Bad planning or deliberate attempt to create publicity?

A Dove advert accused of racist messages which has been spread across the internet today, demonstrates just how easy it is to gain bad publicity. 

One can hardly be surprised over the accusation. Personally, I understood two messages from the advert:

·         Dove body wash will make you lighter

·         Dove body wash will make you thinner   

Dove has however denied the claims with a public statement stating that "All three women are intended to demonstrate the ‘after’ product benefit... The ad is intended to illustrate the benefits of using Dove VisibleCare Body Wash, by making skin visibly more beautiful in just one week." The company also addressed the apparent misunderstanding on their Facebook site, encouraging fans to share their thoughts about the advertisement.  

This is not the only PR misdemeanor the company has encountered. Only in 2008 was Dove accused of destroying rain-forests in Indonesia, and just last year the company was criticized for a "not so real beauty" model description for their Real Beauty Campaign. 

Dove knows its market and many will argue that the advert was an honest mistake with no intention of causing offence. From a PR perspective, however, the advert has brought more interest to Dove than any other of their recent campaigns, with no long-term damage done to the company.

Bad planning or deliberate attempt to create publicity? I will leave you to judge that.

Why FTSE 100 companies are falling behind on digital comms

Today’s public relations professionals build most of their relationships online. The emergence of social media and public relations’ management of its tools, has provided a whole new sphere for relationship management. Building trustworthy and transparent exchange relationships is now more important than ever. Social media is used every day to communicate with customers, respond to questions, or to publicise clients. Social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn, blogging sites such as Blogger, and micro-blogging sites such as Twitter have become a crucial part of the PR toolkit.

Strange as it is, however, though there is little to no evidence that embracing social media should offer anything but benefits, the majority of FTSE 100 companies have still not fully engaged in the use of social media activities. Small companies, on the other hand, are readily engaging with their stakeholders online.

Radley Yelder, a London based communications company, found that sixty of the FTSE100 companies did not display their link to social media sites on their homepage, despite engaging in at least one of the major sites.  Moreover, they identified that only twenty-nine of the companies had a corporate page on Facebook. Of these, only sixteen of the active Facebook users actually updated their profiles with fresh content weekly; and just nineteen attempted to actively engage with their page audiences.  Why the larger companies are not as willing to engage with their stakeholders online could have several explanations.

Perhaps, budgets and timings do not allow the PR personnel to actively engage with their stakeholders online...

Or could it be that the larger companies are not really committed to engage in open and transparent dialogue?

Making Social Media History: William, Kate and Osama Bin Laden

What striking feature does William, Kate and Osama Bin Laden have in common?


Yes, they have all been married. Yes, they are all world famous.Yes, they are all religious.Yes, they are all passionate about world affairs.Yes, they all have famous friends.Yes, they're all fans of head-wear.Yes, they are all keen to avoid journalists.Yes, they have all hired people under them to carry out the dirty work.Yes, they all have armed bodyguards.Yes, they have all featured on condom covers.


However, non of the above is the correct answer to my question.


According to US magazine ADweek, the marriage of William and Kate and the death of Osama Bin Laden had one striking similarity: they were massive live news events that were extensively followed online, crushing all previous records.


Lost me at the condom covers? Have a look at this and this.


On the day of Osama's death, there were over two million online references to his name online. The Royal Wedding alone, had just under 1.9 million mentions. Osama attracted more online attention overall and both were subject to massive amounts of tweets; the Royal Wedding  beating Osama with 240,000.


The Royal Wedding, however, could not beat how the news of Osama's death was spread. Just as many of us remeber where we were when we heard about the World Trade Centre attack, many will remember where they were when they heard about the death of Osama Bin Laden.


For many, that place was on Twitter.


It has been reported that it all began when Donald Rumsfeld’s former chief of staff, Keith Urban tweeted: “So I’m told by a reputable person they have killed Osama bin Laden. Hot damn.” Another less famous person, however, became the real Twitter sensation at the breaking of the Osama news.


What does William, Kate, Osama Bin Laden and an unknown Pakistani IT consultant have in common?


Yes, I have just added another person to the equation. He does not feature on a condom cover, has no famous friends, no armed bodyguards and has to do the dirty work all by himself.


Sohaib Athar aka @reallyvirtual, is an IT consultant living in Abbottabad, Pakistan.


Just like William, Kate and Osama, Sohaib made social media history, using Twitter to share what he heard as helicopters swooping down on a compound.


His first Tweet read:  "Helicopter hovering above Abbottabad at 1am (is a rare event).” At the time, Sohaib only had around 750 followers and used Twitter to chat with people about news, his family, technology and politics. After Obama's announcement on Sunday, just 24 hours later, he was broadcasting his thoughts to 86,000 followers.


Moral of the story? While it took traditional news media such as CNN a while to verify and report the death of Osama Bin Laden,  the news was already widely talked about on social media networks such as Twitter. 


You don't have to be royal or a terrorist  to make social media history. All it takes, is to be at the right place, at the right time- and to write about it.  


Recommended: The Art of Breaking News on Social Media 


  

10 Ways to be a Marketing Genius Like Lady Gaga

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

10 Ways to be a Marketing Genius Like Lady Gaga

View more presentations from @JESSEDEE.

Virals of the Week

Ever wondered what makes a good viral? Here is a bit of inspiration with the "best virals of the week," the virals most viewed this week, as presented by CNN reporter Phil Han

For background on viral PR, check out this article.

1) Russian president dancing to American Boy

2) US Marines lip-syncing Britney

3) How to amuse a baby

4) What happens when you tickle cookie the penguin

5) Perfect imperfect matches

The "I am In" Era: Obama's 2012 Media Strategy

Barack Obama launched his 2012 re-election campaign on Monday 21/04/2011, by turning to the same tools that helped his election in 2008; the social media. His 2012 candidacy was announced with an update on Facebook and Twitter as well as a burst of emails to his supporters. The message was the same: "say that you're in," linking the user directly to Obama's official website barackobama.com, where they could sign up with their zip-code and email address to confirm "they are in." The webpage also allowed users to make a donation  for the campaign or volunteer. A Youtube video was aired, which did not feature the president himself but a diverse range of supporters explaining why Obama should be given another four years in the White House.

Obama stated "the politics we believe in does not start with expensive TV ads or extravaganzas, but with you- with people organizing block-by-block, talking to neighbours, co-workers, and friends," clearly hoping to re-engage a feeling of collective responsibility, the idea that the campaign is "a group project" rather than one handled by Team Obama alone.  


"New generation president" is on the rise. 51% of of all Americans above the age of twelve currently have a Facebook profile. 


Answering questions through his Facebook profile, Obama is able to communicate directly with his audience. The question is: is it a PR stunt or an appeal towards transparency? One might say both but the PR side of things are clearly in Obama's favour. 

Obama had great success with his online media campaign in 2008 and the same is likely to happen with his 2012 "grass-root appeal." 

Other candidates, such as Sarah Palin of the Republican party, are also very active on social media but have a smaller chance of getting nominated. Obama, however, still has the chance to energize the young people, who are crucial to his re-election. 

That said, it is just as important for the Republicans to engage with their main audience; the white elders. Demographics of social media is no longer just limited to the young. On the other hand, anyone with internet access is likely to be engaged in a social network, with increasing numbers of baby boomers and the elderly being represented.

Go Obama! Unlike his older counterparts, he actually comes across as a likely Facebook user, where candidates such as John Maccain doesn't quite have the same credibility.


Obama might not be re-elected for president but the "King of Social Media" title is definitely his;  the man who made Facebook president Mark Zuckerberg wear a jacket and tie- twice!

Are you in?

Social Media PR Madness

The title of this blog shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. Social media has indeed reached a level of madness, forever changing the face of PR. Marcus Messner, professor at the School of Mass Communication in Virginia, recently surveyed students on the use of social media and found that 83.4% of them used social media at least once a day, with 56.7% using social media to gather news. Only 3.2% of the students read a newspaper every day. This has a huge effect on the way PR is run. I am a student of PR. I blog about PR. Welcome to my blog!