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 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 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
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?