Tag: PR

Bits and bobs about PR and social media

Today I’m throwing you a smorgasbord of things to dig deeper into. Here goes:

Stathydro? Norskoil? Noroil?
In Norway there is a heated debate about the name of the new oil and gas giant that is the result of the mega merger between Norsk Hydro and Statoil. Branding experts claim that it will cost between 2.7 and 3.6 billion kroner to change name and that the brand Statoil is worth between 2.5 and 5 billion kroner.

Tech blogs in, conservative blogs out
Bloggers Blog compare the top 10 blogs at Technorati on Jan 1, 2006 and Jan 1. 2007. Via Kristine Lowe.

Busting myths about social media
PR agency Ketchum and the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Strategic Public Relations Center have produced a report called “Media Myths & Realities, 2006 Media Usage Survey”. Among other things the survey deflates five myths about social media:
-Blogs dominate.
-Social networking sites are just for kids.
-Young adults don’t read the newspaper.
-Word of mouth cannot be managed.
-The company Web site is the best way to communicate.

Big ad, big love
The business man who paid 11,000 kronor (1,600 USD) for a large personal ad in Borås Tidning, has got replies from women from all over Sweden. Question is if any of them want to move to Borås… (More here in English).

Top 100 web 2.0 sites
Web 2.0 Magazine lists the top 100 web 2.0 sites in categories such as Video (#1 is YouTube), Music (last.fm), Chat (Meebo), Images & Photos (Flickr), Blogs (Blogger), Bookmarking (Digg), VOIP (Jajah) and a few others.

New free Swedish daily
Xtra Helsingborg is the name of Helsingborgs Dablad’s free daily. It will become the second freesheet in the city when distribution starts in about a month. Metro is already present. Circulation: Monday-Friday, 20,000 copies. Via Researcher.

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PR executives don’t monitor blogs

One in two PR executives are not doing their job properly. A survey of more than 1100 PR executives from agencies and corporations in the US and UK reveal that 49% of respondents don’t even monitor blogs. Furthermore it says that:

“63% have not adapted their communications strategy to include proactive outreach to blogs, message boards, and other forms of digital mediums.”

Blogs are fairly easy to monitor and there are a number of free tools available. Next things to watch are wikis, social networking sites, Second Life, YouTube etc that need to be on PR executives’ radar.

The press release 100 years old

Via the India PR Blog I notice that the press release supposedly turned 100-years-old on October 28.

“On October 28, 1906, at least 50 people lost their lives when a three-car train of the Pennsylvania Railroad’s newly equipped electric service jumped a trestle at Atlantic City, NJ, and plunged into the Thoroughfare creek. 

That afternoon, Ivy Lee, who some consider to be the father of modern PR, created the first press release. The Pennsylvania Railroad was one of his clients. Following the accident, Lee not only convinced the railroad to distribute a public statement, he also convinced them to provide a special train to get reporters to the scene of the accident.”

About time then that this communications channel evolved a bit. The PR agency SHIFT Communications initiated a discussion around the development of a “social media press release” this summer. The thought was that the press release should be re-designed to fit the new social media/web 2.0 environment. I am sure we will continue to see interesting developments regarding press releases and other PR tactics. For PR practitioners, these are exiting times.

Guillou’s blog attack just a PR stunt?

In August this year, the Swedish writer Jan Guillou was invited as opening speaker at the annual HBT festival Stockholm Pride. This caused writer Unni Drougge to lash out against the choice of Guillou, who she meant had never done anything to support the HBT community. In a column in Expressen she claimed that Guillou is an advocate for a stereotypical macho culture who has expressed that homosexuality is just “a fad”.

When faced with these accusations from Drougge in a tv interview Jan Guillou simply responded:

“She just wants publicity for her new book.”

Well, Guillou is a clever man. In September, Drougge launched her first new book in three years – “Penetrering“. Coincidence? Maybe.

But it takes one to know one. Guillou has been a frequent trouble-maker when it has suited his interests. In April 2001 he critized the Swedish female journalist Kattis Ahlström for making “pretend interviews”, speaking baby talk and being a part of a bimbofied Swedish television. This naturally stirred up an intense debate and Guillou was in focus in many papers. As it happened, he launched his book “Arvet efter Arn” about a month later. Coincidence? Maybe.

That’s why I can’t be terribly upset when I read that Guillou yesterday dismissed the entire blogosphere as babble.

“Who cares about anonymous people’s babble and poor notes?” he said.

And naturally a large number of bloggers come out in defence of blogs and to condemn Guillou as an elitist technophobe. Don’t do that. It’s easy to suspect that this is just a publicicy stunt. His new book “Madame Terror” came out a month ago.

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Text 100 opens office in Second Life

Second Life is a very popular online social network, “a 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents”. I’ve never looked at the site myself but I have a tiny grasp of what the community is about thanks to the For Immediate Release podcast. Now PR Week reports that PR agency Text 100 is set to open an office on its private island in Second Life. Apparently more and more businesses are exploring the online virtual worlds in order to learn more.

Update: BL Ochman isn’t convinced this is an entirely good idea.

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