Category

Public Relations

Sep 19
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Quick, you Qwikster, Get Your Custom URLs STAT

By Communications, Media, Public Relations

This has happened several times: a client has engaged me to work with Twitter to try to capture a username that is their business name, that someone else is using.

Guess what? This isn’t easy, nor is it always possible. (I have been successful, but there are no guarantees.)

So it’s funny to me when a major brand like Netflix forgets one of the critical items on the business startup checklist: securing the business’s Twitter handle. Thanks to my friend Jamey for passing on this priceless bit.

[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/BarlowBrewing/status/115788536669683713″]

 

From TechCrunch:

Movie delivery service Netflix has just announced that it is rebranding its DVD-by-mail service as Qwikster and that it will keep calling its streaming service Netflix. . . . Netflix, naively, has neglected to pin down the @Qwikster Twitter account before launch. The account is currently owned by somebody who chooses to best represent themselves as Elmo smoking a joint.

Whoa, boy. This gaffe is going to cost Netflix at the very least, some good weed.

Gentle reminder for businesses large and small — lock in your user names and custom URLs right now, today. Or someone else will.

While you’re at it – sign up for this Friday’s Twitter for Business workshop.

 Update: Netflix Abandons Qwikster

Sep 07
Love0

Communicating 9/11: How We Talk and Write About it Does Make A Difference

By Communications, Crisis Communications, Media, Public Relations

In 2007, I shared my very personal 9/11 story. That was also the year I was devastated to learn our daughter didn’t — wouldn’t believe that the events of that date actually happened.  She didn’t remember — was just young enough then, that her absorption of it was at a minimum. In 2008 we took her to the site, to ground zero and finally, it really sunk in.

9/11 was real.

As we approach the 10th anniversary of the acts of terrorism, the Associated Press has provided us with guidelines to use when referring to, speaking about or publishing about 9/11.

  • Flight 93: Acceptable in first reference for United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed near Shanksville, Pa. Include airline name and context of crash in subsequent references. Flight 93 memorial is acceptable in all references for the Flight 93 National Memorial at the crash site.
  • ground zero: Acceptable term for the World Trade Center site.
  • The Sept. 11 attacks killed nearly 3,000 people: 2,753 in New York. Includes three later deaths from respiratory disease that have since been linked to illnesses caused by the towers’ collapse. 40 in Pennsylvania. 184 at the Pentagon. Total: 2,977 as of July 25, 2011. 2,983 names will be listed on the Sept. 11 memorial, including six who died in the 1993 World Trade Center truck bombing.

It’s important to remember, to be consistent in our storytelling and shared memories, to preserve and maintain the language with which we speak about the tragedies of that day, so generations later, history will not be rewritten.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sep 02
Love0

WTF? Friday: J.C. Penney and the Terrible Tween Girl Tee Shirt

By Media, Public Relations

You probably saw this one coming as today’s WTF? Friday topic. J.C. Penney caught the wrath of the Internet this week when they marketed a shirt to tween girls that said, “I’m too pretty to do homework.” The Twitteverse, in particular, was aflame with demands the sexist tee shirt be withdrawn (it was).

I think J.C. Penney handled the mistake (which, granted, should not have happened in the first place, but that’s the definition of a mistake, right? Also, some buyer probably just gotI'm too pretty to do homework JC penney tshirt fired) pretty well and a review of their engagement in the social space reveals some good interaction. They apologize, they fix problems when they arise and they celebrate the good feedback.

 

‘Spokesperson Ann Marie Bishop told ABC News: “We’ve immediately discontinued sales of that T-shirt. It was only online … We agreed that the shirt does not deliver an appropriate message.” ‘

J.C. Penney is one of a few national retailers that really does a good job online. If you’ve sworn them off forever, reconsider. It was just a dumb tee shirt.

[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/#!/jcpenney/status/106709373585330177″]
Sep 01
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When Cute Doesn’t Cut It: Rep. Ed Markey on the East Coast Earthquake

By Communications, Crisis Communications, Media, Public Relations

The east coast earthquake of late August, 2011 may have damaged (perhaps insignificantly) the North Anna nuclear power plant situated 12 miles from the quake’s epicenter. NBC Washington reported the story, quoting Representative Ed Markey, D-Mass. from a statement urging further research into the safety of the plant. 

“Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., sent a letter last week to the NRC pressing the agency to determine whether the ground motion exceeded North Anna’s design and

Getty Images

to use the most up-to-date geological information to assess risks to nuclear power plants.

“There needs to be a seismic shift in the way in which these plants are protected from earthquakes or other natural disasters,” Markey said in a statement.”

I suspect a staffer in Markey’s office thought they were being cute, throwing the phrase “seismic shift” into a statement about an earthquake, but tensions are high, and weak humor from politicians (or their writers) is not at all appreciated.

Costly natural disasters are no time for puns; it’s important to be careful with language, even if you think it will never reach the masses.

 

 

 

 

Sep 01
Love0

13 BIG Things We Love about Charlottesville, Virginia

By Communications, Media, Public Relations

I’ve self-ordained as Charlottesville’s curator of what we love about our town. I cataloged 32 Small Things We Like About Charlottesville, Va., which led to an opportunity in Woman’s Day Magazine reaching more than four million. 

Now I’m thinking BIG and asked friends and followers what big things they like about our home in Central Virginia. The results are in:

  1. The Lawn at the University of Virginia
  2. John Paul Jones Arena (and specifically, basketball games at JPJ)
  3. Shenandoah National Park
  4. The Downtown Mall
  5. The Blue Ridge Mountains
  6. Monticello
  7. Two excellent hospitals/health care systems, Martha Jefferson Hospital (with a brand-new facility) and the world-class presence of the University of Virginia Health Care System
  8. Our designation as the locavore capital of the world
  9. Food! (Great farms, bakeries, restaurants, wineries, breweries and more!)
  10. The great musical legacy; that big acts come to town when they could easily pass a town this size by in favor of larger venues
  11. The Charlottesville Community Scholarship Program, established by the Charlottesville City Council to help make higher education accessible to all citizens and employees of the city
  12. It’s a small town with all the culture of a big city
  13. The (mostly) open-mindedness of the people who live here

This list is by no means complete. What would you add? Remember, we’re looking for BIG!