In The Year 2000, aka Tomorrowland

As if it really needs to be pointed out yet again, the internet is paving the way for media, AD/PR, market...... So who, what, where, when, why do PR practitioners need to be aware of? Well in this article,

http://www.globalprblogweek.com/archives/tomorrows_pr_today.php

though written back in 2004, advices people following or working in the PR field on the ways the internet will continue to effect this industry. There are seven tips discussed in the article and I can say that every one of them has good advice for PR practitioners that is still true today. For a quick view the the basic 7 tips are:

1. Relationships are key

2. You NEED an active, powerful, online presence

3. You should regularly produce excellent articles of journalistic quality

4. You need to have your name and stories showing up consistently in GoogleNews and Yahoo! News

5. Recognize the power of video and audio in helping media sources to choose to call you rather than your competition

6. Learn to wisely use email to pitch stories

7. Learn to stand out

One thing I noticed while reading these tips, other than a bit of tweaking that would be need in general they are helpful for almost any profession that you choose to follow.

Tax Savings and Healthy Lifestyles

Biking to work, not on your Harley but on a two wheeled, human powered, chain driven bicycle. The government has begun to offer tax cuts to bicycle commuters. Why? It all seems to be to promote or encourage as well as reward and provide benefits for bicyclists. Basically you get can receive a $20 subsidy from the government a month along with this subsidy, the government has also set aside $800 million to expand bicycle and pedestrian lanes. A some what local area taking use of some of this stimulus is San Antonio with its building of a new system in downtown to help encourage this action.

http://www.kiplinger.com/features/archives/2009/06/Biking_to_Work.html

At the end of the above article, it also notes that along with these government benefits, practitioners of biking to work also save hundreds of dollars a month on car expenses like gas and parking. Plus they get their workouts in while going to work and thus saving that extra trip and time after the work day ends. Over all this is a slightly mentioned motion of the government that was issued back in at June of this year and could seriously use some more promotion to help encourage the movement as it can easily be picked up by the 350.org group. Still as far as meeting a healthy level of PR, this bill failed the physical. Tough I may be repeating myself somewhat, this cause is in serious need of PR help beacuse its such an awesome idea that I will hopefully pick up, when the weather is warmer because its a bit too chilly right now.

Not MJ

While Michael Jordan received an induction to the basketball hall of fame in September and made a few remarks about fellow b-ball player Bryon Russell. Russell challenged MJ to a one-on-one game after the comments in his acceptance speech and that was pretty much the end of it; or was it? Later, the Utah Flash (development league team) owner, Brandt Anderson, claimed that the two would take each other on in the fore mentioned challenge this past Monday night. Long story short, it was a hoax put up to draw in fans to his teams game. Reading the following article and Brandt's own blog, it appears that he tried to recover with an utterly half-hearted attempt to apologies/PR back into the publics good graces. The League itself has issued sanctions to some degree that require (but not limited to) refunds and free admission. While I'm not informed by any means, I would venture to believe that whoever thought this would be a good idea has probably been set up to be fired after the media heat dies down as to not attract more attention from the media.

Heres the article and the owner's blog:

http://dleagueutah.blogspot.com/2009/12/mj-vs-b-russ-challenge-didnt-go-like.html

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/-Jordan-vs-Russell-charity-game-hoax-angers-fa?urn=nba,207425

Wireless Wars

Well i guess its about time that I mention something about the Verizon Wireless and AT&T issues that have been going on. Obviously this is about customer relations with current customers along with trying to bring more customers to Verizon Wireless. I really find the commercials to be just annoying in general because they seemed to be lacking in anything that grabs my attention. Overall the base platform for the commercial is that Verizon has more reliable coverage of 3G services across the country. Unfortunately, AT&T claims that this commercial is misleading to its customers suggesting that there is no coverage at all in the uncolored areas. It is surprising as they are not calling the map false or inaccurate as most disputer would argue. The real issue that AT&T seems to have with this map commercial of Verizon's is the wording.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-30686_3-10401094-266.html

This article talks about this argument point and one that is fairly understandable to me but still this argument will probably never end and just take root in other forms between the two mobile phone services until both are replaced by what comes after cell phones.

Recency Effect

Especially with todays economic situation, organizations and companies are looking for ways to save money on their expenses. A common concern amongst employees is remaining employed. One particular field that is often subject to scrutiny is the AD/PR/Marketing employees because it is usually hard to tell what workers in this field have accomplished. In this article,

http://www.entrepreneur.com/magazine/entrepreneur/2009/october/203372.html

this issue is directly discussed. Though this brief article directly refers to AD/PR companies that hire out services, I view this as something that any AD/PR employee hired directly by a company can follow to ensure that they demon straight their merit and worth t the company. Basically these tips can help to encourage companies that the use of Ad/PR/ Marketing resources continues to benefit the business.

Celebrity Endorsements

We have al heard of the recent incidents involving Tiger Woods these last few weeks, but he is not the only celebrity endorser to have a blunder. What it all comes down to is that companies use celebrities to help promote their products and self image. This article covers some of the better known celebrity endorsers mistakes.

http://advertising.about.com/od/celebrityendorsements/a/celebendorse.htm

The article covers several celebrities such as Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson, and Michael Jordan. As the article discusses each of the before mentioned celebrities and the scandals that each one faced; it refers to how companies need to be totally aware of the celebrities they incorporate with and know how to handle the way they will also inadvertently effect the way the company is viewed by the public in bad situations. The article cautions organizations to be considerate of the people and there activities.

Video Game Advertisments

PR in TV and Movies has been in existence as long as i can remember, but now it is steadily transitioning into video games. In a common video series known as The Sims, the EA based game is continuing to add more and more "brand" name items to the series for player of the game to use and buy in the game. This is also being seen in another commonly known life simulator game known as Second Life. Though slightly different in the fact that players are online with people from all around the world, it is subsequently also affected more by the advertising of major brand names with players. All of this while mentioned in class was recently brought to my attention as the 12 year old boy i occasionally babysit, joined the Second Life game and tried to get me to join as well. I took a pass on that as I really don't have time or patience for dealing with many people of an online game system. Still to continue on this the 12 year old also internet streamed the movie Gamer and we watched yesterday. If you can get away from the violence and nudity displayed and focus on the ultimate plot line of the movie is that the villain has been building his PR with and around the world so that he has become the ultimate celebrity of the world as it follows the manic gamer community as the dominant culture of the world.

http://www.everyjoe.com/articles/advertising-in-video-games/

This article brings up the idea and the community that is into following the video game industry and the ways in which these organizations are/can be successful in doing so.