Coyne PR Industry Hot Sheet 7/10

Here is your weekly dose of industry buzz:

Hardee’s Successfully Integrates Mass and SocialMedia

Blogger Neal Stewart discusses a recent Hardee’s “Name Our Holes” campaign – users were asked to think of a better name for new cinnamon biscuit holes for a chance to star in a commercial – and how it effectively used mass and social media in the same program

4320 Tweets

Airline V Australia has launched a contest challenging users to tweet once a minute for three days (4,320 minutes) during a 3 day adventure in L.A., to win a trip around the world – the contest promotes their 3-day packages to L.A.

Optimus Prime on Letterman

As seen on USA Today’s Pop Candy blog, Optimus Prime from Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen delivered Letterman’s Top Ten List on July 6 – "Top Ten Things That Sound Cool When Spoken By A Giant Robot"

Not the kind of viral you were planning for...

Musician Dave Carrol watched his $3,500 guitar damaged by United Airline’s baggage handlers, and after a year of complaints received no compensation, so he wrote a song and viral video about his experience entitled “United Breaks Guitars” which has been viewed 148,325 times since 7/6 and the story has been picked up by top-tier media including the Los Angeles Times (Smashed guitar, YouTube song — United is listening now); United has since contacted Carrol to “make it right”

NHL's Panthers Poke Fun at Themselves With Faux Campaign

The Panthers launched a campaign featuring agent Drew Rosenhaus who announced that he was hired by fans to renegotiate the 2009-2010 season-ticket prices – in reality, Rosenhaus was hired by the Panthers to create buzz for the team; the faux campaign features multimedia tactics including the use of traditional press releases, Twitter and viral video via YouTube

Columbus gets cascade of caffeinated water

This post highlights the work of Orange Barrel Media, leaders in wallscapes – large-scale 3D advertisements; this type of stunt-vertisement is a great addition to any PR campaign

What Your Favorite Social Network Says About You

A survey by Anderson Analytics claims that a person’s preferred social network is linked to their interests, buying habits and media preferences; this study provides useful information for deciding which social network will best reach a target audience 

Make a Night of It

As featured on Daily Candy Kids, Project Night Night provides homeless children with gift bags containing a blanket, book and stuffed animal to help ease the stress of sleeping in a shelter; this is a great example of an organization that companies could partner with by donating overstocked product

Want to Boost Sales? Tell Consumers to Dress Like Cows

Advertising Age discusses how Chick-Fil-A uses stunts and giveaways to increase sales and create buzz – Today marks their 5^th annual ‘Cow Appreciation Day’ where customers get free meals if they dress like a cow; the chain estimates 132,000 people will participate this year

Building Relationships is Foundation for PR Success

Yesterday's NY Times featured an article about the role public relations is playing for companies, websites, etc. based in Silicon Valley.  While the piece mainly focused on one particular PR person and her work, the key take away for me was that while the media landscape is continuing to change (traditional media vs. new media), one thing that is still of the utmost importance is relationships.  Whether it's relationships with traditional media, influencers, bloggers, etc., relationships are what help set us apart from other disciplines within the overall marketing mix.  Additionally, these relationships can't just be developed and cultivated through emails, tweets, etc.  To build a true connection, we must get back to the basics of one-on-one in-person interaction. 

Coyne PR Industry Hot Sheet 7/2

Below are links to the top industry and social media stories from this week.

Have a great holiday weekend!

Cannes Swept by PR, Integrated, Internet Winners

Tourism Queensland's "Best Job in the World" campaign swept the Cannes ad festival, highlighting the importance of media attention; the majority of Grand Prix winners at this year’s festival, including the Obama/Biden campaign and viral promotion of “The Dark Night”, incorporated non-traditional mediums into their campaigns

Absent Without Leave, Communications-Style

PR News blogger Courtney Barnes uses the recent Governor Sanford scandal as an example of what PR professionals should do when their client does something unexpected, causing them to hide the truth from the public

PayPal makes it easier to bribe your friends

PayPal has launched a micro site, “Do Stuff For Money,” which allows users to ask other people to do tasks for money; users send their requests directly via e-mail or post it on Facebook – if someone excepts the offer, users can pay them immediately via PayPal

Pringles banner ad worth a few dozen clicks

As seen on USA Today’s Pop Candy blog, Pringles has launched a new interactive banner ad that encourages users to click on it to get new messages – it’s addictive, and may never end

Google's Byline Search a Boon to PR

Google News now allows users to search articles by author; to search, type author: and the name of the journalist in quotes into the search box, for example – author: “Lila Branigan”

KFC Chari-T Shirt Contest

KFC is asking consumers to design a t-shirts to be sold as a fundraiser for KFC Colonel’s Scholars, a charity that provides students with college scholarships; the top 12 “Chari-T” shirts will be announced on July 13, and will be voted on by the public – the top 3 will be sold at KFC locations

Teens love events

Fuse Marketing and University of Massachusetts Amherst has released a study showing that teens believe that event sponsorship gives a brand credibility; social media came up less credible than print, online and broadcast advertising

Bloggers and Marketers Closely Watching Proposed FTC Guidelines

MediaPost reports on the FTC’s plans to regulate blogging practices, which would make companies and bloggers liable for any false content or failure to disclose their relationship with a company/agency; the post also discusses the upcoming IZEAfest (a blog convention run by IZEA, formerly Pay Per Post) which will feature blogger and executive commentary on the subject

Coke and Pepsi fall in love on twitter

Coca-Cola and Pepsi now follow each other on Twitter, at the request of the “Twitterverse” – what company will be the next to follow its rival?

You're only as good as your last idea...

A recap of Coyne PR's recent national media placements to the tune of Fatboy Slim's "Right Here, Right Now":

On Surveys, Petro-Sexuals and the Car World

One in ten British drivers think their automotive choice makes them look more intelligent.

Open this link to The Vancouver Sun to find out about men who buy Audis and other reasons why our profession loves a good survey for newsmaking.

http://www.vancouversun.com/Cars/Petrosexual+study+Female+owners+wear+sexy+lingerie/1744003/story.html