Party Conventions: Just a Lot of Hoopla?
By Courtney on August 26th, 2008 in Uncategorized | No Comments
You’d be hard-pressed to turn on the TV, open a newspaper, or scroll through a website without finding any mention of Michelle Obama’s speech, will Hilary unite the party, McCain’s houses slip or what a great host city Denver is. Well, this is just the beginning … We still have 3 more days and then it starts all over again in Minneapolis.
It makes me wonder, do conventions really help the candidate in the average person’s eye? Sure, candidates usually experience a boost in the polls during and after the party get-together. But how can they not? Conventions are full of rhetoric, nostalgia, meticulously scripted speeches, and a whole lotta die-hard volunteers with signs (not counting last night’s “Bring Back Crystal Pepsi” sign I saw on MSNBC — anyone else catch that?). Potential voters are bombarded with the message —the right (as in correct) message that the party is trying desperately to get a cross. Yet, through all this, the modern convention doesn’t give us any real news.
Throughout most of history, each party’s nominee wasn’t known until the convention itself. People waited in anticipation to find out who would get the nod, crossing their fingers that the delegates would get it right. In today’s age, exit polls, campaigns starting years in advance, and the procedural changes to the way both parties select a nominee have all changed the reason for why conventions exist in the first place. Nowadays, the convention, minus the acceptance speeches, is practically obsolete. The media understands this. In fact, in 2000, the networks even considered dropping convention coverage altogether, except for the acceptance speeches. With major budget cuts in the media industry and the economy the way it is today, had the 2008 election lacked any drama or tension, I think there’s a good chance coverage would have decreased this year.
So with the role of the convention lessened somewhat, what do voters actually get from the conventions? Perhaps, it all comes down to motivation. With all the enthusiasm around the conventions we get a little excitement during the mid-summer hump of election coverage.
I find I’m back in that Super Tuesday mindset I felt many months back. And once again, the election is fun.
By Melissa on August 21st, 2008 in Uncategorized | No Comments
I just signed up for Obama Mobile - I have to admit I’m not even quite sure what it is , but after all the hype around the forthcoming VEEP text message announcement I figured I’d give it a shot. I’m guessing I’ll get text messages every day telling me something about where Obama is or what he is promising. I think I’m the only one who is not optimistic about the presidential election any more. My husband says it’s because I’m getting older and perhaps even more cynical. I just hear the same things each presidential election and have not seen too much change as far as fixing health care, education and helping poor people.
But back to the topic of this post - the hip factor. Obama has it - McCain just doesn’t. I’ll admit I’m supporting Obama - but I don’t think that has skewed my opinion on this.
A la Newsweek’s Conventional Wisdom technique - here’s my version of a look at the Hip Factor comparing the candidates using + for hip and - for unhip.
Obama: 
Text message VP choice +
30 Dylan songs on his iPod +
Celebrity endorsements: Oprah, Halle Barry, Toni Morrison +
Last movie he saw: “Shrek the Third” -
McCain 
iPod includes Abba, Beach Boys and Neil Diamond -
Admits he barely knows how to use the Internet -
Favorite TV president, “24’s” President Palmer +
Celebrity endorsements: Tom Selleck, Sylvestor Stallone, Rip Torn -
Last movie he saw: “Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” +
For another hip factor comparison check out Donkey Dish post here.
By Julia on August 13th, 2008 in Uncategorized | No Comments
By Melinda on August 12th, 2008 in Uncategorized | No Comments
If you know anything about me you know that I’m a huge gymnastics buff - having trained most of my childhood and teenage years. I have newspaper clippings from the day that Nadia scored a perfect ten, along side my Marylou clippings, next to my high school team gymnastics photo. I have my high school leotard tucked away in my cedar chest, hoping someday it would fit again. Every once in a while I try to do a few things at the playground and usually end up pulling a muscle I haven’t used in decades.
All that said - I CANNOT follow the new scoring, and I’m happy to report that I’m not alone. All day coverage of the Olympics playing in the background on MSNBC in our office has not helped shed a light on how the scores are now calculated. I’m drawn to the line from Rob Reiner’s Rockumentary spoof This Is Spinal Tap - “These go to eleven…But why not just make the loudest go to ten….Because these go to eleven.” The new scoring was supposed to make things simpler to score and understand. I thought it was pretty easy to understand - a perfect ten is…well, perfect!
My spirit is behind our team tonight, and I’ll be bleary eyed in the morning again, but the Summer Olympics only come around every 4 years and someday I’ll be too old to stay up this late!
By Dan Baum on August 7th, 2008 in PR 2.0 | No Comments
I was in NYC today, and on my way to a meeting walked by the Apple store in SOHO. Outside the store, a rope line circled the block, and wouldn’t you know it — people lined right up.
My mind raced for a moment, I panicked , was Apple launching a new gizmo and I had missed the news? My feet knew what to do. They made a bee line for the rope line, and I asked the first hipster I saw what all the fuss was about. The fuss was about the not-so-new “new” iPhone. Even though the iPhone came out weeks ago, and you can get them easily online and at most Apple stores, here at the SOHO store, people were lining up.
It made me wonder, what’s the marketing recipe to bake a line? A remarkably great product that people love? Sure. Expensive real estate? Maybe. But why would people line up for an iPhone when they could more easily go online, or go to another store, and buy one — line free. The answer, I think, is that if you want people to line up…you first need to put up a rope line. You need to invite the line, encourage it, and keep it moving.
What’s your rope line?
By Erinh on August 7th, 2008 in Uncategorized | No Comments
When I first saw the John McCain ads that opened with shots of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, I was convinced that it was a joke. Like those parody ads they used to show on SNL, I thought there was no way this could be real. It wasn’t until I saw the “paid for by John McCain” disclaimer at the end was I convinced that it was real. For those of you who haven’t seen it, the ad uses images of Paris Hilton and Britney Spears along with those of Barack Obama speaking to vast crowds to illustrate that popularity does not translate to being able to lead our nation. You can see his full ad here.
As ridiculous as that ad is, I just knew there would be some kind of response. However, I NEVER would have guessed who would have issued it. That’s right, Paris Hilton (via the hilarious people at Funny or Die) issued her response to the ad. You can view it here.
Contrary to what I expected, she came off as funny and likeable, and even a little it intelligent (although I’m sure she was just reading cue cards, but hey, even that’s something). So far, over 5 million people have viewed her ad on FunnyOrDie.com and I’m sure the numbers will continue to grow over the weekend.
By Sarah on August 4th, 2008 in Inside DBC Uncategorized | No Comments
A few weeks ago, I stood in line at 3 different Apple stores and, after 5 days or so, finally hit on one that still had iPhone 3Gs in stock when I entered the store. After only 3.5 hours in line, I had two shiny new iPhones — one for me and one for my husband.
I’m not a gadget girl generally, but I am hooked on the iPhone — and not just for the superfast browsing, easy, readable email and the GPS-in-your-pocket aspects. The App store is what makes my iPhone indispensable these days. Two free applications in particular — Jott and Evernote. Jott makes your iPhone into a voice recorder, so that you can record notes to yourself and received transcribed FREE messages a few minutes later. Ever so handy for that burst of inspiration that hits at an inconvenient time (say, on the highway. Not so great for the shower, but no gadget is perfect).
Evernote is also very cool. My one big disappointment since we migrated to Macs is that the tasks function isn’t great, and doesn’t sync with BlackBerries. Serious bummer, considering what a Getting Things Done group of folks we have at DBC.
Evernote lets me take all the notes I want on my Mac or iPhone and access them wherever I am. So so helpful for daily tasks lists, project lists, call lists, follow-up lists, even grocery lists. Gadget bliss.
By Melinda on August 1st, 2008 in Inside DBC | No Comments
Last week we had the great pleasure of spending a few days in Chicago - our new home away from home given that we continue to add clients based in Chicago. What a great city and the people are fantastic! It must be that good mid-westerner spirit and values.
While we managed to play a tad, we did work and traveled around the suburbs. I’m not sure we could have fit in another meeting, lunch, dinner or event. One of the highlights of the trip - NBC 5 in Chicago - where Fresh Wave products were featured on a new “green”segment - Ginger Zee’s Green Scene. Here’s our Jessica hard at work:
The pièce de résistance came later on Saturday when we made our way over to Wrigley Field to catch the Cubs and the Marlins game - which was full of excitement, extra innings and Lou Pinella getting thrown out of the game - just like that Aquafina commercial! Life imitating art imitating life.
By Courtney on July 31st, 2008 in Inside DBC | No Comments
This week marked my one-year anniversary at DBC PR+New Media and all I can say is, wow … what a year it has been. In just 12 months I got a new job, a new condo, and I got engaged. A year that makes me wonder, does life ever slow down?
My mom used to introduce me to friends or colleagues we would run into in the store as her “baby.” I’d roll my eyes and squirm away because at the age of 15, I was hardly a baby. Of course, 11 years later I look back a bit differently, but I digress. It was (and likely still is) hard for her to imagine that I was no longer the little girl in her arms. It was hard to imagine life could move that fast.
I didn’t understand then, but I do now. Just today Erin pondered about summer being almost over and I found myself replying, “When did summer start?” Maybe its because were all in a quick dash to finish a race that has no parameters. We’re bombarded by the “what’s next’s” of the world. I recently spent hours shopping for a fun summer dress only to find the stores packed with fall clothes. I realize the fashion industry always tries to be a season ahead, but does that mean I have to be? Back-to-school commercials start when kids are just getting into their lazy days of building forts and running through sprinklers. Even Obama is running around like its January already. Maybe its the internet’s fault. Or the joy of a capitalist society. Or maybe the mad dash mentality is our own fault.
I’m spending this weekend with dear friends and family members, many of whom I haven’t seen in years. And instead of rushing around trying to check off another item on my wedding to-do list, I’m going to sit back and enjoy the moment.Too often we are swept up in the race when what is actually important is right at the starting line.
Scrabulous is Dead So Is Scrabble
By Dan Baum on July 30th, 2008 in PR 2.0 | No Comments
The fabulous Scrabulous of Facebook fame is dead. The most popular Facebook application made it possible to play your friends and family in the venerable word puzzle game using dictionary.com the whole time, without your competitors suspecting a thing. Well Hasbro the real owners of Scrabble (not to be confused with Scrabulous!), didn’t think imitation was flattery — and as the NYT blog reports, they got some lawyers, and shut it down.
So what happens next? Revenge of course. Cnet ’s Webware blog reports hackers have taken down the official Scrabble Facebook application. All is fair in love and war. And as I was losing my two ongoing Scrabulous matches anyways…