PRobecast 144: In this episode of PRobecast, Caitlin Smith, Josh DeStefano, and our newest Topazer, Amanda King, join me in talking about Wal-Mart’s attempt at technology to get ahead of the online shopping game, Pinterest’s not-very-transparent revenue methods, and an iPhone app designed to mimic teen relationship abuse.

A look at Wal-Mart’s high tech plans – Wal-Mart typically is known for its “everyday low prices” and not its technology reach. Some may even cite this as one of the reasons the giant has not been able to successfully break into the Northeast. However, Wal-Mart is trying to change that by building a tech center inSan Bruno,Calif., just south ofSan Francisco, which houses Walmart.com and a growing team of researchers. The mission of Walmart Labs is to study how mobile and social platforms are changing commerce, and how the line is increasingly blurring between online and offline shopping. For instance, the team rolled out Shopycat over the holidays on Facebook, which recommended gifts based on a friend’s interests. The notable part was that the gifts did not necessarily come only from Walmart, but other retailers, as well. “It was the first time we sent traffic to a non-Walmart site,” Rajaraman said. “But if we want to be a place to find gifts, we thought the right thing to do was to include other retailers.” Do you think this will help Wal-Mart’s image in being a small business crusher?

Love is Not Abuse: A Liz Claiborne Effort – Liz Claiborne, a well-known brand, has used their reputation to increase awareness about abuse in teen relationships. The iPhone app, called Love Is Not Abuse, sets out to teach parents about warning signs and how to help his or her teen. Over the course of the experience, text messages, emails and phone calls will be received real-time, mimicking the controlling, abusive behaviors teens might face in their relationships. There are several other partners involved in the effort. What will the best way to get this out to parents be? In many cases, it’s the teen with an iPhone, not the other way around.

Is Pinterest pocketing revenue by tracking user-generated pins? – Pinterest has become the hottest startup on the web in these past few weeks. But a new report from social media blog LLSocial reveals that the site may be “quietly” generating revenue by adjusting and tracking the links attached to pins that are posted by users. LLSocial noted that Pinterest may be collecting money through an affiliate program when pins are connected to ecommerce sites. For example, a picture of a sweater pinned to someone’s online board might have a link that connects them to a site where the sweater can be purchased, and this is when Pinterest reportedly steps in. “If you post a pin to Pinterest, and it links to an ecommerce site that happens to have an affiliate program, Pinterest modifies the link to add their own affiliate tracking code,” LLSocial said. “If someone clicks through the picture from Pinterest and makes a purchase, Pinterest gets paid. They don’t have any disclosure of this link modification on their site.” Making money is all well and good, but do you think this will hurt their reputation? After all, if we’ve learned anything from social networking since 2004 (Facebook’s humble beginnings) it’s that transparency is key.

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 Pinterest, because we’re all pretty impressed by their recent growth. The past three months alone have seen a huge spike in users, and not just the average user, but companies as well. However, while this growth and success is great, it’s still important to be transparent about the way you incur revenue. Don’t try to pull the wool over your users’ eyes; we’ve all learned that through our experiences with Twitter, Facebook, and Google.

Who do you think should have won?

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.

Share on Facebook

Share/Save

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?

Share on Facebook

Share/Save