Erin Caldwell’s PRblog

Pshaw … my last post here is from October! Yeesh. I apologize. Shame on me.

So shall I do the usual schpeel? “I’ve been meaning to post.” Or maybe, “I’ve just been so busy.” While all very true and very sincere, it’s also pretty much understood, right?

Well, I have been meaning to post something here about the fact that I won’t be posting much more … at all. And I actually picked this weekend to do so. It’s a long weekend; seemed convenient. But I could not come up with a title for the post! And then I stumbled upon this from Dee Rambeau (thanks Dee, I think it was fate) and I instantly knew I had to snag his headline and make it my own.

If you read Dee’s post — as you should, because he makes some good points there — you’ll see that my post does not directly reflect his, but the title still applies.

First of all, I would like to address some items from Dee’s remarks at Marcom Blog. I agree with his placement of emphasis on monitoring the blogosphere. That’s probably the most important blogospheric element that businesses need to pay attention to. Have a blog, don’t have a blog — doesn’t matter quite as much as being aware of what’s being said about you and your company online.

I do, however, think that blogs are a valuable tool for businesses. It is quite possible that I just got a little lost in Dee’s comparison of blogs and websites, because I believe I essentially agree with him. Businesses just need to get better about communicating online, period. Whether you call the vehicle a blog or a website, the fact of the matter is that there is great value in a tool that allows content to be quickly and easily managed. (I tend to call such a tool a blog, but call it what you will. The important thing is meeting the communication objective.)

I still think it’s important for students and professionals to know, understand, and be familiar with the various aspects of social media. (See this post at Forward for further explanation.) But I don’t think you necessarily have to have you own blog to “get it.” I do believe it helps. But notice I said you don’t have to “have your own blog.” There is just as much, and probably more, value in being part of an active online community — like Marcom Blog and Forward. For students, blogging truly is a GREAT exercise because it forces you to think critically about PR issues and then articulate those thoughts well. I can’t tell you how invaluable that is and how you will not get that in any classroom setting. But. If you have your own blog, when you graduate, you’re presented with a significant problem: it’s very difficult to continue blogging frequently (about PR) once you enter the professional world! (I will expand on this further with my own personal account below.) Again, my solution to that is suggesting that students take part in a blogging community. The workload is shared, and contributors periodically cycle through — so the resource remains available, and students don’t have to deal with the guilt of “quitting.” Folks get busy, you do have a life, it’s A-OK. Plus, the folks leading the community are your automatic mentors — they can give you feedback on your posts and answer questions you have about the tools. So all in all, group blogging has my vote.

By the way, if you like the sound of that, feel free to contribute to Forward.

Now on to my story. (Like how I’ve created a natural break? You can stop reading if you’ve had enough.) I can say that bit above with some authority because I am one of those people who started a blog as a student (class assignment) and have had a great deal of trouble keeping it up. I bow down to the likes of Stephen Davies and Chris Clarke (and the many others that I can’t possibly list!) who have managed to maintain their PR blogs. But it’s just not happening for me for a number of reasons …

The main one: Forward! Truly, that’s where my passion lies. Any spare moment that I do get to put into the PR blogosphere goes to Forward. I’m enthusiastic about mentoring, and Forward is my playground for that. As you’ve probably noticed, I haven’t even had much time for that lately — so I sure as heck haven’t had time for my own PR blog. (But I will say that some interesting projects are in the works behind-the-scenes. That’s the benefit of spending some face time with Paull Young and Luke Armour, when we could really let the creative juices flow.)

And time, time, time. What’s that song that’s been in a couple commercials lately … “Time is on my side”? Uh, whose side?? Your side maybe. When I finish the work day, I have very little time or energy left for the PR blogosphere. I’m lucky in that I have an employer that encourages me to stay up on the blogosphere during work hours, and I’m sure they’d be fine with me even publishing a blog post or two while I’m at work. But um … I have client work to do! That completely fills my day. And forgive me, but client-related responsibilities outranks the PR blogosphere.

Nheh … and I don’t really feel like I have anything to say. I’m aware of what’s going on and being said for the most part, but there are so many voices in the conversation now, I don’t really have anything original to add. Plus, I do this all day. Working with this new media is my job. And frankly, no, I can’t talk about the specifics of what I do. That’s called “giving away the shop.” Anything Edelman-related worth hearing about (or acceptable for public knowledge), you can hear from Steve Rubel or the man himself. The place where I do have value is at Forward, where my perspective and experiences can help students and others who are new to the profession.

Obviously, I haven’t stopped blogging, and I won’t anytime soon. Rest assured, I am still taking part in the “conversation.” I’m just opting for things with more face time — i.e. the Social Media Club and other endeavors.

So long story short (heh) I will be pouring my PR blogosphere time and energy — the little there is — into Forward. And if you’re interested in keeping up with me outside of the PR-realm, feel free to read my personal blog, Letters Home.

Cheers!

(Part I can be found here.)

I just wrote about this over at Forward, and I started a side note at the end of the post that was progressively becoming entirely too long to be considered a side note. So I brought it over here, where my personal thoughts and rants have free reign.

It began … “Side note: If you click through to the slideshow of products that relate to this WAF post, some of the descriptions are hilarious!! Especially to an electronics addict like myself. Oh, if only I could afford them all …”

One of my favorites:

(Accompanied by an image of an iPod Nano.) “No, the Nano isn’t for you–the 80GB iPod with video is. But pick up the midcapacity Nano for the wife or girlfriend as you buy your 80GB video, and everybody’s happy.”

For the record, I have a video iPod and love it. I couldn’t even bring myself to purchase the Nano — that I actually could afford — because I felt that it wasn’t a good value and would eventually be pretty worthless as I really wanted one with video capabilities. (See my comment about a woman’s ability to sniff out good value and bargains in the Forward post.)

(For the Sling Media Slingbox A / V) “Tell your wife that when she goes on a business trip or takes a vacation, she’ll be able to watch on her laptop all those Grey’s Anatomy episodes she’s got recorded on the DVR at home and it’ll pay for the Slingbox right then and there. Just be sure she doesn’t fire it up and change the channels from 1,000 miles away during Monday Night Football.”

Hmm … I do recall a conversation with a man recently in which we uncovered a mutual interest in Grey’s Anatomy and I discovered he actually has significantly more knowledge of the show than me. A few days later, I listened to NFL on the radio with this same person — equally as excited as he. (I was pretty pumped to get to tune in to my beloved Carnell Williams playing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.) Again, “Hmm.”

But enough of that. The folks at CNET put on a good show, with products targeted at a specific audience. Think of how boring that post would have been if they’d taken out the WAF quotient. So thanks for making it entertaining, and for highlighting this interesting marketing strategy.

(Image credit: CNET)

Well, they have for a while, right?  I think I recall being subscribed a year ago or so.  My memory is really foggy, but for some reason, I had access to PRWeek for a brief time — either as a trial or a special limited-time access or something.  Probably had something to do with being a student at the time.  At any rate, thanks to Constantin’s update, I’ve rediscovered PRWeek’s feeds.

Hmm.  There seem to be some glitches.  Ahh … and yeah, you still have to have a subscription to view the regular news content in full view.  But beyond the glitches, I seem to be able to read the blog content fine.  (I subscribed to all three blogs they offer for now; trying them all out.)

This post in The Editors’ Blog struck me as interesting.  It’s calling for people to send in press releases via RSS, rather than email.  Surely, other people out there are doing that, but this caught my eye because I hadn’t really seen that practice mentioned much.  We used RSS to distribute news releases at Camp ASCCA while I was an intern there.  (Granted, RSS pick-up in rural Alabama is rather slim, but that Robert French — always super-on-top of things!)

I very much agree with Mr. O’Brien’s point that RSS helps cuts down on email noise.  It’s spam-proof.  (Knock on wood.)  Goodness knows if I have to subscribe or opt-in to anything, the last place I want it going is my Inbox.

It only took me an entire Sunday afternoon — ha! As you can imagine, I came across a lot of interesting discussion; some I was already aware of from the little reading I have been able to keep up with.

First up that caught my attention, more on gobbledygook! David Meerman Scott has a great post about the frequency of certain gobbledygook phrases in news releases. I think discussion of gobbledygook has always appealed to me because I identify wordy-ness as a weakness of my own — so I’m on the lookout for how to improve my professional writings. In his thorough post, David offers research that reveals “next generation” as the most-used phrase in new releases since the start of 2006. (Visit his post for more of the top-ranking phrases.) He also goes on to explain the issue more and give tips and solutions for avoiding such horrid and ineffective writing. One part that stood out to me:

Another major drawback of the generic gobbledygook approach is that it doesn’t make your company stand out from the crowd. Here’s a test: Take the language that the marketers at your company dreamed up and substitute the name of a competitor and the competitor’s product for your own. Does it still make sense to you? Marketing language that can be substituted for another company’s isn’t effective in explaining to a buyer why your company is the right choice.

Hmm. Handy exercise.

Next up, a post by Kami Huyse about anonymity. At the end of the post, she asks about a policy for online discourse … is anonymity OK? Personally, I think it depends on the objective of the blog. Certainly, a policy will be more lax when applying to a personal blog where the author writes about their own personal, day-to-day experiences. However, with any sort of professional or business blog where the participants are supposed to maintain any sense of authority or credibility — yes. A clear identity is absolutely necessary. (The discussion in the comments is interesting, too.)

And my third item for this evening … the big announcement from the Fantastic Four. (Hat tip to Ed Lee — very clever.) CC Chapman, Neville Hobson, Shel Holtz and Joseph Jaffe team up to create “crayon.”

From Shel: “What makes us different is that Joseph assembled us based on our passion for new media and the fact that we already live and breathe it. We sleep it. We eat it for lunch. And ultimately, that’s what motivated me to accept Joe’s offer and join crayon: the opportunity to work exclusively on these types of projects and the opportunity to work with this particular collection of people.”

And … they’re launching in Second Life on Thursday — apparently the first company to launch from within Second Life. www.crayonville.com will be live after the Oct. 26 launch, as well. And they’ve offered themselves up for info and interviews. Note to self: talk to Paull about possible Forward Podcast topic …

Now, the insane thing … is that while I was playing catch up with my PR feeds, which I have not done in a really long time, I was actively adding even more to my “PR” folder in Bloglines. I was coming across new folks I either hadn’t seen or hadn’t had a chance to add yet, which is great! But if it took me an entire afternoon to go through just one folder of my feeds … (sigh) … and I just added even more … (bigger sigh) …

“Popular” is a relative term. And so is “uncool” for that matter.

I continue to be amused by how many comments my post about Sonic stirs up. I do realize that by writing about it again (I must be insane!) I might be bringing on the wrath of Sonic commercial lovers everywhere, but that’s a risk I’m willing to take.

Sidenote: I got called a “Sonic hater” by a couple guys in their podcast. Heh.

Anyway, my apparent lack of a sense of humor has made me — and that post — the target for a lot of interesting commentary. (According to “Dan,” I wouldn’t know funny if it bit me in the ass.) And the comments keep coming in. Seriously, every couple of weeks, I get a new comment. The original post was published LAST OCTOBER.

I still maintain that my distaste for the commercials is rooted in me probably not being in their target public — as in, it wasn’t SUPPOSED to be funny to me. It was supposed to be funny to … all the people that it was funny to. Tah-dah! It worked.

The fact that people are still commenting on that post — almost a year later — shows that it really hit a home run with an identifiable group of people.

Now, if some of the people who commented on the first post took the time to read more of my blog, or … I don’t know … glance at the title of the blog … it’s clear that this is a site where I discuss “PR, business, advertising and other random thoughts.” So at the time I was looking at the ads with the cricital eye of a student who was currently in marketing classes learning about advertising theory. I wasn’t some random Joe saying “Sonic sucks.” I still don’t say they suck.

Anyway, I have another point to raise. I’m curious about something. Obviously, the commercials were hilarious to folks and people love them. (”Yay!” to the ad guys who came up with them. You guys did a great job creating ads with viral quality that people are even spoofing on YouTube. This one’s funny.)

Now honestly answer me this: if you love the commercials (as you have every right to), did they motivate you to purchase more food from Sonic?

If they did, then a BIG “yay!” to the ad guys! You rock. You deserve an award.

My point is that the whole purpose of advertising is NOT to entertain (as one commenter asserted). The purpose is to motivate viewers/consumers to act. And usually that action involves a purchase. Sometimes that “action” is only mental — involving a change of attitude, perhaps.

A company would not spend millions of dollars on an ad campaign for the sole purpose of making you laugh. If making you laugh makes their sales go up or improves brand recognition, the more giggles and chuckles the better.

Comment from Giselle:

I don’t love all the Sonic commercials, but the married couple has provided me with three commercials that I actually laugh out LOUD at, when I’m by myself. I’m a little fuzzy, but I think there was the cookie dough one from a while back, the one where she snarkily remarks something about him eating some sandwich as part of his list of chores or something, and one that I just saw which made me finally do a google search for her specifically - the one where she says she’s mature for the peach iced tea order. My husband and I are completely like that sometimes, just to cap on each other. We aren’t awkward or hateful or whatever, we’re just laid back and silly. Something about her comic timing always gets me laughing! It reminds me that I’m dying for a strawberry limeade, so I guess the commercial works. Target audience…hmm, hard to say! I’m 23/f and my husband is appx 20 years older. Maybe it just targets people who think it’s funny, whoever they may be. What do I know, I’m a musician, not an advertiser.

“It reminds me that I’m dying for a strawberry limeade, so I guess the commercial works.” Yes, I’d say it does. I just hope that’s widespread.

On another note, I wonder if Sonic has thought about making a contest for people to make their own commercials. Of course, they kind of don’t need to … folks are doing it on their own … well done!

Update: Just had an interesting chat with a friend about this.

jefferyharrell: The purpose of consumer advertising is hardly EVER to motivate.
me: tell that to my marketing professor
jefferyharrell: It’s almost always to embed the advertising company’s identity in the public’s awareness.
me: who made the opposite point very clear
jefferyharrell: Your marketing professor was wrong, then.
me: well, by embedding the company’s identity into the public awareness … that has another intended result, though
jefferyharrell: The most successful ads are, historically, ones that specifically do not implore the viewer to act, but that engage the viewer on an emotional or intellectual level and creating a positive association.
me: it’s supposed to positively affect the business
jefferyharrell: Well, okay, yes. The idea is that the more you advertise, the more you sell.
But saying that advertising’s purpose is to motivate is a misleading oversimplification.
(Sorry, I don’t mean to argue with you.)
me: well, the whole point to this is to create discussion
for all i know, my professor WAS wrong
the point is that this is my perspective
and i’m now learning from yours
jefferyharrell: Well, advertising has been evolving a lot ever since the advent of the television remote control
Remember jingles?
me: yeah
most were quite good at putting a brand at the forefront of consumers’ minds
jefferyharrell: Right, but that’s because they worked in a particular environment.
Back in the day, TV audiences were essentially captive.
You could show them ANYTHING.
me: lol
jefferyharrell: The great part of a commercial jingle is that you don’t even have to be in the room to absorb it.
me: mm-hmm
especially effective
jefferyharrell: In fact, the more annoying and repetitive they were, the better they worked.
But today, jingles are totally extinct.
me: hmm
not totally
but i see your point
jefferyharrell: Yeah, they are. Name me one brand jingle of more than four seconds’ duration.
me: Oscar Meyer
jefferyharrell: They haven’t used it in twenty-five year.s
me: YES THEY HAVE!!!
trust me
it’s my favorite
i was thrilled when they brought it back
jefferyharrell: Yeah, like I’m gonna trust a PR shill who says “trust me.”
me: HAHaha
hey
none of that
besides they have that one for balogne
uh … however you spell that
bologna
balogna
lol
i should know … it’s part of the jingle

Saw this on a shopping bag on the Metro:

“Education is not a preparation for life. Education is life itself.”

Hmm. Poignant.

Tah-dah! And the news is out! Paull Young is embarking on a world tour! (So far the trip goes from his native Australia, to the US, to the UK … but if you extend him an invitation, he just might come visit you in your neck of the woods.)

As Paull notes in his own post, he’s following his passion. He’s got a clear vision of what he wants to do and he’s going around the world in pursuit of it. Bravo to that!

He also mentions that he’s coming to DC, and as you may remember from my trip to Australia, he served as my host — so I’m doing the same while he’s here. Eighty-five days to study up and become an expert tour guide. I can handle that. I hope.

If he ventures down into Alabama with me while he’s here … heh … THAT will be an adventure. I’ll be on my own turf; I can play tour guide for the South. No problem.

At any rate, I think his plans for this tour are quite amazing. What better testament to the relationships created through blogs than to take a world tour to meet all those blogging buddies?! Takes a lot of courage, I’m sure.

Hmm, not to mention he’s looking to move permanently.

This is a unique adventure — one that we’ll all be watching very closely. Granted, I get a front-row seat for a portion of it but Paull is one of the brightest young PRs in the blogosphere — or the industry, for that matter. If anyone can make something happen with this tour, he can.

Plus, he’s just a really great friend and I can’t wait to show him around “my city!”

I just read Phil’s second post about his one-year anniversary at Edelman (and I believe Mike Krempasky hits his one-year mark early next week, as well). I just wrote about my reflections regarding my first month, and I’m well into my second.

But then I remembered … oh yeah … I have a YEAR anniversary, too! I started this blog in August 2005, the 17th to be exact. It’s been an interesting year, to say the least. I can say, without hesitation, that I certainly never expected the last year to go as it did. But “woo-hoo!!” It’s been a challenge — both professionally and personally — but very rewarding.

As most of you probably know, this blog started as a class project in Robert French’s Style and Design class. Many student (or young professional) PR bloggers have different reasons for starting up a blog — whether it be to learn more about the industry, to learn the new medium, to network and build relationships, etc. Me? I had to blog twice a week to pass a class. The thought just struck me … if I hadn’t been introduced to blogs in French’s class, I might not have started blogging. (Not for a while, anyway.) I would not have started Forward, wouldn’t have had the two internships I had the following spring, certainly wouldn’t have this job at Edelman. Heck, I wouldn’t even be living in DC. My life would be COMPLETELY different.

But as it was, French withstood much complaining from the students to make sure we each had the fundamental skills of this new medium, of which he had the foresight to recognize the value. So we had to post twice a week; one post about PR issues, and another could be about generally whatever we wanted. But how DULL would that be if I didn’t at least attempt to get something out of that?! Anybody can write two 500-word posts a week … but I figured if I was going to spend time writing that much, I would make it worth my while!

Obviously, I discovered that I enjoyed it, was learning WAY more than in other class endeavors, was interacting with some amazing people and making contacts all over the world. That 2005 fall semester led directly to a whole host of opportunities that made the following spring semester of 2006 (my last semester in college) the most challenging and exciting of my scholastic career.

Granted, when that semester wound down and graduation was followed by a cross-state relocations and a trip overseas … my writing here screeched to a halt.
As I recently admitted to Stephen Davies (another fairly new Edelman hire), and I’m sure you’ve picked up on it as well — I’m still having a really hard time finding time to blog here. Although, I don’t think it’s a time management issue. I think it’s a brain power thing. (Haha) I think by the time I get done with a mentally stimulating day at work and then whatever daily tasks I have for Forward (which take anywhere from 30 minutes to a couple hours), I have no mental juice left for my own PR blog.

So that’s my challenge for the coming year: to somehow figure out how to balance things so I can continue posting here … without foregoing sleep too often.

It’s a learning process. I’m adjusting to new demands and managing my personal time commitments, as well as the ones associated with more public commitments like Forward. The great thing … is that I have wonderful friends that I’ve made through blogging that completely understand the challenges that it presents. So we’ll continue to share and learn from each other — thank goodness for that!

One year down, many to go.

Wow. I’m coming across all kinds of crazy stuff tonight.

So … guys … according to Forbes, you should steer clear of me. No marriage for Erin.

(It’s already past my bedtime, but I sure do hope I get time to come back and write more about this tomorrow.)

I can’t resist.

Jeremy sent me the initial link. Then I read Leah’s thoroughly amusing post about it.

My chain of reactions? Jaw dropped, then laughter, then head shaking, then “EW, ew, ew!”

I’m talking about Jane Magazine’s … um … project(?) concerning a 29-year-old virgin. She’s cute, she’s blonde, she’s looking for someone to sleep with her!

I didn’t believe it at first either. Actually, I’m still not FULLY convinced. This whole shebang has only been rolling for a couple days. Is it all crap? A manufactured stunt? I have no idea.

Glamour launched a similar dating-reality-blog last week. But that just looks at dating. It’s not a whole campaign (yep - a buffet of interactive goodies, including a blog) geared toward getting someone laid.

Leah was smart to point out the PERMANENT implications of Jane’s now famous virgin, Sarah:

Sarah, you do know about Google right? You do know about how many bloggers have already picked this up? Even the Huffington Post! With your last name? Is there the slightest chance you want a job in the future? (Her current boss has weighed in on who she should sleep with.) Or a mother-in-law? Google Cache lives FOREVER!

But maybe … this is all a stunt. Maybe Sarah isn’t even her real name. In which case, she’s safe from a life of potential ridicule and shame and joblessness due to that darn Google juice. (Sort of. Lest we forget her picture is being plastered everywhere on the Web. And bloggers have a way of uncovering the TRUTH anyway.)

Time will tell. Nonetheless, VERY interesting marketing move.

(And no, Jeremy, I will not nominate you as a contender — she might be psycho!!!)