Lohan vs. E-Trade

March 9th, 2010

What do you think of when you see a “milk-aholic” baby named Lindsay? Well, according to the New York Post, actress Lindsay Lohan thinks you’ll think of her. Lohan is suing E-Trade on the grounds that the substance-abusing baby in their Superbowl commercial is based on her.

Lohan’s lawyer, Stephanie Ovadia, is demanding that the commercial be taken off the air and every copy of the spot be rounded up. The actress is also asking for $100 million from E-Trade for exemplary and compensatory damages.

No, E-Trade didn’t call the baby Lohan, or give the baby any other Lohan-characteristics, but Lohan’s lawyer makes the argument, “Many celebrities are known by one name only, and E-Trade is using that knowledge to profit… They used the name Lindsay…They’re using her name as a parody of her life. Why didn’t they use the name Susan? This is a subliminal message. Everybody’s talking about it and saying it’s Lindsay Lohan.”

When I saw the spot, Lindsay Lohan wasn’t the first thing I thought of, and I think Lindsay is a pretty mainstream name which probably won’t help Lohan’s case. Now if the baby was named Madonna and had arms like a Transformer- then I would understand the one name subliminal messaging- but I just didn’t get that here.

Maybe this is a publicity stunt by Lohan, or maybe she is legitimately offended by the commercial- whatever the case may be- it will be interesting to see the verdict.

The lesson to be learned here for advertisers: be careful what you name your baby.

Posted in Advertising, Kerrie Luginbill | No Comments »

Social Media Needs to Get Paid Too!

March 5th, 2010

Twitter is rumored to be launching their long awaited ad platform soon—and I am surprised it has taken this long. With just hiring a CFO and the South by Southwest Conference next month (where CEO Evan Williams is speaking) it seems as though it is Twitters time.

The question now is how exactly they are going to incorporate the ads into their networking site. Facebook has found unobtrusive ways to advertise on the side of the browser window (blending the advertisements in with the other parts of the site), and it is said that Twitter is going to try to do a more incorporated looking ad as well.

Head of Product Management, Anamitra Banerji, told MediaPost that the company will make ads “relevant and useful, so the user doesn’t think of it as an ad,” which resembles the types of ads we already see on other social networking sites.

There are already several third-party companies that utilize a pay-per-tweet model of advertising, which has created further speculation that these types of ads will not be on Twitters ad platform. Ad.ly uses this type of model by automatically sending one tweet in the feed of a person they select (usually someone influential in the target audience of the company advertised)—and the person gets to approve the Tweet before it is published in their feed. The Twitter user sets the price per tweet that advertisers pay, and voila- advertising made easy. BUT this method of third-party advertising does not benefit Twitter itself.

After breaking even for 2009, it is time for Twitter to make a profit of its own. Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter has said, “The idea of taking money to run traditional banner ads on Twitter.com has always been low on our list of interesting ways to generate revenue. However, facilitating connections between businesses and individuals in meaningful and relevant ways is compelling.”

I am very interested in seeing what Twitter has in store for us on the advertising-front, and I imagine it is going to be a new and innovative way to break through to users.

Posted in Advertising, Kerrie Luginbill, Social Media | No Comments »

Denny’s Shoots and Misses

March 4th, 2010

Denny’s “Home of the Grand Slam” Restaurant has really dug itself into a hole with its most recent advertisement that many have described as “mocking the victims of the Irish Famine.”

The advertisement ran last week and instantly felt the wrath of angry viewers; there are currently Facebook pages dedicated to the advertisement and organization of scheduled protests, and many have committed to boycotting the chain.

 If you didn’t happen to see the ad, basically Denny’s announced that in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the end of the Irish Famine, they would be offering unlimited pancakes for customers. The community did not take well to this humor and many people are voicing their discontent to Denny’s via letters, e-mails and phone calls.

What is making people even angrier now is the response from Denny’s that many would hardly call an apology:

“Denny’s has a history of using humor in its television advertising. It is certainly not the intention of the company to offend anyone or any group and we apologize if this spot has in any way. As a result of the feedback we have received from our customers the spot will no longer be on the air after Tuesday. We thank those who took the time to contact us.”  

Just another lesson in crisis communication techniques:

  1. Be empathetic and caring toward the situation and those affected.
  2. Be honest and open to the public, be transparent.
  3. Take responsibility for your company/organizations actions and express measures to make things right.
  4. Never, ever underestimate the power of an angry public.

Posted in Advertising, Kerrie Luginbill, Public Relations | No Comments »

Reality TV Plays into PR

February 22nd, 2010

Kim Kardashian, who currently stars in her own reality TV show-“Keeping up with the Kardashians”- produced a half-hour documentary titled, ‘The Spindustry.’

SPINdustry is advertised as an E! special, but it’s obviously a set up for a series (pending reviews, of course)—and in my opinion it will be much more entertaining than Kardashian’s own series.

The show follows Miami-based public relations firm, Command PR, as it prepares for the launch of a “Luxury Lollipop.” The staff at Command PR is challenged with getting Spice Girl Mel B to promote Sugar Factory at a club event. The logistics of getting the event pulled together in 48 hours gives us the usual reality series drama– including a real financial spat between owners Jonathan Cheban and Simon Huck.

In the show Command PR almost loses their client and Cheban and Huck are faced with the problem of finding a solution that can save both their client’s event and their relationship with their celebrity talent, -all very real issues for public relations practitioners. 

Not only is the series a great way to see how PR works (within reason, this is a Hollywood PR firm), but it is a great PR move for Command PR itself—who doesn’t want to hire a public relations firm that already has its own television show? That is a media guarantee.

Kardashian produced the show alongside “Real World” creators Bunim/Murray Productions, and all I can say is that I hope the series rumors are true, because this is definitely something that I would watch.

Posted in Kerrie Luginbill, Public Relations | No Comments »

Social Media and Sincerity at Southwest Airlines

February 16th, 2010

This weekend Kevin Smith was “kicked off” of a Southwest Airlines flight for being “too fat.” At least that is what he Tweeted on Saturday to his 1.6 million followers.

Here is a little sample of Smith’s Tweets:

Dear @SouthwestAir – I know I’m fat, but was Captain Leysath really justified in throwing me off a flight for which I was already seated?

Wanna tell me I’m too wide for the sky? Totally cool. But fair warning, folks: IF YOU LOOK LIKE ME, YOU MAY BE EJECTED FROM @SOUTHWESTAIR.

This is not the first time that an angry consumer has found retribution via social media. After United Airlines damaged Dave Carroll’s $3500 guitar, Carroll posted a video on YouTube which created quite a stir- and resulted in a new guitar for Carroll. Social Media is obviously turning into a way for consumers to channel their anger towards products, businesses, and organizations in general. “Thanks to social computing, travelers’ tales are no longer confined to what they tell to their coworkers and neighbors,” said Henry H. Harteveldt, a VP and airline and travel industry analyst at Forrester Research.

It is becoming more and more important for companies and organizations to have the resources to find these Tweets, Youtube videos, etc…, so that they can successfully counter them with good PR responses. However, the more often these situations do occur, the more important it is to focus in on sincerity.

The following Tweets among many others were posted following Smiths disgruntled remarks:

@ThatKevinSmith hey Kevin! I’m so sorry for your experience tonight! Hopefully we can make things right, please follow so we may DM!

Hey folks – trust me, I saw the tweets from @ThatKevinSmith I’ll get all the details and handle accordingly! Thanks for your concerns!

Southwest also blogged an apology to Smith that many considered to sound as if it had gone through multiple rounds of legal, one commenter on Mashable.com said “They positioned like they were making a case, not like they were listening.” While it is important to quickly respond to situations like these (especially when they involve celebrities like Smith who is a filmmaker and has a large following) it is also just as important to remember that these are real people we are talking to. Sometimes leaving the big-out-of-the-book words behind for a sincere and “human” apology is necessary—otherwise it just becomes one more generic response that can be done by a computer in a matter of time.

Posted in Customer Service, Kerrie Luginbill, Public Relations, Social Media | No Comments »

When signing up for an enewsletter takes 20 minutes…

February 10th, 2010

So I just came across an enewsletter that was very intriguing – so I went ahead and subscribed to it. While signing up for the newsletter, not only did they as for my email address, name, address, fax number, job title… but I was asked to fill out another 6 pages of information about our company, our clients, our client needs, what I wanted for Christmas 2010… Just kidding. But seriously, 6 pages of information?! Really? Is that necessary?

Getting information from your subscribers is important and quite useful, but I think 6 pages is way too much to ask for when all I wanted to do was submit my email address and be on my merry way.

So please make note of this - Don’t annoy your email subscribers right from the start!

Posted in Ashlee Hille, Customer Service, Marketing | No Comments »

Facebook‘s Newest Facelift

February 5th, 2010

Tonight when I logged onto my Facebook page I saw what only 80 million out of the 400 million total users saw: a brand new, more evolved and confusing to the everydayfacebookuser-eye homepage.

Mark Zuckerberg has done it again!

If you aren’t one of the lucky 80 million users to find this new page tonight, you will soon. Here’s what to expect:

Many of the items, like groups, that were kept in the Applications menu in the bottom left have been moved back to the left sidebar on the main page, which now hosts many of Facebooks components. Instead of taking you to a new page, these now open within the main window where the feed used to appear.

Instant messaging and message inbox have been moved out of the periphery as well. Not only can you check your inbox from a dropdown menu at the top, you can send messages from there as well, without leaving the comfort of your homepage. Your IM contact list is no longer hidden in a popup menu in the bottom right; it’s now in the left sidebar, however it can still be accessed in the bottom right.

So what’s the deal?

Facebook just underwent changes mere months ago to provoke less privacy from users and include real-time search, and yet Zuckerberg is still trying to evolve his booming social networking site. The deal is that this is the future. There are websites and networking sites that are evolving faster and faster into sites that are more compatible and more user-friendly. Technology is constantly changing, evolving and growing and it is up to us to be able to keep up and comprehend and explore the new territory.

What is almost more amazing than the constant evolution of networking sites is how many blogs and articles and reviews are posted mere hours after the new Facebook page has rolled out. It just goes to show that this is not only the present, but the future- and it is coming faster every day.

Posted in Kerrie Luginbill, Social Media | No Comments »

Crisis for Toyota is Learning Experience

February 5th, 2010

It is not something commonly taught in Driver’s Education classes: What do you do if your gas pedal sticks?

As one of the most popular vehicle manufactorers in the world, Japanese vehicle manufactorer Toyota is under recent scrutiny for this very vehicle malfunction that has caused recalls on millions of cars and the shutting down of many Toyota plants. But what was the popular manufactorer to do as they were going full speed to become the top vehicle manufactorer in the world?

They waited. And waited some more to tell consumers that a recall was necessary on many of their popular cars for an accelorator pedal malfunction. It could have been any other problem, but one that could mean life for death has put Toyota on the chopping block both in consumer and lawmakers’ eyes.

Case in point is that Toyota is in a bad situation due to poor communication, and poor parts but that is beside the point now. It is rumored that to fix the 5.6 million potentially malfunctioning vehicles would take Toyota dealerships across the nation staying open 24 hours a day for the next 2 months … thus more communication is needed now more than ever.

Toyota needs to shift into neutral and get information to consumers on what to do if their gas pedal sticks, what kind of rebate or incentive a consumer will receive for purchasing a poorly manufactored car, a more open communication policy, and most importantly, Toyota should consider more drastic financial possibilities. Personally, I am not about to purchase a Corolla anymore as I was say a month ago, and with plants shut across the world, Toyota could be facing a monetary plunge, which they had managed to stay out of in the recent turmoil of the economy.

When it comes down to it, there is a learning experience hidden beneath the pounds of malfunctioning metal: the communication any business or corporation should have with its public needs to be honest, upfront and immediate. Toyota encountered a fatal flaw in their cars, and by not letting consumers know or by not creating a contingency plan for repairs, the standards that Toyota vehicles are some of the safest is shattered. Consumers will now face months of uncertainty and months waiting for a part. Although the unforseen malfunction has now been addressed, a plan needs to go into place to help the consumer. Not everyone may see a problem, and not everyone may get their car fixed, but when liabilities and lawsuits appear on Toyota’s doorstep, they can only look to themselves for not taking action sooner.

And what should you do if your gas pedal sticks? As Toyota is finding out, shift into neutral and shut the engine off. Your car is done.

Posted in Customer Service, Public Relations, Valerie Hisam | No Comments »

Groom updates Facebook status during ceremony

February 4th, 2010

Is Facebook status that important? This video goes to show how much people rely on, check and update Facebook accounts.

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/facebook-wedding-status-update/20w7r8yh?from=sharepermalink

During his wedding ceremony, this groom takes a moment to get on Facebook via his phone to change his relationship status to “married”  – WOW!

The Facebook phenomen is amazing -

  • More than 350 million active users
  • 50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day
  • More than 35 million users update their status each day
  • More than 55 million status updates posted each day
  • More than 2.5 billion photos uploaded to the site each month
  • More than 3.5 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) shared each week.
  • More than 65 million active users currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices.
  • And the AVERAGE user spends 55 minutes on Facebook per DAY

    • All the above points to why your company should be networking and/or advertising on this platform.

    Posted in Ashlee Hille, Social Media | No Comments »

    New event ideas in 2010

    February 4th, 2010

    This is the year for innovative ideas, creative marketing and out-there advertising. People are inundated with advertising and donation solicitation. If you are planning a fundraising event this year, your event MUST be different than that of the rest. You must intrigue people from the moment they get their invitation to the moment they leave your event. You want them to leave your event desiring to come back next year. Here’s a few ideas to think about:

    • Design – The design of your invites should pique people’s interest and pull on their heart strings – make them not only WANT to attend your event, but to give to your cause
    • Food – Don’t serve the same old, same old food – Work with the caterer to come up with some new and fun menu ideas
    • Program – Say you attend a 4 fundraising events each year, and each one of them consists of the following: talk from the board director, DVD, PowerPoint presentation, silent auction, live auction… would you want to add a 5th event to your schedule that consists of the same thing?! NO! Nix the PowerPoint and include that info in a hand out. Be creative with your silent auction and perhaps turn it into a fashion show, grab bag purchase or “Night on the Town” auction. Jazz up your live auction with different packages – and be sure to have a great Auctioneer that works the crowd
    • Throw a surprise in the mix – Give you guests something to talk about and leave them desiring to attend your event next year. You must think outside the box!

    Posted in Ashlee Hille, Events | No Comments »

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