just as ridiculous things.
Let’s be honest here, the Facebook Gift Shop has never been the site’s most cutting-edge and for that matter USED offering (in some respects I think my 8 year old niece could come up with better graphics), but it can’t be denied that Facebookers the world over have enjoyed a gift or two from time to time. So what gives? Aside from Facebook Ads, the gifts are really the only other way Facebook has been bringing in the cash from its billions of faithful followers. At about $1 a pop, things can really add up. Hmm…
The consensus being thrown around by the Facebook in-crowd is that the move has to do with Facebook’s foray into virtual currency – i.e. Facebook Credits.
Facebook Credits, which are used to buy Facebook gifts and other items, are turning into a major endeavor for the company. Case and point being the announcement last week of Facebook’s new partnership with a payments provider in Asia. Some might wonder what that is going to mean for Payal? The two companies are currently in a relationship of sorts, but will Facebook start overstepping the boundaries and begin usurping power of the purchasing market? Possibly.
But back to the topic at hand, the Gift Shop… what are you thoughts? Are you happy to give the boot to the virtual gift repository or are you saddened by the loss? (NOTE: don’t worry, according the the warning notice on the Gift Shop homepage, “The gifts you’ve already received on your wall will remain visible and you will still be able to view your sent and received gifts on your gifts page. - PHEW!)
By Rachel on July 9th, 2010 in General Thoughts | No Comments
Here at DBC, we like to stay on top of what people are talking about. Earlier today, I was intrigued to see that “Comic Sans” was a top-ten US trending topic on Twitter. A font name? As a trending topic? Of course I had to see what the fuss was all about. Here’s the scoop:
As most people know by now (if you don’t, where have you been??), the all-star NBA free agent, LeBron James, FINALLY made “The Decision” last night on ESPN as to which NBA team he will be joining next. Around 9:30pm ET, Cleveland fans were less than excited—to say the least—to get the news that their hometown hero was headed south to the Miami Heat. Among the unhappy parties was Dan Gilbert, the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers. In fact, Gilbert was so angry that he posted a rather heated letter on his team’s NBA.com homepage, shortly after the announcement. It’s now roughly one day later and this letter is making headlines… but not in the way you think. Despite what might seem “normal” - people aren’t so much heated (pardon the pun, haha) about the content of the letter, but the fact that it was written in the typeface Comic Sans MS (which, according to a Cavalier spokesperson, is Gilbert’s go-to font). But really? The font? After all these months of build up over LeBron’s decision and how his team will take it, people are getting this riled up about the FONT his owner used to rebuke him?
I guess I shouldn’t be so shocked. The Comic Sans does take away from the anger that is so evident in Gilbert’s words. In fact, the silly, child-like qualities of Comic Sans have made it a highly controversial font for years, but that’s a story for another time. So what is it about fonts that people get so attached to, anyways? This is hardly the first time the general public has been up in arms about the font a person or company has chosen as a means of expression.
Last August, IKEA found itself in the middle of a font controversy (a fontroversy, perhaps? Too far? Sorry.) as its 2010 catalog went global. The trendy furniture giant had decided to trade in its old iconic logo, IKEA written in Futura font, for a slight update: the IKEA name written using a Verdana font. This font switch carried over to the catalog pages as the prices, descriptions and any other written pieces were printed in Verdana as well. Critics claimed that by abandoning Futura for a more widely used font, IKEA was abandoning part of its unique identity. True font-lovers see fonts as a form of design and artistic expression. Therefore, to these font-fanatics, changing from Futura to Verdana would be like McDonald’s putting up highlighter-yellow arches instead of the famous Golden Arches. In other words, the switch was a huge branding statement (or misstep, depending on your perspective).
In terms of brand identity, fonts play a big role in the image of a brand. Maybe the IKEA font change was relatively subtle (to the untrained eye, of course), but if Coca-Cola changed their famous script font to something else, the world would certainly take notice.
In a world that is so consumed by computers and printed materials, fonts are a subject that is often overlooked. However, the truth is that fonts can be full of meaning and significance, and shouldn’t be taken so lightly. Moral of the story Mr. Gibson? If you wanna sound tough, type tough. Next time, pass over the silly Comic Sans and try a more professional font, such as the the classic serif Century. Then the world will be talking about what you wrote instead of making fun of how it looked.
By AJ on July 2nd, 2010 in General Thoughts | No Comments
As we all know, the world of social media is always changing! So was I surprised when a few weeks ago I accidentally stumbled upon (no, not the website) my first event social media Tailgate party. As an avid Dave Matthews Band (DMB) fan, I was ecstatic to hear that they were going to be streaming their performance at Bonnaroo 2010 live on Bonnaroo’s Youtube page. Of course I have seen concerts streamed online, some with mediocre video quality or lagging sound so I was unsure what to expect from the evenings video feed. A planned night watching DMB perform turned into an unplanned experience with total strangers sharing the same evening as myself.
Cameras are live, the crowd is chanting, I’m still unsure how the picture or sound will be…is watching this 2 hour event going to be worth it? The band walks on and with the first wailing sounds of the guitar strings I know I’m in for a treat as they open with Don’t Drink the Water. I find the fullscreen option immediately. Seconds after they start playing I realize that I needed to cancel all my plans for the night, the video – HD, the sound – on point, the trumpets, guitars, drums, and all.
After 2 songs in I exit fullscreen, head to my Twitter, and tweet (sorry NY Times) so my followers can share this experience with me if they choose. I tweet something to the manner of - “@AJBlumey: Stream Dave Matthews Band at #bonnaroo…great set so far http://www.youtube.com/bonnaroo.” But I was about to realize that I didn’t need my followers to converse with, there were people all over the Twitterverse already sharing the performance together and in fact, I had the hashtag wrong too (noob move – ssssh don’t tell anyone here at the office)!
I wander back to Bonnaroo’s Youtube page and notice something under the live video, there was a Twitter feed directly below and updating with multiple tweets by the second.
I found myself not viewing the concert fullscreen just so I could see what people were tweeting about the performance. In order to have your tweet in the feed, the hashtag #BonnarooLive had to be included. I find a Twitter login button on the Youtube page and next thing I know – there is a text box to tweet from which adds the appropriate hashtag automatically. Throughout the concert I was tweeting the same comments that I would typically turn to my concert neighbor and say, like “I bet they’ll play Pig next” or “Get some Jeff Coffin, he’s on fire!” A night by myself watching DMB live turned into a night shared with thousands of people enjoying the same experience.
I’ve read articles on how Twitter helped SXSW’s success in 2010, and use at events and conferences that create a unified hashtag so attendees can follow the action reported by other attendees. But as @firewizzmedic11 tweeted “#BonnarooLive I think its funny me and all my friends are watching this at the same time and not in the same room.”
Twitter has brought the old idea of online chat rooms back into the spotlight but now limiting each response to 140 characters. It also differs from the regular chat room because all of the people in the conversation aren’t randomly placed, they have chose to join in the conversation and share their experience. It’s not news that Social Media Sites such as Twitter are changing the ways of PR. Taking part in this unexpected event has opened my eyes and mind to fresh ideas for our clients. Here at DBC, we are always trying to stay one foot ahead of the rest when it comes to PR and Social Media. I can’t wait to come across the next event that Twitter is a part of, until then I’ll just tweet what I had for lunch.
By Nicole on June 25th, 2010 in General Thoughts | No Comments
While it may be inappropriate to ask someone ‘are those real or fake?’ — asking businesses if their news releases are real or fake has become a top headline yet again this past week.
Apparently, on the June 16, General Mills was up in arms over a press release issued on PRNewswire with the headline, “Obama Orders Full Investigation of General Mills Supply Chain Following Food Recalls,” which they did not put out themselves. Two days later, Business Wire was caught up in a similar hoax when a fake release was issued through their service stating, “US Supreme Court split - rules in favor of Big Pharma.” Yikes!
General Mills has since issued an investigation with law enforcement and will continue to tighten security, according to PRNewswire. While Business Wire has taken similar precautions and issued a policy change that states they will no longer distribute press releases submitted via email. Smart move! While having to take 5-10 minutes out of the day to have a wire service call you to verify your info is a pain, I know I probably speak for all of us in the PR biz when I say we all rest assured knowing there is someone on the other end of the horn crossing the “t’s” and dotting the “i’s” as it were.
I mean lets be honest, it takes time, thoughtfulness and in some cases a little bit of the creative juices to develop an interesting and newsworthy press release (which we here at DBC take pride in… so if you need one, call us *wink, wink*). So it really ruffles our feathers to see people making a mockery of the system! We are all for the “big-bang” effect and know how important it is to create an edge, but lying and scheming? Definitely not cool!