In this episode of PRobecast, Justin Martell, Caitlin Smith and Josh DeStefano join me in talking about SOPA and websites going dark, GM’s taking steps to avoid becoming the next Toyota, and Weight Watchers’ secret recipe to branding. The SOPA bill has been all over the web, literally, and as tech PR people, it’s pretty impossible to support this piece of legislation.

SOPA Bill Faces New Hurdles – Over 10,000 websites went dark yesterday to protest the Stop Online Piracy Bill, which has now become a fight between Hollywood and Silicon Valley. The bill’s roots aren’t inherently bad (all it seeks to do is stop piracy) but along the way, the bill’s language would allow every single website – especially Wikipedia – to be shut down by the copyright holder. Imagine you’re a student doing a report for school, and you Google some books or keywords. If any of that information had been reposted, it would immediately be taken down. In the scope of the Internet, a small percentage of websites actually seek to harm the copyright holder. South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint tweeted, “I support intellectual property rights, but I oppose SOPA & PIPA.” This seems to be the new position of a lot of former supporters. The Internet hosts free knowledge, so where would we be without it? In the Hollywood vs. Silicon Valley fight, who’d win?

GM Looks to Protect Green Image with Volt Fixes – The Chevy Volt is being referred to as a “halo car”, or the image of everything Chevy wants to become. GM will ask Volt owners to return the cars to dealers for structural modifications — repairs that fall under a “customer service campaign,” which is similar to a safety recall but allows GM to avoid the bad publicity and federal monitoring that come with a formal recall. The fixes are similar to a recall and involve about 8,000 Volts sold in the U.S.in the past two years. GM is making the repairs after three Volt batteries caught fire following crash tests done by federal safety regulators. Although GM has fallen far below its sales projections for the Volt, the image of this car improve GM’s image for the future.

Weight Watchers Secret Recipe for Rebranding? Patience – You know me, I love a good corporate branding story. And add a fitness component? I’m all over it. Weight Watchers has been known for being the most successful lifestyle change program, because it doesn’t have a “diet” element as much as its portion control element. WW overhauled its points system, giving 0 points to fruits and veggies, and giving lower points to foods based on their nutrients. However, they waited an entire year before launching it – why, you ask? It’s because they dedicated an entire year to training staff and nutritionists, holding focus groups, and signing powerful people like Jennifer Hudson and Charles Barkley. What do you think, knowing what you do about WW? Was waiting a whole year the right way to go?

Now it’s time for the PRobecast PR Power Ranking – which is when we go around the room and pick the story that we think ranks the highest PR-wise – meaning any aspects of PR could be the reasoning behind the pick. Is it the story itself, good data that was used, what’s getting the most pickup, was it a good PR move the company made, etc.

We chose the SOPA story as this week’s PR Power Ranker. It grew as a national campaign over the course of a few weeks, and with website blackouts like Wikipedia’s, it forces everyone, even our nation’s non-political teenagers, to face what could happen to the Internet if SOPA passes. But what comes next? We think it’s important to recognize this isn’t the end of bills like this, and we should be able to handle it next time around.

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In this special edition episode of PRobecast, Topazers Justin Martell, Liz O’Donnell, and Caitlin Smith join me in talking about the only thing we could be talking about – election primary season!

We brought back Herman Cain and Michele Bachmann, plus recounted some famous debate gaffes. We voted who was responsible for most unforgettable primary moment.

Now it’s time for the PRobecast PR Power Ranking – which is when we go around the room and pick the story that we think ranks the highest PR-wise – meaning any aspects of PR could be the reasoning behind the pick. Was it the story itself, good data that was used, what’s getting the most pickup, was it a good PR move the company made, etc.

Generally we’d pick a company, or a product, etc, that fits the bill. This time, we voted on Rick Perry’s “oops” moment during one of the first debates, when he couldn’t remember that pesky third agency he’d get rid of. It was a moment of levity that none of us, least of all Mr. Perry, will forget!

Share your thoughts! Here are the questions we answered:

- What have been the highlights of the primaries for you?

- Who do you think will make the general election?

- What’s the worst thing a candidate has done thus far to push positive attention either onto him or herself, OR to push negative attention onto a fellow candidate?

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PRobecast 139: In this episode of PRobecast, Topazers Justin Martell, Josh DeStefano, and Tony Sapienza join me in talking about Kayak CMO Robert Birge’s lack of crisis communication skills, daily deals and men, and Facebook’s help lines.

What’s the deal for guys? It’s all about the bragging rights – Admit it. When you think of coupons, you think of your mother or grandmother. The very terns we associate with saving money – coupon clipping, penny pinching – still sound vaguely dainty. Of course men have been doing their own shopping for some time now, and guys like saving money as much as anyone. Yet men’s relationships with coupons and deals remains ambiguous and largely unexplored.

Kayak cancels controversial ads, social media nightmare ensues and Orbitz looks to capitalize – Travel search engine Kayak woke up this morning to a social media nightmare, and it doesn’t have a clear end in sight. Late last night, the company pulled advertising from the reality TV show “All-American Muslim” on TLC, apparently because an activist organization, the Florida Family Association, condemned the show. According to the New York Times, the organization attacked the show as propaganda that obscures “the Islamic agenda’s clear and present danger to American liberties and traditional values.” So far 65 other companies have left the show, with Lowe’s and Kayak being the most recent and certainly highest profile. For example, Lowe’s, which pulled the ads on Saturday has over 25,000 comments posted on the company’s Facebook page.

Facebook, Google refer suicidal people to help lines – Computer networks can’t feel or understand jokes, but software engineers have hardwired some compassion. Mechanisms in place in Facebook’s system and in Google’s search engine can look for suicidal messages and direct people to help. Facebook is encouraging its 800 million users to use a system the company created to flag suicidal or otherwise violent messages. If someone is posting unsettling photos or writing status updates about killing himself or herself, friends can click on a “report suicidal content” link.

Now it’s time for the PRobecast PR Power Ranking – which is when we go around the room and pick the story that we think ranks the highest PR-wise – meaning any aspects of PR could be the reasoning behind the pick. Is it the story itself, good data that was used, what’s getting the most pickup, was it a good PR move the company made, etc.

We voted on Facebook & Google’s partnership with the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline as the best story this week. It may have been a long time coming, but Facebook is using its power for good, to help people who need it.

Who do you think should have won?