04.22.07
Posted in General at 8:42 pm by Paloma Cruz
In a recent post at The Copywriter Underground Tom Chandler gives his list of Seven Writing Tools You Couldn’t Live Without:
- Copywriter
- A Sketchpad
- Sugarless Chewing Gum, because “I’m a grinder. My teeth, that is. In fact, after a couple hours of really being in the groove, my jaws hurt. Gum helps.“
- OpenOffice Writer
- Walking the Dog/Fly Fishing/Backpacking because, “You need to get out more.“
- Blog Editor
- Image Editing with PhotoFiltre
Mine, in no particular order:
- Flickr
- Firefox’s Scribefire
- Firefox
- Notepad
- my Cruzer U3 flash drive
- Open Office
- WordPress
Which are yours?
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Posted in General at 8:42 pm by Paloma Cruz
I’m always interested in how companies and people use new technology to communicate and connect with customers (and each other).
Don’t know what Second Life is?
Second Life is a 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents. Since opening to the public in 2003, it has grown explosively and today is inhabited by a total of 3,031,536 people from around the globe.
- From the moment you enter the World you’ll discover a vast digital continent, teeming with people, entertainment, experiences and opportunity. Once you’ve explored a bit, perhaps you’ll find a perfect parcel of land to build your house or business.
- You’ll also be surrounded by the Creations of your fellow residents. Because residents retain the rights to their digital creations, they can buy, sell and trade with other residents.
- The Marketplace currently supports millions of US dollars in monthly transactions. This commerce is handled with the in-world currency, the Linden dollar, which can be converted to US dollars at several thriving online currency exchanges.
Welcome to Second Life. We look forward to seeing you in-world.
So how are people using Second Life? Harvard Law School has begun the CyberOne: Law in the Court of Public Opinion, a Second Life course that’s unlike anything I’ve heard of:
Throughout the course we will be studying many different media technologies to understand how their inherent characteristics and modes of distribution affect the arguments that are made using them. Students will be immersed in this study through project-based assignments in which they will be using these technologies to make their own arguments. For a good introduction to the class, watch this video of a discussion with Charlie and Rebecca hosted by the Berkman Center.
Shel Holtz reports that Coca-Cola has entered Second Life, taking a different approach:
Coca-Cola has entered Second Life by taking an approach other than buying an island, building an edifice, and hoping residents will stop by for a visit. Working with crayon (yes, I’m part of the team, along with several other crayonistas led by C.C. Chapman), Coca-Cola opted to break into the 3D metaverse by getting out amongst the population.
The effort is a competition, labeled “Virtual Thirst.” The idea is for residents (and, in fact, anybody else) to design a Coca-Cola vending machine that dispenses an experience rather than a can or bottle of Coke.
Sprint Nextel is using Second Life to target the Hispanic community:
Sprint Nextel continues its innovative marketing efforts towards the Hispanic community by opening the virtual doors of the first-ever Sprint Center in the 3D, online digital world of Second Life. Exclusively for Latin music fans, the virtual Sprint Center will stream pre-recorded one-of-a-kind performances from the Sprint-sponsored reality TV series, Concierto Clandestino, broadcast on the Spanish-language programming network, Telemundo. The concert series will include performances from an internationally renowned line-up of Latin artists including Paulina Rubio, Obie Bermudez, Tego Calderon, Fonseca and Belinda.
Related posts:
Also in the discussion:
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04.21.07
Posted in General at 4:09 am by Paloma Cruz
Crisisblogger has a great post on the impact on crisis managerment (and the world) of the media reaction to the shooting at Virginia Tech. If you’re not already reading this blog, now’s the time to start. The short version of his post:
1) The media, being in the infotainment business, continues its insistence on finding someone to blame.2) For every action that grabs the media’s and world’s attention, there has to be an extreme overreaction.
3) SMS will be on everyone’s “have to have” list for crisis communication.
4) Rapidly changing modes of communication.
5) Don’t expect too much in responsible or moral thinking from the media.
6) What becomes possible, becomes expected, then demanded.
If you work with crisis management at all, read this insightful post for the in-depth version.
Related posts:
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04.20.07
Posted in General at 12:36 am by Paloma Cruz
One of the things PR professionals should come away with from the tragedy at Virginia Tech is the immediacy in response by the media and online social sites. News crews poured onto the campus while they were still trying to figure out what exactly had happened. That same evening several networks ran one-hour programs on the events, and the victims, of that morning. And blame had already begun to be placed onto administrators and police.
All this in the first 24 hours following the shootings.
PR Week writes:
The massacre at Virginia Tech University that left 33 people dead this Monday, created a crisis communications situation of unprecedented scope for the higher learning institution.
And in less than 24 hours, the university’s communications staff was forced to come up with a contingency plan that enabling them to manage the country’s largest gathering of national and international media in recent memory.
Within hours of the news, media from all over the world were arriving on the campus. Jeffrey Douglas, communications director of Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, which is located on the Virginia Tech campus, was one of the first communication professionals working the scene.
[snip]
By early Tuesday morning the department’s director of public affairs, Bob Spieldenner, had set up the Joint Information Center (JIC) in the Holtzman Alumni Center. The university took communications people from its different schools to create a team of nearly 30 people. Michael Sutphin, public information officer for VA Tech, said there were also communications people from the Virginia State Police and the Virginia Department of Health working in the center. Douglas said he was not aware of any PR agencies contacting the university to offer assistance.
The JIC was set up with a bank of 15 phones, 20 computers, and four televisions. “We immediately began monitoring major news networks to see what they were providing, so we could better craft message strategy and figure out what needed to be addressed,” Douglas said.
Douglas, who has 30-plus years of experience in the PR industry, said one of the challenges was conveying information on a rapidly developing story that was in the very early stages of a major police investigation. Despite the limitations on what could be said, he believes they did a good job of being transparent and immediate with disseminating information.
[snip]
By week’s end Douglas said the number of media had begun to dissipate but there were still several hundred on site. He said this situation is one that will be studied by PR professionals.
“This is going to go down in text books as a case study in media relations and crisis management,” Douglas said.
Additional posts on PR & Virginia Tech:
- Publishing 2.0 writes “Virginia Tech: First Thoughts” in which the questions is asked: What are the implications of encouraging citizen journalism during life-threatening events? and Could better coverage of the first shooting have lead to lives saved in
the second shooting — or have prevented the second shooting entirely?
- In Resonance Partnership Blog’s “Virginia Tech: Social Media in Crisis Planning” the role of social (and immediate) communications tools is addressed: The question is, why weren’t the instant
tools: Text and voice messages used by the university to notify
students? These students are wired….this is the way to communicate
with them. It can save lives and that is not hyperbole. Every
organization, business, schools and universities ( and even families)
should give serious thought to using these tools as part of their
crisis planning.
- Crisisblogger remind us, in “Virginia Tech–changing things forever,” to remember the four P’s: Policy, Plan, People and Platform.
- Content Matters points to two articles in Chronicle of Higher Education: Virginia Tech Student’s Facebook Group Offers a Way to Grieve and Students Turn to Facebook for Information on Their Friends. They point out, Students turned to the medium they use the most, online social
networking sites, to look for friends, get updates, and then share
their grief and confusion over Monday’s tragedy.
- Under The News asks, in “VIRGINIA TECH: The coming storm for immigrants,” How long before the radical anti-immigration crowd begins
to agitate for tighter borders? And can otherwise undecided Americans
be swayed by the notion that these senseless bloodbaths might have been
avoided by a more exclusive immigration policy?
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04.01.07
Posted in General at 7:49 pm by Paloma Cruz
SiteProNews has an article listing the pros of hiring a professional PR specialist or PR firm. Amongst the things included is a breakdown of fees at a PR firm:
- Interns/Junior Executives - bill at $75 / hour (Very little, if any professional experience)
- Account Executives - bill at $100 - $125 / hour (1-3 years of professional experience)
- Senior Account Executives - bill at $125 - $200 / hour (Multiple years of professional experience. Agency decision makers.)
It also includes a listing of major benefits:
- Proper Campaign Implementation
- Media Contacts
- Efficiency and Effectiveness
The most important piece of advice:
If you have the time, tools and talent to launch and maintain your own campaign, you should definitely do so. If not - there are a number of public relations/publicity firms, specialists and services out there. Research to find the one whose services and fees match your business plan. Once business owners, entrepreneurs, and inventors learn more about their options when it comes to launching a PR campaign — many find that they can’t afford NOT to have one.
Good info.
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