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A Challenge for PR People: If Our Own PR Is so Bad, How We Can Fix It?
Public Relations…By Donna R. Maurillo, Director of Communications & Tech Transfer, Mineta Transportation Institute
Why did we go into public relations? It’s not for the glory because nobody understands what PR is. You’ve heard people say, “It’s just PR” when they really mean, “Here goes someone trying to pull the wool over our eyes.” Even companies that hire us think we’re disposable–something to cut from the budget when business is slow. The real issue is that we get no respect — not from clients, from news media, or even from our friends.
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Blowfish: A Private Life in Public Relations – Episode IX: “Chemical Dawn”
PR Fiction… By Steve Lundin, Big Frontier
Recap: Jack Vance, the colorful CEO of Blowfish Communications, has been hired to engineer the launch of VGlobe a new online video network. The cornerstone of his launch campaign is Some Will Die, a reality weight loss program engineered to render all contestants dead. Jack and his team have just liberated their reluctant new host, Vladimir Berber, from a Mexican jail after plying him with psychoactive drugs.
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Content Marketing World 2012 (#cmworld) Highlights
Posted by Sarah Skerik, Vice President-Social Media, PR Newswire, for the Agile Engagement Channel
Two posts from Content Marketing World 2012. “Distilling the Magic of Content Marketing” and “3 Tactics For Integrating Online & Offline Content to Own the ZMOT”
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Organic & Paid Search Synergy Report
By ZOG Digital for the Digital Visibility Channel
A marketing campaign utilizing both SEO and PPC is necessary for dominant search visibility. Our results have shown that this combination results in an incremental lift in overall search marketing performance. Our “Organic and Paid Search Connection Report” includes the following: Why SEO and PPC perform more successfully when used together ZOG case studies showing a significant connection …
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“GameChanger”: Email Marketing Tips
By WhatCounts for the Effective Email Marketing Channel
This week, we’re going to help you get ready for the holidays with a retail email marketing webinar to prep you for the 2012 holiday season. We’re also inviting you to meet up at Dreamforce, as well as looking at some re-engagement and reactivation email marketing. Finally, we’ll give you one of several upcoming holiday forecasts so that you can best time your holiday email marketing.
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Investing in SEO: Marketers are Doing More SEO Than They Think
Search Engine Watch
I was thrilled to see the joint GroupM and Nielsen research published recently on the UK Search Marketing Landscape. If you missed it, Danny Goodwin’s blog post, “Organic vs. Paid Search Results: Organic Wins 94 Percent of Time” is a great summary. With this study, marketers and search marketers have, for the first time, vendor-neutral data containing evidence of organic search click-through rates (CTRs). As a quick recap, the research concludes that 94 percent of searchers click through on organic search results, and that the top three positions in Google earn 61 percent of the clicks. These numbers aren’t far off the numbers I’ve used for years when describing the importance of SEO in a marketing budget as well as ranking on Page 1 for the keywords prospects are searching on to find your organization. The GroupM and Nielsen numbers simply (and strongly) validate the importance of an on-going SEO strategy. A significant disconnect, however, continues to exist between the impact that SEO can have on impressions, click-throughs and lead generation compared to PPC and the representation each receives in a typical marketing budget. Take Forrester’s U.S. Interactive Marketing Forecast, for the years 2011 to 2016. Marketers are spending and will continue to spend …
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Fashion PR Power Play –As VIPs Multiply, Styling the Front Row Gets Trickier
The Wall Street Journal
Who is that in the front row at New York Fashion Week? A movie star? A teen heartthrob? A Real Housewife? Try all of the above. Fashion’s historically closed circle has expanded its definition of “notables,” the people considered worthy of a front-row seat at a fashion show. Spots once reserved for top magazine editors, luxury department-store buyers and the occasional A-list celebrity have been infiltrated by publicity-seeking TV actresses, reality show personalities and over-the-top bloggers. “It’s incredibly more complicated. We may as well be seating shows on Mars right now because there’s so much to think about,” says Alison Brod, founder of Alison Brod Public Relations, who has been working with fashion week for 15 years. Designer Cynthia Rowley hosted Abigail Breslin, the Oscar-nominated actress, in the front row of her show last season, where she was photographed with Beth Riesgraf of the TNT drama “Leverage,” Angela Simmons of the former MTV reality series “Run’s House” and Megan Hilty of the NBC musical show “Smash.” An unlikely quartet lined the front row at Dennis Basso’s show: comedian Joan Rivers, soap star Susan Lucci, Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka and former MTV reality star Kristin Cavallari.
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Lessons Learned at Stanford’s Digital Marketing Program
Forbes
Given how important digital marketing, social media and big data have emerged in defining and implementing customer-centered strategies, Stanford’s first-ever Digital Marketing Program looked worth attending. I look at education like an accelerator; it can propel both individuals and entire organizations to their goals faster, with greater insight and clarity. Stanford’s Graduate School of Business (GSB) Executive Education hosted the Digital Marketing Program over three days last week, August 29th through the 31rst. The entire program was held at The Knight Management Center, a state-of-the-art eight building complex that Phil Knight, founder and CEO of Nike funded and assisted in the development of. Dr. Baba Shiv, Sanwa Bank Limited Professor of Marketing and Director of the Strategic Marketing Management Executive Program, hosted the three-day program. Dan Epelman, Director of Programs at GSB is a pro at the logistics of getting a program like this together. The Digital Marketing Program is restricted to Strategic Marketing Management (SMM) current participants and alumni. I attended the SMM Program in 2010 and am still using the lessons learned in my job and teaching. It is well worth attending, it’s a great learning experience.
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U.S. Mobile Advertising: Twitter Sales Are Double That Of Facebook in a Google-Ruled, $2.6B Market
TechCrunch
The researchers at eMarketer have put out their latest figures on mobile advertising revenue in the U.S., and while they are holding firm on their forecast that they will bring in $2.6 billion this year (it’s a number they actually put out in January 2012), they have drilled down a bit more into who is making what. Unsurprisingly, Google is still at the top of the pile: it will account for 56% of all mobile ad sales. Perhaps more surprisingly, Twitter is doing better than Facebook in driving revenues where mobile ads are concerned: the world’s biggest social network will make half as much as Twitter in mobile ads this year: $72.7 million versus $129.7 million, the analysts say. However that is bound to be reversed over time: eMarketer predicts that by 2014, Facebook will be making $629.4 million in mobile ads, compared to $444 million for Twitter, putting Facebook at a distant second to Google. Longer term, eMarketer predicts that U.S. mobile advertising will generate sales of $12 billion by 2016. Going back to 2012, the main reason for Facebook’s lower revenues at present …
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Why the Small-Cap Rally May Stall
Reuters
(Reuters) – One of the riskier segments of the stock market just had its best August performance since 2008, leading some investors to question whether it was all just a summer fluke. The Russell 2000 index of small and mid-cap stocks jumped 3.2 percent last month, compared with a nearly 2 percent gain in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index of large cap stocks. The index was pushed higher by gains such as a 115 percent return for Sunrise Senior Living Inc and a 92 percent gain for Kenexa Corp, both of which came after the companies agreed to be acquired by larger rivals. Before the jump, the Russell had underperformed the S&P 500 by about 3 percentage points for the year. Now, the two indexes are roughly even.
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iPhone 5 Component Supply Challenges Could Threaten Apple’s Empire
Computerworld
The bigger you become, the bigger the problems you face. History shows that every empire reaches a point at which its infrastructure begins to become stretched, after which it tends to shrink. Resource allocation is important, and it seems Apple [AAPL] may be facing a few problems in this. Component supply could challenge future growth. Recent reports claimed Sharp has been delayed in delivering new displays for the iPhone 5. A report this morning once again speculates the deal between Sharp and Hon Hai/Foxconn has hit several hurdles, leaving the Japanese company with no choice except to mortgage all its domestic offices and factories in order to remain in business until that deal is done. The mobile industry has become far more diverse in the last 18 months, with Android device makers now offering huge orders to component suppliers. In the case of many components, such as Wi-Fi and 4G radios or flash memory, Apple and other manufacturers are chasing supply from the same source. The battle between Samsung and Apple continues …
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ECB Loads the ‘Big Bazooka,’ Agrees to Buy Government Bonds, if Needed
Washington Post
The European Central Bank moved decisively Thursday in announcing that it would buy the bonds of struggling governments without limit, an initiative that could save the euro zone and blunt one of the main threats menacing the global economy. The unprecedented step, meant to reassure fearful investors that euro-zone governments would not default, sparked a rally on world stock markets. U.S. stock indices posted their largest gains in weeks, with the S&P 500 soaring 2 percent and closing at a four-year high. By committing its massive firepower, the ECB is seeking to ease the pressure on beleaguered European countries that have faced steep and potentially unsustainable costs for borrowing money.
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Murdoch’s Reformation Stops With Governance
Reuters
The reformation of Rupert Murdoch looks to have reached its limit. The 81-year-old media mogul has moved to sensibly deploy capital and break up News Corp as part of a big turnaround since a British phone-hacking scandal rocked his empire. But two new board nominees look like the old Murdoch at work. Investors shouldn’t be so quick to forget the havoc an unconstrained emperor can wreak. Poor corporate governance contributed to the misconduct at the now-shuttered News of the World tabloid newspaper. Systems and controls across News Corp were exposed to be lacking, ultimately costing the company its desired acquisition of the entirety of its BSkyB satellite business and upending top management around the world. The Murdoch discount deepened, as News Corp shares traded well below the sum of the group’s parts. The old fox grasped the nettle, though. Murdoch sidelined his son, James, and elevated right-hand man Chase Carey to a more prominent role. Billions of dollars originally earmarked to buy BSkyB were redirected to buy back shares and raise the dividend. Murdoch even opted to separate his beloved newspapers from the more profitable TV and film divisions.
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Penguin Group Hit With Age Discrimination Suit
Crain’s New York Business
The longtime head of corporate communications for the publisher, Marilyn Ducksworth, claims the company dismantled her staff in favor of younger employees. Penguin denies the charge. Some well-kept secrets at Penguin Group, most notably the succession plan for its CEO, were put on display late Wednesday with the filing of an age discrimination lawsuit by the book publisher’s former longtime head of corporate communications, Marilyn Ducksworth. Her lawyers charge Penguin with dismantling her staff and diminishing her executive responsibilities “in an orchestrated, coordinated effort to force her to leave.” In addition, Penguin retaliated when she protested the company’s “discriminatory actions against her and other older employees,” the complaint said. Ms. Ducksworth, 56, resigned Aug. 31. She had been senior vice president of corporate communications and executive director of publicity of the imprints G.P. Putnam’s Sons and Riverhead Books, and associate publisher of Putnam. On Thursday, the suit was a source of much discussion in the closely knit publishing world, where Ms. Ducksworth is widely liked and highly regarded. Age discrimination is also a sensitive topic at publishing houses, insiders say, pointing to the constant pressure to cut costs, which can make high-salaried veterans more likely to be targeted in restructurings.
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Chrysler Vs. General Motors: A Tale of Two Car Companies
Ad Age Digital Next
We’ve all heard it before: Having a great product is key to great marketing. But what happens when you’ve got a great product and the marketing is a bit of a mess? Auto experts are pondering that very question with regard to General Motors, which has been rolling out some of the sturdiest, most attractive cars in its history, yet posting dismal sales results. The ouster of its global CMO, Joel Ewanick, has prompted increased scrutiny of the company’s marketing, and for months many observers have questioned the resonance of the “Chevy Runs Deep” ad campaign — which interim chief marketer Alan Batey has pledged to keep. In contrast, Chrysler’s “Imported From Detroit” campaign has propelled two years of double-digit sales gains. The ads have been creatively lauded, something rarely seen anymore among auto companies.
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IAB: Advertisers Leave $450M in Co-Op Dollars on the Table
Business Journals
Interactive Advertising Bureau, the New York City-based association of more than 500 media and tech companies responsible for selling 86 percent of online advertising, is looking to teach advertisers about a sector of the digital economy it says offers great opportunity but is going untapped. IAB and the Local Search Association on Thursday released a report report titled “Co-Op Advertising: Digital’s Lost Opportunity?” detailing how co-op advertising-the traditional practice of splitting costs between manufacturers and retailers when the ad benefits both – works in the digital advertising space. The report acknowledges that the complexity of advertising in digital formats presents real challenges for both manufacturers and merchants, and offers ideas for simplifying it.
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