Coke Can Blunder

I found an interesting article on Yahoo the other day talking about Coke's Christmas cans. Every year coke does a seasonal can for the holidays. This year they are contributing to a really good cause that is working to help the polar bears in the arctic. In honor of this cause, Coke decided to make their seasonal can white to reflect the arctic and polar bears.

Consumers basically had a fit about this change. On a PR outlook, this probably wasn't a great move. People are used to the traditional red can and they associate Coke with that color. I can see where people could unfortunately get the white cans confused with the silver Diet Coke cans.

However on a personal level, I think this craze is ridiculous. I mean really people? You seriously think that the Coke taste differently depending on what color can it is in? I feel like some of the complaints are quite petty and people should look at what these cans stand for and what they represent.

Article:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/a-frosty-reception-for-coca-cola-s-white-christmas-cans.html

The New Porn Site Called Facebook

I don't know if you have had this problem on your facebook newsfeed lately, but millions of people have been having rude, vulgar, and violent pornography popping up. Yesterday I was one of the unlucky people to have to witness this issue. I thought that one of my friends was just a giant perve and I preceded to report the photo to facebook. However, the longer I "creeped" down my newsfeed, the more I noticed other users having the same problem. Apparently, according to this article titled Facebook Slammed By Porn Attack, a porn company hacked facebook flooding it with vulgar porn.

I in no way support or agree with the pornography industry, but on one hand unfortunately, it is disgusting to say that, for the porn agency, this has been a lot of good publicity for them. Facebook has millions and millions of users around the globe and these hackers have reached many of them. Now, while I am sure for the majority of the people who were effected probably had the same disgusted reaction as myself, I am also sure that many people had the opposite reaction. I mean, the porn business is still booming for a reason.

On the other side of the spectrum, this is terrible publicity for facebook. There are so many children and other people of all ages and backgrounds that use facebook. There are so many people who were very offended by the photos that ended up on their newsfeed. Many people have cancelled their facebook accounts and moved to other social media like Twitter. The article, Facebook "virus" shows hardcore porn and violent images, addresses the drastic move of users and tells readers that facebook is aware of the situation.

Ok, thats great that they are aware of it, but are they doing anything to take care of it? Are they searching for the hackers? Are they going to hold a press release apologizing to the public and to the facebook users who were offended? I really think that they should. I feel like if they hope to get back users that they lost, then that is a vital step. I am sure that the number of users who were offended was much greater than those who were not and, if the problem persists, than even more people will deactivate their accounts.

Is facebook going to take the necessary PR steps to try and heal their reputation? Or, will they continue to let the quality of their feeds lessen and allow offensive material to grace their pages?

Kardashian Cashing in on Divorce

I am absolutely not shocked at all by the fact that Kim Kardashian has already filed for divorce. What makes me angry about it though, is the accusation of whether or not it was all just to make money or a publicity stunt. No one can ever know for sure if Kim and that guy (no one can ever seem to remember his name) were really in love or if it was all just a big money making scheme, but what angers me is how often this happens in the entertainment world. Does no one understand what marriage means anymore. It is a promise to love and be with someone for the rest of your life. It does not mean hey we are gonna be cool for the next two months and then go our separate ways. Also, Kim says that she hasn't made one penny off of this whole ordeal, but I don't see how this can be true given all the publicity, airtime, and interviews.

This happens so much in the entertainment world and it is so sad that something as special as relationships are used as publicity. If you think about it though, break ups, a marriage, a new couple, a divorce etc. are all over every tabloid when they happen. Many times, that is when the person involved becomes more famous because their name is all over the place.

Most of the time, I do wonder if the relationships are even really real. What if they are just publicity stunts? Where will society stop to save the few sacred things we have left in this world?

Homecoming 2011

Our lovely flier that I designed from my knowledge learned in PR Pubs on Photoshop! I think for PR it is so important to have a good knowledge of programs like Photoshop, Indesign, etc.

It is such a competitive business world, you want to have every edge possible to make yourself standout. I have had a tough time remembering what all the different tools do, but I am a quick learner and I am so glad I now have this knowledge under my belt. It greatly helped me out with this flier and in other projects too!

First, I made the decision to use colors that weren't our school colors so that our flier would stand out against the others. Then I made our names the focal point and largest writing on the page so that it would stick in the voter's minds. One good decision I made, was adding the site where students could vote. Most of the other candidates did not do this and many people had no idea how to vote. I made the complimentary writing a different color to, again, make our names stick out and to compliment the background color.

Even though we didn't win, I got many compliments on our flier and I think that it greatly helped out our campaign.

Homecoming Crowns

Ok so believe it or not I am running for Homecoming Queen this year at ETSU with Hunter Smith. I have found that there is nothing but PR when it comes to campaigns. I have tried to think of many different ways to make Hunter and I stand out from the rest. I found a really awesome website called xtranormal.com where I was able to make a video for the campaign. I was able to write the script, pick the characters, pick the setting, and pick their gestures. I thought this was just a really cool opportunity and people love videos.

Katie Garren & Hunter Smith Homecoming King & Queen
by: zkkhg2

Also, facebook is a huge benefit for a campaign You can create as many status changes, pages, groups, etc. and send it to anyone. I created a page for Hunter and I and an event as well. For our event page, have invited everyone from ETSU and we plan on sending a link out to vote.http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=262933387077765#!/event.php?=eid262933387077765

For our group we decided to invite everyone at ETSU, friends, and family as more of a support page. This is where we have posted out bios, pictures, and other campaign materials.http://www.facebook.com/pages/Katie-Garren-and-Hunter-Smith-ETSU-Homecoming-King-and-Queen/289920947703750?notif_t=page-new-likes

I designed our flier on photoshop using the knowledge I have gained from my PR Pubs class. I used fall tones to showcase the time of year and made our name very bold and noticable!

You can vot for us, Katie Garren and Hunter Smith for Homecoming King and Queen by going to the ETSU website. We would really appreciate it!

Good PR For A Scare

Ok so I know that I already wrote about the Fender's Farm maze in my last blog post, but I found a really great PR tool that they are using that I had not noticed before. They took really scary video footage of their maze and uploaded it on Youtube. Youtube is such an awesome tool because it is free and it is seen by people all over the world. The video they made is really creepy and it continually promotes their website and contact information. I think this is so much more effective than a flier because it gives people a visual of what to look forward to and I think it instills excitment.
You can view the Fender's Farm promo video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqTBszS1C4k

Free Taco To Every American

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1231447.stm This is a link to the story which I am referring to in this post.

So as a broke college kid, I have made many journeys to the popular fast food chain Taco Bell. A few years ago when the Mir space station was coming back into the Earth's atmosphere, Taco Bell put a huge target in the middle of the ocean and announced that if Mir hit their target, every person in the United Stated would receive a free taco.

I think that this was an absolutely brilliant PR strategy. They put their logo in the middle of the ocean! They received attention from people not just in the U.S., but also in several other countries as well. Also, people love free food, so people would come in for that free taco if it were to happen. However, it would end up making Taco Bell a lot of money because I would say that most people would get their taco and then order other food as well because it usually takes more than one of their tacos to fill a person up. I think this was such a creative idea and it probably wasn't very expensive to do It really got their name and their logo out there to be recognixed by people all over the entire world! Kudos to Taco Bell for "thinking outside the box"!

Picture found at...

http://www2.ljworld.com/photos/2011/mar/22/11708/

Field of Screams Brings Hope

Every year I look forward to going to the Fender's Farm corn maize. They always offer a normal maize and then a haunted maize as well. Every year the owners of Fenders Farm cut a different pattern into the maize. This year, the maize design showcases the Relay for Life American Cancer Society as you can see below. I think this is such a unique and creative PR tool. This is ultimately a giant advertisement that benefits all parties.
Relay for Life is bringing alot of business to the folks at Fender's Farm. They have asked all participants in the 2012 Relay for Life in Johnson City to volunteer their time at the Maize and for donors to come out and support the cause. The maize is benefitting Relay for Life because their name and logo is plowed into a huge field and the cause is getting a percentage of proceeds. The maize also showcases the WQUT 101.5 FM radio station as well. I feel like this is such a creative thing for Fender's Farm to have come up with. It's not something you see everyday. It's festive and it's fun! Visit their website to learn more about what they are doing at www.fendersmaze.com

Photo found at
http://www.fendersmaze.com/

Paperless PR for Homecoming

I am really a big fan of the new sustainability trend that is seems to be growing bigger and bigger. The Student Government Association is trying to promote the green efforts on the ETSU campus by having a "no paper" senate and events. Meaning everything is online so that they can lessen their impact and save paper. The homecoming committee has really tried to be a model in this effort by making all homecoming sign ups and information online.
http://www.etsu.edu/sga/homecoming.aspx
In the past, all of the sign up booklet information has been in a paper booklet form, but I really like the fact that they are complying with this new initiative. I think it so important for the SGA to use events like homecoming for pr and setting an example for the rest of the student body.

University Edge

While thinking about different PR and advertising techniques, I began to think about businesses in town who do good PR and advertising. Immediately I thought about University Edge. It seems like everytime I turn around, I see something with their logo on it. University Edge is very persistent with their PR and they utilize many different types of media. They have a very high amount of fliers that circulate on campus and in the community, very well publicized events, and a very professional looking website. Their website is a great tool for them because the way in which they have created it really targets the age group of residents in which they want to target. It is very modern themed and uses very modern terms, like for example, "parentals" instead of parents. They also have a blog linked to their site, a twitter, and a facebook. I feel like they do a tremendous job in expressing the direction in which they want to take their business and targeting the demographics that they desire. Check out their website to see an example of how they publicize themselves.

http://www.universityedge.info/default.aspx

Blogging Bliss

Until just recently, I was very skeptical of blogging. I really didn't feel like I could write anything that would be worth reading or really think of anything that I could write about freely. I finally gave in and started. As I began to dig a little deeper into my major of public relations, I realized just what a useful tool a blog can be in the pr industry. Many different websites you go to have blogs selling their products or keeping you up to date on whatever they represent. It gives you the freedom to write whatever you like and it publishes to the world within seconds.
One website that I believe has an amazing blog is PETA, or, People for Ethical Treatment of Animals. Their blog is updated very often with hundreds of posts each month. They add pictures and video footage to all of their stories in order to visually enhance the message in which they are trying to deliver to readers. I really am a big fan of video and pictures because they strike emotions in a way that just words cannot. If you would like to view the PETA blog or webpage you can refer to the following link.
http://www.peta.org/b/thepetafiles/default.aspx
Blogs have become a really big step for pr because they can be reached by anyone anywhere. They are a way to express ideas and products. They are also a great outlet for self expression. It is very easy for anyone to start their own blog through sites like Blogspot or Wordpress. You can design it however you choose and write about anything you choose. Like I said, I believe it will be used more and more in the pr industry and I think we will be seeing more and more bogging very soon.