PRobecast 132: Blackberry Offering Free Apps, Dr. Pepper Ten’s Controversy, Lindsay Lohan
October 20th, 2011 by Alison Raymond
In this episode of PRobecast, Renatta Siewert and Caitlin Smith join me in talking about free blackberry apps, Dr. Pepper Ten and Lindsay Lohan’s trouble with the law.
Blackberry to give free apps to compensate for outages– Last week we discussed the Blackberry outages that effected users worldwide. Now, the company is offering users select premium applications free of charge that are supposedly worth over $100, along with one month free technical support to the company’s enterprise users. Is this enough for users to forget about the outage that was heard across the world?
Dr. Pepper’s ‘Manly’ Drink – So a new advertising campaign for Dr. Pepper Ten is causing quite the stir over the internet. Many are saying the campaign is sexist. The ad starts out with a man in fight/war gear running through a jungle shooting laser guns, saying that the new beverage is “10 manly calories” and is not for women. This ad was developed after research found not many men opted for diet beverages. Do you think the way Dr. Pepper went about advertising this was wrong?”
Lindsay Lohan might be going to jail – Lindsay Lohan is, once again, in trouble with the law. This time her probation is being revoked and she will be forced to complete 16 hours of community service at the morgue. Apparently, this spawned from her being kicked out of the Women’s Center for not showing up 9 times. The judge also said that she doubted Lindsay had visited her shrink once a week – something she was required to do. If you were Lindsay’s PR rep, what would you have her do. Can she save her image?
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.
This week Blackberry won. I mean, they tried. We don’t necessarily think their peace offering was effective, but they did try putting themselves in a better light by offering a few premium applications to users.
Who do you think should have won this week?
Category: Marketing, Messaging & Positioning, Mobile, News & Commentary, PR, PRobecast, video, Web | No Comments »
PRobecast 126: T-Mobile/Radio Shack, Social Media and Education and Stalking on Facebook
August 4th, 2011 by Alison Raymond
In this episode of PRobecast, Renatta Siewert joins me in talking about how T-Mobile will no longer be under contract with Radio Shack, how social media is being used effectively in classrooms and a man how got 4 years in prison for stalking women on Facebook.
T-Mobile and Radio Shack Break-up – T-Mobile devices will no longer be available at Radio Shack locations after an apparent “breach in contract.” Radio Shack will now be teaming up with Verizon Wireless come September 15th. While most brands, people… entities, attempt to make their split amicable and PR-friendly, this duo seems to be doing the opposite.
Social Media & Education- While social media isn’t completely embraced in the classroom, certain schools across the nation are incorporating social media and mobile devices into their curriculum. The theory behind this is that these new ways of participating are encouraging kids to pay attention, making them aware of what they post and who their audience is. A principal from NJ said that kids are coming into the classroom bored and disconnected and social media is a way to get the students’ attentions.
Man gets 4 years for Stalking on Facebook – A man is currently getting 4 years in prison for stalking women on Facebook, figuring out their email passwords and sending explicit pictures of the women – which he found by trolling their email folders. This brings up the bigger issue of making sure your private information isn’t available to everyone on Facebook or other social networks. While social networks are often thought as places to connect with friends – odd people are lurking on them as well.
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.
This week social media in the classroom won because like it or not, kids are online and using technology more and more. There is no way to stop it – so why not embrace it and integrate education into their use of it?
What do you think?
Category: Marketing, Media Relations, Messaging & Positioning, Mobile, News & Commentary, PR, PRobecast, Social Media, Social Networks, Tech, Web | No Comments »
PRobecast 123: Bruins win causes riots, websites becoming extinct & Gay Girl blog hoax
June 17th, 2011 by Alison Raymond
In this episode of PRobecast, Justin Martell and Liz O’Donnell join me in talking about the Bruins win/Canada rioting, if websites will become extinct and the “Gay Girl” blog hoax.
Sore losers – Canadians riot after the Bruins win: Wednesday night, the Bruins won Game 7 of the Stanley Cup and riots started shortly after. This seems to be a trend when it comes to big games and teams losing in cities. Passion or not. We don’t see our clients rioting if they don’t get included in a big article, or even ourselves rioting in anger and aggravation knowing we’ve pitched that same editor and we would get slack from the client side. What is it with sports and intensely violent behavior after a big event?
Will websites become extinct?: The curator of the Digital Archaeology exhibition in NY is predicting that websites as we currently know them will all disappear in a couple years as more and more focus will be on the individual – the social web – rather than the organization. Now, I know things certainly do change, but could it be possible that websites will go away?
Activists slam “Gay Girl” blog hoax: A blog that was originally thought to be a 25 year old lesbian documenting her life as she was held captive in Syria, has now been reported to actually be authored by a 40 year old American student in Scotland, Tom MacMaster. MacMaster is saying that while the entries were all fictional, the facts were true. This has Gay and political activists extremely angry, since many had been campaigning and investigating ways to free the blogger. Should the blogger been transparent from the beginning?
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.
Call us biased, but this week the Bruins won. While it’s not a PR move, they worked so hard in this series, and have been striving to get the Stanley Cup since 1972. That’s perseverance!
Do you agree?
Category: Messaging & Positioning, News & Commentary, PR, Predictions, PRobecast, Social Media, Web | No Comments »
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