A PRemiere Blog

Hot in Hollywood has hired ItGirl PR has kicked off a campaign for its 3rd annual HIV/AIDS fund-raiser. ItGirl was hired to recruit celebrities, manage the red carpet and handle the PR campaign overall. The event is scheduled for Aug. 16.

This event is interesting to PR in that ItGirl is using celebrity endorsements to promote the cause. Through these celbrity endorsements, ItGirl hope to get coverage from celebrity and gossip magazines to make this campaign successful.

Juliette Harris, CEO of ItGirl, said “we have to work to find opportunities to make the event relevant for national publications and get some meat in the story so people can learn about the cause.”

ItGirl is also using many outlets of social media to promote the event. ItGirl should make an awareness group on Facebook and MySpace in order to attract a young demographic who are the ones influences most by celebrity endorsements. Also other forms of social media would be beneficial to this campaign including videos and blogs about the event, preferrably given by celebrities.

ItGirls strategy is one that will provide for a successful campaign in my opinion, but they must be strategic in their social media decisions because they are so influencial in the PR world today.

As most of us know from watching the news this weekend, a lot of people are not happy that the 2008 Summer Olympics are being held in China. Protesters in London and China have made the Lighting of the torch relay almost impossible. For those who are there to watch and enjoy the long-standing tradition, well good luck.

Moments ago, a “Free Tibet” protesters group climbed the Golden Gate Bridge. So with all of this hostility and anger around an event that should be positive and exciting, China is asking for a little help to get things under control. And what could be more beneficial than a good PR team.

China has interviewed several PR teams from the UK and US to take on this enormous project. The worlds view of this summers Olympics is going to be a difficult one to turn around. However, I think it could be done.

Here are some thoughts I had about what a PR team could do to improve the situation:

First, the people of China need to get excited, and if they are the team needs to get the media in on it.  Also, their needs to be a spokesperson for the 2008 Summer Olympics in China. This persons sole job needs to be to travel to countries and get the world excited about this summer. Thirdly, this PR team needs to include athletes in on their challenge. Athletes can communicate to their own country and get them pumped about the summer games. A last thought I had was to come up with a character, like Izzy at the Atlanta Olympics. This would be beneficial to China because it would get audiences of all ages excited and sway attention from the fact that the games are being held in China.

The team could also talk to China officials to work out some more serious issues facing the situation.

Being from Atlanta, I personally get so excited for the Olympics since I was a little girl during the Atlanta games. I feel so awful when I see protesters ruining all that these games mean for countries and for athletes. I am confident that PR will play a crucial role in turning this situation around.

Heathcare is on everyone’s minds these days with the 2008 election upon us. Americans want the most satisfying healthcare that can be provided and that should be readily available to all that need it. In an article I found at NY Times titled “Study Finds Many Patients Dissatisfied With Hospitals,” a survey was conducted to gadge what patients thought of the healthcare and treatment they were being provided.

Medical experts said, “some of the complaints bore directly on the quality of care.” These complaints included cleanliness and attitudes of the staff at the hospital.

The article goes on in more detail of the actual survey, however I was drawn to the major topic here, quality of healthcare. As a pr practitioner hoping to be in the heatlcare industry I started thinking why is it that these hospitals are not approved by their patients or recommended by others.

I think community involvement and outreach is the issue here. Although the article does not mention this topic directly, outreach is so important that without it failure can occur. Hospitals are about people, serving people and being an advocate for people. If the staff is not excited about their job, or the patients feel they are a hassel, communication will fail. Patients want to know their doctors and nurses care. Whether you are admitted at the hospital or not, your community hospital should reach out to show their support so when the time does come for needed care patients will know who to turn to.

From the survey conducted in the article, I would suggest to struggeling hospitals to re-evaluate their community outreach program and try to be inventive on new ways to show their people they care. Also, this will invlove staff which will get them excited about their job as well. Have a picnic, parade, movie night at a park. Whatever it might be, being attentive to your publics at your community hospital will change the quality of healthcare 100 percent.

Sara Blakely, the founder of SPANX, has been written about in an article titled “The Power of PR” by Rich Sloan. In this article, Blakely talks about how she decided to use PR over advertising to promote her, now muti-million dollar business, to an audience all over the world.

Blakely, who gave up on going to law school to become an entrepreneur, decided on PR over advertising and preformed this PR on her own with only the help of a friend. She got the word out about SPANX by sending gift baskets of SPANX products to celebrities, department stores and high-end boutiques, in the hopes of getting some air time or endorsements. Thanks to her brilliant thinking and the great effects of PR, Blakely now has one of the hottest products on the market in fashion.

I read this article after applying for an internship at SPANX and was in awe at how much PR had a role in this product debute. I remember the first time Oprah talked about SPANX on her show. I knew immediatley that this product would be a hit, but to hear the story behind the product makes this product even more special.

Imagine if Blakely had chosen advertising. She would have spent thousands of dollars to get in major media outlets and who knows if it would have had the same outcome. I know I can scan over an advertisement and forget waht I have read instantly, but if I hear my favorite celebrity talk about a product, be certain I am looking that up to find where I can get it.

Also, SPANX are affordable and that is what is fascinating about Blakely’s approach. She targeted the rich celebrities and high-end stores, however her whole public is anyone that has $30.

Public Relations has so much power. Power beyond what we think is possible. Ask Sara Blakely. Just by targeting your publics and making a statement that will catch someones eye can change the battle for recognition in seconds. It really says a lot about Blakely’s products and what PR can do for anyone in any business. I know that this story has taught me a lot and I will remember Blakely’s efforts if I am struggling at promoting a product.

This weekends Saturday Night Live provided an opportunity to Sen. Hillary Clinton to put on a huge publicity stunt. After a sketch of mocking Clinton and Obama during their debates, the real Clinton did a sketch of her own, accompanied by Amy Polar, who impersonates Clinton on SNL.

Clinton’s stunt was a smart one in my opinion. Obama has done a terrific job of gaining the support of a lot of the youth in the country and Clinton responded to this by appearing on a program that receives a lot of attention from this target audience.

Clinton laughed about being impersonated on the program, but also decided to slip in that Obama was being endorsed by the media and she was being drilled harder in debates. Clinton’s claim overall was that Obama was being spoonfed.

What I think was a bad PR move on Clinton was commenting on what she did, I personally think it was winey. Not to mention the sketch before Clinton made an appearance was centered around this topic. I just felt that the point was already made and for her to reiderate in personally during her time to just “be real” to the public seemed a bit immature.

However, PR stunts, like showing up on SNL during the debates and showing your sense of humor was a great move on Sen. Clinton.  I think it will provide some more supporters on her side, as long as those people were not as annoyed as I was with her wining.

With the election upon us we are constantly hearing about the latest polls or who said what about who, but there is something more interesting than the gossip- the relation between political parties and the use of social media.

The intention for this blog is not to criticize or choose one particular party, but to look at what is truly being done in social media in regards to politics.

It is easy to see that Democrats have made extra efforts to promote their campaigns through social media.Not that blogs and other forms of media are not seen with Republicans, but Democrats seem to be above the average. For example, YouTube videos are being posted on many of Obama’s speeches for all to view.

What strikes me most with this issue is the focus on the youth of the country. Targeting the youth to participate in previous elections and voting has always been a struggle, but now more than ever more young people are engaged in what candidates have to say and being a part of campaigns. The questions is, is it because we are ready to see President Bush out of office, or is it due to the extra effort of candidates reaching out to the youth in targeted media outlets. Well it could be due to both, but I feel that this is a cause and effect issue.

I am happy to see young people, including myself, more excited and involved with Election 2008 and I truly believe that social media is a significant reason behind the increase in interest among.

It is shocking how blogging has become a part of our culture. I was reading the news and there was an article in USA Today on how the IOC was making changes in its rules to incorporate blogging into the Beijing Olympics this summer. The article, titled, “IOC says athletes can blog at Olympics if rules followed” talks about the guidelines provided to athletes who wish to blog during the Olympics.

The popularity of blogging has become an important aspect to these athletes and they wanted to continue participating in social media throughout the competition. However, the IOC had to lay out some guidelines. Some of these guidelines include not using the blogs for commercial gain, advertisers are not allowed to be present in blog sites and posting audio and video clips are not allowed to be posted of any action that takes place at the Olympics. Also bloggers are urged to link their blog to the official Olympic website. Probably to keep a grip on the athlete bloggers.

I was taken back by this article. It is always intriguing to me to hear about ways our culture shifts in order to incorporate new ideas, especially with social media. A lot of people are just now realizing what blogging is and what purpose it serves. I have been reading blogs for years and it just amazes me that now it is being incorporated into rules at the summer Olympics. I remember when Facebook was officially recognized and rules were set for the use in sorority recruitment. It was amazing to me how social media is taking off and becoming a part of our everyday lives.

I think this is a great move by the IOC to allow for athletes to blog about their personal experiences at the summer games.  This will not only shed a positive light on the IOC itself, but it will also allow for fans to keep up with athletes and get a more personal insight to the games. I think, if publicized correctly, this move could be responsible for a very interactive and popular Olympic season.

“Going Green” is the latest trend these days. Companies all over the world are promoting there name by associating it with helping the environment. Whether it is just promoting that your company is cutting back on energy or coming up with a new product, like GM’s “FlexFuel” line of vehicles, these companies have taken “going” to a whole new level.

But my questioning is for those “green” companies that are making bank for saying they are environmentally friendly, but have not made the cut backs in there own lives or behind the scenes of their company that reflect what they are saying they are all about.

As stated in an article found in PR Week titled “Green Actions Speak louder than Words,”companies who merely used the green “spotlight” to discuss their long-term strategies of becoming a better corporate steward for the environment were viewed as being behind the companies that were putting words into discernable action.”

It is bothersome to hear about a product associated with helping the environment and then seeing a Hummer promotion vehicle pass you on the highway. If your company is so concerned with helping this environment that your whole PR effort is making a connection between your name and “green,” don’t ruin your work by buying Hummers or any other gas-guzzling vehicle to drive around in.

Green companies that focus their new products and technologies in the same direction will be prosperous in the end. People want to see consistency and trust in organizations, and if you are speaking green, but not acting green, you efforts will fade away.

Well I am attempting my first video upload on my recently created blog. Check it out-
This is a video of Josh Coker, a self-proclaimed “airforce brat.” Josh has lived around the world and here is a quick interview about his lifestyle.

If it is one corporate superstore that I would bet had a great media relations department, I would choose Target, much before its competitors. After reading the articles in PR week on Target refusing to listen to bloggers, only one word crossed my mind… WHAT!

Well, Target needs a bit of a reality check about a so-called media that allows its core audiences to learn and voice opinions to the whole world; blogging.

Target claimed that they focus their energy to those media outlets that target their core audience. They responded to a bloggers request by saying, “Thank you for contacting Target; unfortunately we are unable to respond to your inquiry because Target does not participate with nontraditional media outlets. This practice is in place to allow us to focus on publications that reach our core guest.”

How can such a successful and popular store, that seems to be on top of the world not listen to bloggers and refuse to consider them as a media source. Blogging has become a huge part of PR and also business overall. So these businesses need to catch up with the blogging industry and realize that blogging is worth so much and is a new and better way to reach its target publics.

Thankfully, since the publicity of Targets lack of use of “nontraditional” media, Target is now considering to expand its media relations department. They are now recognizing the impact of blogging and accepting that their core audience is out there writing and reading. From this, other businesses need to follow in Targets footsteps by embracing blogging as a new media outlet to reach all of its audiences.