I am embarrassed to associate with anyone who wastes their time reading/posting on Juicy Campus

In an article in PR Week titled “Juicy Campus causes a stir with students”, Alexandra Bruell discusses the controversial college gossip Web site Juicy Campus.  Apparently this Web site has been causing controversy on campuses all over the United States.  For example, Bruell says in her article that “at Tulane University, the student newspaper, The Hullabaloo, ran a story on how Juicy Campus allegedly outed campus marijuana dealers by revealing their identities, which led to drug busts.  This incident prompted broader media coverage about the Web site.”

Although the outing of drug dealers is a somewhat big deal, most of the posts on the Web site are filled with petty gossip.  Campuses across the country are attempting to have the site banned.  Others are making efforts to comfort targeted students.

I had heard about this site before, but today is the first time I actually ever visited it.  I could not help but laugh while reading the poorly spelled, ridiculous posts that litter the pages of the site.  Although many of the posts are very offensive and do say horrible things about particular individuals at Auburn, it is a GOSSIP site, and people our age (especially educated university students) should know by now that you cannot believe everything you hear.

I do not think that campuses should pay too much attention to this site.  They should not waste too much time or money on PR efforts to have the site shut down or to erase any “damage” the site has done to their students.  This site is a fad that will fade with time (hopefully sooner than later).

Shine on me

In an article by Frank Washkuch in PR Week, Washkuch talks about Yahoo’s new web site, which is called Shine.  Shine targets women between the ages of 25 and 40.  The web site covers a very wide spectrum of topics, which include fashion and beauty, parenting, entertainment, work and money, astrology and more.  

This web site was a great move on Yahoo’s part.  I can think of many web sites that target women of this age group, but I cannot think of any that cover all of these topics.  This site is just so convenient and will save a lot of time for both working business women and busy stay-at-home mothers.

This article by Washkuch made me very curious about the new site, so I decided to explore it myself.  It is full of all kinds of fun and informative articles on every topic the target audience could possibly interested in.  And although there is a wide variety of topics covered, they are very well organized and the site is extremely easy to navigate.  As I am about to enter the professional world, I found many articles that were applicable (or would soon be applicable) to myself.  After my enjoyable adventure through Shine, I decided to bookmark it to my favorites.

PR agencies can benefit from PR, too…

PR agencies are constantly focused on getting maximum positive publicity and exposure for their clients.  But, I never really stopped to think about how PR agencies can always use a little positive PR for themselves.

Last week on the season premier of the ridiculously popular MTV “reality” show, The Hills, one of the main characters of the show, Whitney Port, was hired at the Fashion PR agency People’s Revolution as a full-time employee.  This is going to create an unbelievable amount of publicity and recognition for People’s Revolution, just as it did in the previous seasons of the show for Teen Vogue when Port and the show’s main character, Lauren Conrad, were working there as interns.

In an article in PR Week by Alexandra Bruell, Bruell says that People’s Revolution owner, Kelly Cutrone, is “excited about being involved in a show with a high market value, and exposing the agency’s marketing template and brand set.”  Cutrone says that their clients are excited, as well.

Although I haven’t watched the first episode of the new season yet (it’s saved on my Tivo, but I haven’t gotten a chance to watch it) I have heard the name “People’s Revolution” mentioned countless times just from the previews for the show on MTV.  I believe that their gig on The Hills is going to make People’s Revolution THE agency for Fashion PR.

Unthinkable tragedy- unthinkable response

An unthinkable tragedy struck Auburn in the late evening hours of March 4.  Lauren Burk, a beautiful Auburn freshman, was brutally murdered.  A few minutes after she was found just a little off campus, her car was discovered engulfed in flames in one of the C-Zone parking lots on campus.  This horrible, malicious act has not only left behind grieving parents, grieving friends and a grieving boyfriend- it has also left behind a grieving community and country.

Since I have gotten in to my junior and senior “hard-core” PR classes, I have started to analyze every situation from a PR perspective.  This tragedy is no different.  One of the most important aspects of crisis management is informing your internal publics, such as employees or organization members (in this case, Auburn students and faculty), of the crisis situation at hand, and doing so in a timely manner.  This was NOT the case with this situation.

Auburn students did not receive an email about Burk’s murder until FIFTEEN hours after it occurred.  At the time the police had no idea whether or not Lauren was targeted or if the killing was random.  And, as we have found out as the case has developed, the murder was indeed random.  It makes me feel extremely scared  and angry to know that that very same night I was walking around outside after dark in an area where there could potentially be a serial killer.  Burk’s killer could have been a crazy sociopath like Ted Bundy, who in the 1970’s went from college to college, murdering young women. 

Although there were no other victims that evening, there could have been.   Auburn had absolutely no way of knowing whether or not students were in danger, and should have alerted students immediately after receiving news of Burk’s death.  I do hope that Auburn has learned a lesson from this mistake after all criticism they have been receiving in regards to their initial response to the tragedy.  If, God forbid, something like this ever happens to another student, hopefully Auburn will notify the students immediately.  By immediately, I do not mean fifteen hours after the event occurs.

Targeting Teen Girls

I came across an interesting article by Beth Krietsch on PRWeek.com this week.  The article says that “among the 15- to 17-year-old age group, 70 % of girls created profiles on social networking sites, compared to 57 % of boys.”

This is a great piece of information for companies targeting teen girls to have.  There are many ways that companies can advertise to their target public(s) on these social networking sites.  Along with traditional ad space that companies can buy, there are also ways to promote themselves for free.

For example, the article talks about how the Victoria’s Secret PINK line created a Facebook group offering members discounts and perks.  I feel that this is a great marketing tool, and more companies (especially those that target teen girls) should look into advertising on social networking sites.

Hearst Magazines launches three YouTube channels

YouTube is not just a site for uploading funny (or stupid) home videos anymore.  

I recently read an article by Lucia Moses  at Mediaweek.com about how Hearst Magazines has created channels for three of its magazines- Seventeen, Marie Claire and Good Housekeeping- on YouTube.  From reading my previous blog posts you can tell that I have gradually become a very big fan of social media, and therefore I think that this decision is a great PR move for Hearst Magazines.

In Moses’ article she sates that Hearst’s channels are “meant to encourage community by sponsoring magazine-branded contests that ask people to upload personalized videos.”  Seventeen, along with the Candie’s Foundation, is hosting its first contest called “What’s Your Plan A?”   Moses says that “the contest asks contestants to submit videos describing a life dream that provides motivation for them to avoid getting pregnant. The winner will get $1,000, trip to New York City and invitation to a Candie’s Foundation gala to raise awareness about the consequences of teen pregnancy.”

Hearst Magazine is doing two really good things here- one for themselves and one for others.  By creating YouTube channels for these magazines they are doing excellent, free PR for themselves.  For example, I was looking at the Seventeen channel and one of their promotional videos is of the hot new star of Gossip Girl (and my future boyfriend), Chace Crawford.  Young (and old) girls everywhere, and probably guys, too, are absolutely drooling over this guy. I cannot begin to estimate how many YouTube searches for videos of him have been done.  All of these searches will result in them watching a video of Chase on the Seventeen channel saying “hey” to Seventeen readers.  

Hearst is also doing something very positive for their readers, especially the young, impressionable females, through the Seventeen channel.  Millions of girls will have access to all of these contest videos of girls just like them giving them reasons to practice abstinence.  This is something that is very needed, and has the potential to impact the lives of many.

Republicans need to stop being conservative when it comes to social media

The Democrats have it figured out when it comes to targeting one of their most important publics- the young undecideds.  They most certainly have a grasp on the use of social media.  I cannot think of a day that has gone by in the past year or so that neither I or one of my roommates has not spent at least a little time procrastinating on YouTube.  And I can just about guarantee that millions of other twenty-somethings in America are out there doing the same thing.

I, like many other young voters, have absolutely no idea who I am going to vote for in the upcoming presidential election.  I feel that the majority of older people who have been through more presidential elections are already set in whether or not they are a Democrat or Republican.  For this particular public (older people who probably have never even heard of YouTube or Facebook), the Republicans are definitely doing the right thing by dominating talk radio (for example, Rush Limbaugh).

But for all of us undecideds, social media is the key to swaying our opinion.  I was very moved by the “Yes We Can” Obama video on YouTube, and this video has caused me to do more research into Obama’s campaign.  Why haven’t any Republican candidates made similar videos in response to Obama’s?  

If the Republicans don’t wise up to the fact that the use of social media is the key to piquing the interest of their young and/or technologically hip voters, they are going to suffer the consequences in the long run.  They need stop being so, well, conservative when it comes to their publicity methods.  

ID-PR: faithful until the end, and after

I would like to commend Heath Ledger’s public relations firm, ID-PR, for the proactive action they took to prevent a highly exploitive and offensive video of Ledger from airing on the shows “The Insider” and “Entertainment Tonight.”  Reportedly, the shows purchased a two-year-old video of Ledger at a wild party and thoughtlessly and cold-heartedly planned to air it soon after his tragic death. 

  After asking Entertainment Tonight not to air the video and getting “no” for an answer, ID-PR issued a mass statement to about 30 other PR firms asking them to contact the show to “express their outrage and request Entertainment Tonight to pull the distasteful spot.”  ID-PR’s plan worked, and ET did not air the video. 

I read about this event in a post by Greg Hazley on the Odwyerpr.com blog.  I completely agree with the title of his post, which calls ID-PR “a voice of reason in Ledger media circus.”  But I feel that what they did was much more than simply being reasonable. 

This is a perfect example of what crisis management should be.  ID-PR was quick to discover the potential airing of the inappropriate video and took immediate action to prevent it from being shown.  But what impresses me the most about this situation is that ID-PR is still taking care of their client, even after his death.      

Pay attention to bloggers!

As we have been learning over the past few months, blogs are becoming very important sources of free feedback for corporations.  The majority of corporations today are taking advantage of bloggers’ comments to help analyze the opinions of their target publics or the public in general. The recent situation with Target was very surprising to me.  

I have always thought of Target as a much hipper version of Wally World, and would have assumed that their PR people would certainly be using blogs as sources of feedback.  I could not believe what I read in the New York Times about how one of Target’s PR people responded to a blogger who was concerned with the sexual nature of one of Target’s advertisements.  

The response given to the blogger was that “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.”  What?!!  When I think of who Target’s “core guest” would be, the first public that comes to mind is mommies.  And if Target’s PR people were doing their job, they would know that there are millions upon millions of mommies out there who are both blogging and reading blogs. 

Fortunately, after all of the hype generated by this situation, Target has announced that they are “reviewing their policy” about working with bloggers.  I think that once they start paying more attention to what bloggers are saying and actively responding to them, they will have very positive effects.

Design on a dime, or for free…

Christina Runnels, a senior in Apparel Merchandising and Design, is very excited about the special project she is doing for one of her classes. For her class she and other students will be designing new uniforms for the employees of the Auburn University Hotel and Conference Center.  This is a short video of Christina explaining exactly what her project entails.