Marcomblog Adds Asia PR Strategist to Roster :: Michael Darragh

Cross-posted from Marcomblog.com.

Welcome a new member to the Marcomblog contributors roster - Michael Darragh of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide. Michael is located in Shanghai, China. So, we now have contributors from four continents - Asia, Europe, Australia and North America.

I became aware of Michael when he recently started a blog at PRblogs.org called Navigator.

Michael is a Digital Influence Strategist and that means we have someone that is quite familiar with social media in Asia, particularly China. To me, this is a terrific opportunity for the students to learn even more about social media in PR and marketing around the world. So, I thank Michael for joining us.

Then, there is the second paragraph after the pullquote.

Michael Darragh has stared at computer screens since 1986, and worked in new media since 1996. He joined Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide in 2006 as Digital Influence Strategist, China. Michael is based in Shanghai and has previously lived in Sydney, Guangzhou and Barcelona.

Michael is blogging in the same place the students blog, too. PRblogs.org.

Navigator is about the power of digital influence, with an emphasis on trends and activities in the Asia-Pacific. The blog is intended for professionals, students and anyone with an interest in digital communications.

Thank you, Michael, for coming onboard with Marcomblog. We look forward to your first post, perhaps about the state of social media in China and what types of projects you work on for Ogilvy.

Now, we just need practitioners from Africa, South America and Antarctica. Well, perhaps we can at least get two out of three on that one. The Antarctica practitioner, although we have interviewed one in class (I’m not kidding), may be hard to find.

Dove Real Beauty Campaign :: Super Bowl Ad Reach on a Dime

As we continue to discuss viral videos in class, here are a few more examples of success for you to consider. Let us remember, although they spent more than a dime - to be sure - the cost was likely not equal to the production and ad expenditures for a traditional advertising campaign.

Kevin Dugan, of Strategic Public Relations, directs us to the latest news about dove evolution from Ogilvy & Mather, Toronto.

Two Advertising Age articles show how viral videos brought the ad reach equivilent to a Super Bowl advertisement to Unilever/Dove for a fraction of the dollars. It also likely generated more, and for a longer duration, word-of-mouth buzz for the products. Add to that the personal and emotional appeal of the videos and we begin to see how viral can work wonders. Can it work for everyone? No, not likely. But, as with all strategies and tactics, sometimes they work like a charm.

First up is Jack Neff with Better ROI From YouTube Video Than Super Bowl Spot, Dove’s Viral Hit ‘Evolution’ Is a Real Beauty.

With not a penny of paid media and in less than a month, “Dove Evolution,” a 75-second viral film created by Ogilvy & Mather, Toronto, for the Unilever brand has reaped more than 1.7 million views on YouTube and has gotten significant play on TV talk shows “Ellen” and “The View” as well as on “Entertainment Tonight.” It’s also brought the biggest-ever traffic spike to CampaignForRealBeauty.com, three times more than Dove’s Super Bowl ad and resulting publicity last year, according to Alexa.com.

Next up is Bob Garfield’s review of the spot: Tackling Ugly Truth, Dove Effort Evolves Beautifully, New Spot Punctures Our Anorexic, Breast-implanted, Tricked-up Barbie Doll Fantasies.

This Dove ethic corresponded so nicely with the lessons of inner beauty our parents always taught us, and with what sounds morally right, that it resonated far and wide. Never mind that it conflicts with all of our actual experience from the time we enter kindergarten. We all wish for it to be so, and so we credited Unilever with taking a stand.

At which point, the Dove Campaign for Wishful Thinking began evolving into something truly special.

Watch the videos: Dove Evolution and Dove Film. The first is a morphing-style video that shows a young woman transformed into a cover girl beauty through makeup, hair extensions, and the wizardry of Photoshop. The second is of younger girls expressing their frustration with body image in middle and high school. Pretty powerful stuff, really.

Combined, just the videos from Oglivy’s Tim Piper alone equal 1,212,750 views to-date. Add to that the views of the 100K+ related videos (consumer generated, for the most part) and you see the ground swell of attention. When I click on “Related” videos (sorted for “Relevance”) and just count the views for non-Tim Piper videos, the count is around 300,000 - on just the first page of results. That’s pretty impressive. Understatement.

Finally, we should not forget that this campaign had many agencies working on it with a variety of tactics and strategies. It brought Edelman and Dove/Unilever a Silver Anvil award in 2006.

Now, let us go in search of those videos that work successfully for a smaller organization with a miniscule budget. Face it, although the Dove campaign cost much less than a Super Bowl ad, their budget is still way out of reach for small organizations - particularly nonprofits. So, can we find them? Are they out there? Look around and report back.

UAB Web Communications Group Links

Here are the websites representing the topics I was going to discuss Friday with the UAB Web Communications Group at their luncheon in Birmingham, Alabama.

…UAB Web Communications maintain(s) the UAB front door and coordinate(s) UAB’s official Web pages…

The links are divided into six sections. The are: Introductory Sites, Marketing via Social Media, XPRL and Standards, Books, Podcasts and the Loveliest Village class exercises.

This was to be a follow up presentation which grew out my recent visit to the Internet Professionals Society of Alabama at the Saint Vincent’s Bruno’s Center.

I hope I may one day make it up to the UAB Web Communications Group. I offer my apologies for not being able to make it on Friday.

Here are the links:

Read more

PR Marcom Higher Ed Top 10 Sources List

Warren Johnson, of the Unsolicited Marketing Advice blog, has created a Top 10 Sources list of marketing blogs. There are some good blogs on Warren’s list. You should check it out.

I made my own list at Top 10 Sources, too. And, I did make it onto that list - PR Marcom Higher Ed, but … um, you’ll see the only way I could do it.

1. PR Studies
2. PR BOOKS (Wiki)
3. Mass Communications
4. LeverWealth
5. Teaching PR
6. mediations
7. mediations (Wiki)
8. collegewebeditor.com
9. EducationPR
10. higher ed marketing
11. infOpinions?
12. and one I’ve been trying to add, Dr. Walter Carl’s Word-of-Mouth Communication Study, but the RSS URL won’t get picked up, for some reason. Hmm?

Yep, that’s right. Eleven Twelve sources on the Top 10 Sources list. Hope they don’t boot me because of it. I must admit that I was surprised to be able to add eleven sources. However, after signing up - I did a remarkable thing. I read the instructions. I know, it is kind of amazing.

Read more

Josh Hallett Returns To Auburn University

For the second time, Josh Hallett has kindly offered to visit with our class and discuss social media and marketing.

Of late, Josh has been making big news with his blog. The senatorial campaign of Katherine Harris was outed by Josh regarding their outsourcing of blog relations tactics to India.

Last week, Josh kicked off his successful BlogOrlando unconference. That garnered many attendees and a lot of blog traffic, too. Technorati and del.icio.us for examples of the blog talk centered on blogorlando.

Josh understands blogs and social media. A frequent invited speaker at many conferences, Josh has built a popular online presence, including his blog - hyku. Hyku currently has a Technorati ranking, for example, of 8,315 (out of 60 million blogs) and he has 885 links from 281 blogs referring to his site.

We look forward to welcoming Josh back to the Loveliest Village on the Plains. Thanks, Josh, for your support and help over the years.

Update: Kristin Hill interviewed Josh and we’ll have that interview up on the Loveliest Village blog later this week.

Internship Available :: Traditional PR and Social Media

Great opportunity for an intelligent and creative student.

Camp ASCCA is looking for a new PR intern. Visit the site and check out the opportunity.

Want an excerpt? Listen to Jeremy Pepper, Weber Shandwick / San Francisco. He writes:

Public relations continues to evolve, and the best way to prepare for the changing PR is to have a balanced internship. Camp ASCCA is balanced in that it is traditional PR with media outreach, combined with blogging and podcasting - skill sets that are valuable to PR firms.

Plus, philanthropic internships always look good.

Please visit the Camp ASCCA internship info and download the information forms. There is even a podcast for you. Feel free to share this info with others, too.

Disclaimer Longer Than Blog Post … Bait for Satire, or Reality Setting In?

So funny, yet so sad. The legalese is longer than the content.

Starwood Hotels is attempting something that is sort of like, well … it is trying to be like … well, it started as faux blogging and now it is …. well, just corporate blogging. In fact, it is corporate blogging that fits many stereotypes of legal and management “interference” - some PR practitioners like to call it.

Starwood launched The Lobby.

The blog states their focus and purpose:

To help keep Starwood Preferred Guests on top of the latest travel trends, Starwood and ElectricArtists have assembled a team of travel writers to contribute to this site. Every weekday this site will be covering the latest and greatest in worldwide travel.

A legitimate idea. However, the authors in the blog seem more like jingle writers than travel writers. Each post is a commercial for some Starwood hotel or amenity.

Still, that’s not too bad of an idea. It is just the way they do it that seems contrived. Too planned. Too dry. Too predictable. The posts range from 100 to 200 words, with a few exceptions - the average is about 150. (This will be important later.) All of the posts are the equivilant to sidebar contextual ads with nice photos. It is one long list of short advertisements.

Starwood is using MovableType (MT). Many sites do. That isn’t uncommon. MT makes a fine CMS, aside from just a blog. But, The Lobby’s posts have links for tagging and bookmarking the site which many/most associate with blogs more than a dynamic site.

At first Starwood’s “The Lobby” did not have comments turned on.

Some people criticized them for that. B. L. Ochman called it a “dud” for more reasons than just the absence of comments. The Inside PR podcast also felt that the absence of comments did not help the blog’s legitimacy with audiences. There was no opportunity for a conversation.

So, Starwood turned comments on for some/most of the posts. However, in this instance they only made things worse.

If one is seeking to lay blame for this, I imagine the place to point is to upper management and the legal team. I doubt it is what the creative people wanted.

When Starwood did turn on comments, they couldn’t help but turn it over to the legal department, first. So, now you have one of the most ridiculous comment sections, on every post offering comments, that you will see on a blog - in blogging’s brief history. The legal disclaimer is actually longer than the posts. Seriously, the post at that link is 194 words, whereas there are 282 words in the disclaimer before you may comment. And, most of the other posts are like this, too.

Need more irony? The title of one post is: Head and Shoulders Above the Rest. Um, no Starwood. This this is more like what happens when you don’t use Head and Shoulders^TM … you appear flakey (or legally anal) - people notice, and you are embarrassed.

Sigh. So, bless their hearts, at least they are trying. How they could not see that their practice will bring snickers is kind of scary, but why am I not surprised?

Admittedly, there is legitimate concern for companies and individuals regarding the comments some people may leave in your blog.

Jeremy Pepper wrote:

Is it worth pushing the boundaries in a blog to get traffic, then end up in a libel suit? Are certain blogs that we all have seen - making fun of ugly people on the Web, making fun of Star Wars fans - worth the potential for a libel lawsuit?

Corporations have traditional boundaries and standards of practice. They are loathe to change them when the fear of legal entanglement may be the result. So, what you sometimes see is this kind of silliness.
I don’t know. Starwood can defend their tactic, of course. But, isn’t it kind of funny? Their fear is worth more text than their travel related content? B. L. was right. The Lobby is a dud.

Honestly, it reminded me of contract management. The rule-of-thumb was always - CYA or CYB. Here is the complete disclaimer you must wade through before getting to the comment forms:

BY CLICKING “I AGREE” AND SUBMITTING A COMMENT YOU AGREE TO THE FOLLOWING TERMS & CONDITIONS:

You agree not to submit any comment that contains unlawful, threatening, libelous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic or other material that would violate the law.

You agree that all comments submitted by you should be relevant to the article and remain respectful of other authors and commenters.

You authorize Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., its affiliates, properties within the Starwood system and third party service providers (collectively, “Starwood”) to collect, process, use and display the information provided by you (including personally identifiable information) for any lawful, Starwood business related purpose, to store the information at and transmit the information to various locations, either directly or through its third party vendors, throughout the world, whether within your country of residence, the United States, or elsewhere; and to contact you regarding the information you provide.

You assign to Starwood the right, but not the obligation to edit, remove, modify, publish, license, print, transmit, display or otherwise use any comments you submit to Starwood and all accompanying personally identifiable information via all forms of media now known or hereafter devised, worldwide, in perpetuity, without notice to you and without compensation, and you waive any moral rights you may have in having the material altered or changed in a manner not agreeable to you.

You agree to indemnify and hold Starwood and its subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, directors, agents and employees harmless from any claim or demand, including reasonable attorney’s fees, made by any third party due to or arising out of Your breach of these terms and conditions or Your violation of any law or the rights of a third party.

That is on every post where you may leave a comment. Can you believe that? I find it amazing.

Um, and you don’t click on “I AGREE” … you click on Preview or Post.

Do you really want to see and read that every time you want to post a comment?

Perhaps the better path to follow (aside from the obvious “Drop the facade.  Don’t blog.  Make it a static site.”) would be requiring all who wish to comment to simply register for your site. Then, they see the disclaimer once and are bound by the rules. As Starwood is doing it now, the blog is a chuckle on every post, at first. After a few times, it will become - simply - a pain. Are they really going to turn these posts into purchases of services at their hotels? I don’t know, but I doubt it.

Here is an idea. Take the reigns off of the writers. Be bold. Take a chance. Let them write critically about your hotels and services. (I know. I’m dreaming.)

I don’t think Starwood Hotels did any reading or research into the mindset of most bloggers and blog readers. If they get laughed at online, it is their own fault. Of course, their target audience is probably not bloggers. It is business travelers. But, they are online and therefore open to these types of critiques.

What do you think? Is this a good practice by Starwood? Will they succeed? How would you suggest they blog?

Thanks to B. L. Ochman and Inside PR’s David Jones and Terry Fallis for the link.

HigherEd BlogCon :: Day Two is New Media in Alumni Relations

HEBC More interesting presentations today from student affairs professionals. Yesterday’s posts spurred some comments showing the excitement about social media in higher education. See Joseph Diorio’s comment to the right.

So, what will today bring? Check out these posts and please post about HigherEd BlogCon to help us share these ideas with communicators everywhere. The ideas, I believe, may transcend their usage in higher education and be applicable in many business practices, too.

Tuesday, April 18, 2006: New Media in Alumni Relations

SPECIAL EVENT: Chat with the presenters, live at 4:30 EDT.

Alumni E-Networks: Using Technology to Engage Alumni and Constituents

Holly Peterson
Tristan Roberts
World Learning, including The Experiment in International Living and The School for International Training

Here is a podcast interview with Holly and Tristan recorded awhile back. It will provide some background into their work, too.

Podcast with Holly and TristanOnline Networks: A New Tool for Alumni Relations - How Third-Party Social and Business Networking Sites Can Benefit Alumni Communities

Andrew Shaindlin
Elizabeth Allen
California Institute of Technology

Social Networking: What Is It and Where Does It Fit in the Alumni World?

Abe Geiger
Affinity Engines

Katie Seay
University of Florida Alumni Association

Blogidarity :: A Dollar A Month To Remove Land Mines or Help Other Nonprofits

For one dollar a month, anyone with a credit card or Paypal account can help a cause.

Blogidarity’s Mission and Mantra are pretty straight forward:

Mission: We are committed to raise funds for non profits working in the third world from bloggers all around the world.

Mantra: 1$ can save a life.

Further, they promise “In our activity we will respect a ZERO CONFUSSION principle. This means that every dollar we get will be donated to the Non profit we are working for in that month. This we believe is an indispensible rule of clarity and honesty for all parts.”

So, I have one question. How do we know you will honor that promise?

I don’t know much about Clear Path International, Blogidarity’s first beneficiary of funds. They do have a video endorsement from U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy. They have a blog, too. But, what does that tell me about Blogidarity? I know even less about them. Why not just give to Clear Path?

The site (well, one of them) for Clear Path International has an interesting history. cpi.org was the home page of the Competition Policy Institute for several years. Sometime between January 28, 2003 and September 19, 2004 the site became Clear Path International. That’s not too strange. People abandon domains and others pick them up. CPI has another domain - their original home, I believe - clearpathinternational.org. The first discoverable sign of CPI life there was March 02, 2001. A post at Blogidarity seeks to provide some history and clarity regarding their use of online activities and social media / WOM (blogs):

Our first blogs started in late 2001…. I think… or early 2002 with the Clear Path News page.

So thanks to Jason and Scott, we blog… in addition to our “archival blogs” of news and case studies, we also started a “conversational” blog last year. Although, it is mostly a one way conversation as we do not get many comments… unless you count comment spam.

However, the post isn’t signed. We have no idea who is attempting to represent CPI through Blogidarity. There is more irony here. The author of the post, whoever it is, attempts to explain how they know what has to happen first, when establishing ethos, with the statement that “…one must first RAISE AWARENESS of the cause and then GAIN TRUST in a potential donor.” But, the post doesn’t accomplish that. Their own site does a better job.The author of that post also offers this postscript: “…the next and last blog post from me for blogidarity will outline our future plans… and I’ll have some great news to share!” Here’s a thought. Write your name in there, too.

The team of volunteers putting together Blogidarity are Felix, Trevor, Rocky, Steve, Troy, Rosa and Phil. Guess we’ll just have to get to know these people and see if their ethos is significant and justifies a donation.

OK, I imagine you think I’m being snarky. I’m actually not. What? You don’t think that people surfing up on Blogidarity won’t be skeptical when asked to fork over money? Even a dollar. The project doesn’t even have their own domain and site. It is a sub-directory of the blog run by Felix. Does it need one? I don’t know. Just a question. There are lots of questions here.

Please understand, I’m not questioning their veracity, but wonder how casual observers will judge the program. I want legitimate programs like this one to succeed. But, there are none of the usual indicators of affiliation at Blogidarity to give donors any indication that the group is on the up and up. They need that. People will do this kind of researching - and a lot more, too. So, any online practice like this one needs to be well thought out. I realize that 3rd party endorsements by bloggers can help. But, why not help them by giving all the credibility boosting information you have at your disposal.

For example, the Network for Good was established to answer these concerns.

Network for Good is the Internet’s leading charitable resource—an e-philanthropy site where individuals can donate, volunteer and get involved with the issues they care about. The organization’s goal is to connect people to charities via the Internet—using the virtual world to deliver real resources to nonprofits and communities.

Founded in 2001 by the Time Warner Foundation and AOL, Inc.; the Cisco Foundation and Cisco Systems, Inc.; and Yahoo! Inc., Network for Good is an independent, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in Bethesda, MD.

Hey, this project may blossom and grow into a very successful venture for third world nonprofits. I hope it does. Blogidarity is a good idea. It just needs work.

Best of luck to Felix Gerena’s project - Blogidarity.

Hat tip to Eric Eggerston for his email and blog post about the project. I agree with Eric’s statement, “Before setting up a donation, I’ll want to do a bit more checking up on the people behind Blogidarity.” I think we both respect the effort and the idea. But, the group needs to provide more information, in my opinion, if they wish to gain a financial following. Links are one thing. Dollars? Euros? Well, people are tighter with those. Show me the credo before asking me to show you the money.

This will be an interesting project to watch. I do wish them luck.

75 Degrees South :: Antarctica By Blog

You are going to love this blog. 75 degrees south. I just found it and I am only sad that I just found it today.

The blog is written by Simon - 75 degrees south. Had to give you the link again. It is a fun read.

…Antarctica by blog… a wonderful idea that reminds me of Ben Saunders…

If ever there was a wonderful blog to help promote scientific research being done in an out of the way place, this is it. Simon writes in a fun, friendly style and - although he couldn’t post a lot - he does leave the assignment on the southern side of planet Earth with a wonderful gift to us all.

Simon’s effort reminds me of Ben Saunders, the polar explorer that promotes his journeys via blog. In fact, Ben even markets his expeditions through his blog. And, Saunders obtained an endorsement from Nike - in part - through his blogging activities.

Simon has now finished his two plus years living at the bottom of the globe. I’ve written to him and hope to hear back. His odyssey is one that I think anyone will enjoy.

One of the things I like most about his blog is how the posts actually serve purposes he likely did not intend. His accounts of life there serve to promote the experience quite well to any future adventurous souls that might wish to follow his path. I recently, believe it or not, started to think of how individuals undertake public relations and media relations efforts from remote locations. Simon has answered that question. Do it online … with a blog.

I’ll let you know if I hear back from Simon. Until then, check out his blog at 75 degrees south.

Update: Simon has written back and he is very nice. He shared something I had not found. The Halley station actually has online diaries! Visit the Diaries of the Halley Station here. Thanks, Simon.

Marcomblog Becomes More Worldly and Gender Representative

Marcomblog has grown to 15 contributors. This makes me happy … for a variety of reasons.

First of all, Marcomblog is quite easily the most successful aspect of all our classroom blogging efforts. The students love the site and the contributors. I frequently hear back from students after they graduate. I have had several mention Marcomblog as their favorite part of all the blogging activities. The current students feel the same way, I believe, too.

By the way, we invite all PR educators around the world to participate in Marcomblog. Encourage your students to read the posts from our contributors and comment. Start a conversation with them. And, I invite all that read this blog to write about Marcomblog. OK, I’ll beg you to blog about it. We need to reach more PR professionals and educators to share this wonderful resource. So, blog away about Marcomblog, please.

So, allow me to introuduce our newest Marcomblog contributors … generous mentoring volunteers all!

Susan Getgood at Marketing Roadmaps.

“Susan Getgood was among the pioneers in introducing children and parents to the Internet as an expert in online safety and General Manager of Cyber Patrol, one of the world’s first Internet filters. Her 20+ years in the computer software industry included leading a global marketing team as Senior Vice President of Marketing for SurfControl, with offices in the U.S., England, Australia and seven other countries. A results-oriented strategic marketer, Susan knows how to build brands using technology, policy and good old fashioned high-quality products. In 2004, she founded GetGood Strategic Marketing Inc. to help bring blogs into the mix as an indispensable marketing tool. Today, her firm helps public and private companies and organizations build brands and drive revenue with integrated marketing and communications strategies. Her own blog is Marketing Roadmaps, which is part of the Corante Network.” Visit Susan’s full bio.

Lee Hopkins at Better Communication Results.

Lee is “a psychology and communications consultant, (He) works with companies and individuals to help them communicate better for better business results.” Lee is currently working several clients, including Effective Consulting, TalkingClassifieds, ANETS NEIS, Eastside SA Inc., and Invisage Australia. He writes, at Hopkins Business Communication Training.com, “After many years of being stunned at how badly some business people communicate visually, verbally and in writing, I decided to set up a website full of tips and ideas on how you can communicate more effectively… all aimed at helping YOU communicate better for better business results.” Visit Lee’s blog.

Kami Huyse at Communication Overtones.

Kami Huyse is from San Antonio, Texas and authors the Communication Overtones blog. Kami “has been working in public relations and communications since 1994. She is the principal of My PR Pro, an independent agency that specializes in assembling expert teams of independent professionals to meet the strategic needs of clients.” In a recent post on PR and blogging, Kami writes

I think the role of public relations as a facilitator, making sure that access is granted to those that need it, which is much different that a gatekeeper role, “I decide what you will know.” We must be experts in knowing what the stakeholders of the companies we work for need and we must also be very close to the leadership and the employees of those companies to act as the stakeholders advocate at the decision-making table.

Visit Kami’s blog.

Andrea Weckerle at New Millennium PR.

Andrea specializes “specialize in online and offline public relations and advertising copywriting for agencies/firms, associations, organizations and other businesses. Building upon the skills I learned as a former management consultant, licensed attorney and trained mediator – the ability to understand a broad range of issues, think strategically, and condense large amounts of complex information into a succinct message – I create public relations and advertising materials that raise product and service awareness, enhance client credibility, educate consumers and the public, and help advance my clients’ overall goals.” Visit Andrea’s full bio.

I am thrilled to welcome all of our new contributors. Please visit Marcomblog and read their posts and the posts from the other 11 contributors from around the world. Visit the Marcomblog Contributor’s page in the wiki for further details, too.

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