Twitter and Facebook played a huge role in delivering information and pictures with immediacy during the historic 8.8 quake in Chile. As the article in PC World points out, Twitterers are helping to connect families in Chile with loved ones globally and helping to connect resources needed with people who can help. Besides individuals on Facebook, the New York Times even has a FB page devoted to information about the earthquake. But I do know that from personal experience, the traditional news media tends to show the worst and sometimes doesn’t balance the most tragic images with reality. My son, Garrett was in Santiago during the quake so it was important to get an accurate picture of the damage – where the worst was occurring and where it was not. I’m not sure traditional media did that job this time. Could it be that social media did?
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The series of singing fish commercials for McDonald’s has created almost a cult-like audience. Can anyone really explain why? I must admit that I’m one of many who are compelled to watch it. And the creative marketing of it is a successful campaign. I guess talking hamburgers wasn’t an option. 
This is a great case study for marketing students.
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This has nothing to do with Public Relations or Marketing…or does it? After a major debacle regarding healthcare reform (politically), the President’s own version of a healthcare proposal has been posted online. You can download a PDF explaining the highlights. You’ll notice some marketing and PR when you visit this part the White House website. We all know the administration has been criticized for too much PR after the election, too much exposure for the President himself and preaching transparency but not practicing it. Take a look for yourself and especially my students should study it as an evolution in modern PR. I just have one question: why aren’t any of the 19 doctors in Congress invited to the healthcare summit at the White House this week?
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We’ve all been watching the missteps in PR that Toyota has made. Is it a cultural divide between East and West? Is it a lack of mea culpa at the top? Every student of PR knows from the famous Tylenol case in 1982 that action must be swift and it must come from the top without wavering and the most important action is safety first, revenue second. Hard to do, no doubt. But the moment the Chairman of Johnson & Johnson learned of the cyanide poisonings involving extra strength tylenol, he pulled all tylenol products off the shelves and halted production. The company’s market value dropped by at least a billion dollars. And they went one step further, after the episode was over, they led the charge to create the tamper-proof caps that we all wrestle with today. We know that Toyota President, Akio Toyoda has said he was ‘deeply sorry’ but now says he isn’t coming to testify before Congress in the U.S. And we know that dealers have worked feverishly to meet recall demands with a fix for the sticky gas pedals. But one issue befell another with faulty brakes on the Prius, a possible recall of steering in Corollas and the snowball gets bigger as it goes downhill. What is interesting is how Japan views the debacle. Interesting article on that in the Christian Science Monitor. How many times do we see that lagging in reaction to a crisis just doesn’t work. Now Toyota has a long-term perception problem – how long – we’ll see.
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Grass Roots Senate Race
Posted on 17. Jan, 2010 by admin.
An interesting thing happened on the way to filling Senator Ted Kennedy’s seat here in Massachusetts – the Republican candidate, Scott Brown pushed ahead of Democrat Martha Coakley with only a few days to do before the votes are cast. We are witnessing a grass roots initiative in Scott Brown’s camp that’s taken hold. New [...]
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Top Ten Marketing Secrets Revisited
Posted on 09. Jan, 2010 by admin.
I like new ideas. But ask anyone who knows me and they’ll tell you that I like old things: old typewriters, radios from the 1930’s, antique airplanes – actually biplanes (even the one I wrecked), vintage cars, movies based on true stories from the past and visiting historical places. To some that may sound boring, but [...]
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White House Party Crashers
Posted on 28. Nov, 2009 by admin.
There are a lot of things that amaze me about this story. First of all, that a media-crazed egocentric couple could actually pull this off, gaining access to the President so easily, points out a significant security breach that needs to be addressed seriously. And secondly, I’m amazed that the media (both traditional and [...]
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Social Media Snake Oil
Posted on 11. Nov, 2009 by admin.
I wish someone would explain to me why there seems to be a new so-called profession of social media experts. First of all, we haven’t had social networking long enough for any of us to be true ’experts.’ Yet, I see loads of people charging huge amounts of money to teach others the fundamentals of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, [...]
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admin: Thanks for sharing such a great story, Debbie. Kee...
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Scott Hess: The Poynter article should be mandatory reading fo...
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Debbie Hemley: Lu Ann, Thank you for your post, and for your c...
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