Coyne PR Industy Hot Sheet 9/11

   

Guess which discount retailer is making a big deal about 9/9/09?

To recognize 9/9/09, The 99 Cents Only Store is throwing weddings for nine couples created entirely from products found in their stores – the centerpiece of the promotion is the Chanel-inspired wedding dress fashioned out of 99 cent items including doilies and faux flowers

Rare yellow spider named after David Bowie

A newly-discovered yellow spider, Heteropoda davidbowie, was named after rock legend David Bowie in an effort to raise awareness about the number of spiders threatened with extinction; Bowie was chosen because of his 1972 album, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars

Money talks and social media walks

Some company is hosting a mystery YouTube competition with a prize of $100,000 – the company sponsoring the contest and details about entries will not be revealed until the official launch on 9/15; the mystery company is building buzz about the contest through weekly hints and by encouraging participants to tweet about the promotion to better their chance of winning  

Electrolux and Kelly Invite You to Send a Text for a Cause

As seen on Good Morning America, talk show host Kelly Ripa and Electrolux are holding a Text-A-Thon to raise funds for Ovarian Cancer during Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month; to participate, consumers can send a $5 donation via text or web site for a chance to win a washer and dryer set in Turquoise Sky, inspired by the teal ribbon of the disease

'Twilight' fans can happily get lost in corn

As seen in the Deseret News and on USA Today’s Pop Candy Blog, Black Island Farm in Utah has created a giant corn maze featuring characters from "New Moon," the second movie in the Twilight series – the farm creates giant mazes every year as a part of the fall Harvest Festival and Cornfield Maze; last year’s theme was the Ronald McDonald House

Does Adidas not care about Melanie Oudin?

Adidas is missing an opportunity to capitalize on the success of U.S. Open hopeful Melanie Oudin – while Adidas does sponsor  Oudin, their tennis website features images of female players who have already left the tournament; the article suggests that Adidas should act quickly to latch on to the rising tennis star before someone else does, stressing the importance of timing in impromptu PR/marketing efforts

Monopoly City Streets: So hot you can't even get on the board

On Wednesday, Hasbro launched a free online game, Monopoly City Streets, that allowed users to play the classic game on actual streets using Google Maps – the game generated 1.7 million unique viewers in a day, overwhelming the sites server, and many visitors were unable to access the game including USA Today Pop Candy blogger Whitney Matheson

Doritos offers more for a Super Bowl winner

Frito-Lay is bringing back their Doritos user-generated content Super Bowl contest for a second year, and raising the combined prize offering from 1 to $5 million dollars; Doritos will run three user-generated commercials during the big game, awarding prizes based on the ads performance in USA Today's big-game Ad Meter; Doritos also re-named Madison Avenue “Madison Avenue Doritos Drive” to promote the contest

Puma Unveils Bodywear With Strip Show

To promote their new line of Bodywear, Puma has created the “Puma Index,” a stock market ticker which features models (male and female) who strip as the market goes down, so that “if you lose your shirt, the models do too” – the application is currently available for the iPhone with a web version to launch in the next few weeks

TGI Fridays, Jack Daniels Burger and Woody

TGI Friday's has launched an advertising/Facebook campaign surrounding a “bet” with their #1 fan, Woody – if Woody is able to get 500,000 Facebook fans by the end of September, the restaurant will give the first 500,000 fans a free Jack Daniels burger; Woody is well on his way to winning the “bet” with more than 250,000 fans

Coyne PR Industry Hot Sheet 9/4

Cheese & Burger Society

To promote their wide variety of cheeses, the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board created the “Cheese & Burger Club” – a resource for with recipes for 30 specialty cheese burgers, and profiles of top cheeseburger chefs; the campaign also includes a Facebook fan page with over 40,000 fans

Audi Taps its Facebook Fans to Help Design Car of the Future 

Audi USA has launched the “Youth Mobile 2030” – a youth-oriented consumer contest where teens are challenged to design a concept car for 2030 –  Audi is utilizing  their Facebook page, which has over 300,000 fans, to raise awareness of the contest and to collect consumer feedback

Martha Stewart's Twitter Recipes

Domestic Queen Martha Stewart is now tweeting 140 character recipes; this is a great example of how a celebrity can use Twitter to promote themselves while keeping in character

Flu prevention messages go 'American Idol'

The Department of Health and Human Services launched a search for the best user-generated PSA on how to avoid spreading the H1N1 flu virus – they are asking America to vote on the top 10 finalists, posted on their YouTube channel, the winner will receive $2,500 and the chance to see their PSA on television; Elmo joins H1N1 flu fight –

the department is also using Sesame Street’s Elmo and Gordon in a series of PSAs to encourage flu-preventing hygiene among the country’s youth

'Oz' goes back to where it all began -- the big screen

To celebrate the 70^th anniversary of The Wizard of Oz, on September 23 over 440 movie theaters will replay the classic in high definition along with the documentary To Oz! The Making of a Classic

Schwarzenegger taps Twitter to fix California

California has launched a Twitter forum, www.MyIdea4CA.com inviting visitors to share their ideas on how to solve the state’s budget problems

Ben & Jerry's goes Hubby Hubby for Vermont weddings

Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream has changed the name of their “Chubby Hubby” ice cream to “Hubby Hubby” in support of the legalization of same-sex marriages in Vermont – the company announced the change via Twitter

Spay the cats before they ruin your Web site

In an effort to raise awareness about the importance of spaying and neutering cats, the Greenville Humane Society has launched a campaign featuring rampant kittens destroying their website

Study Shows Small Businesses That Blog Get 55% More Website Visitors

A recent survey of 1,531 business by HubSpot found that companies who were active in the blogophere had better marketing results than those who didn’t participate

How companies are benefiting from Web 2.0: McKinsey Global Survey Results  

According to a recent survey by McKinsey Global, 69% of companies say that the use of Web 2.0 has had a positive effect on their business

Scotland ad's fake leaves cause mini uproar

Scottish tourism organization, VisitScotland, was recently criticized for using fake leaves in a promotional photo – while many advertisements are computer enhanced, it is important to keep authenticity in mind when producing realistic promotional materials

'Forward' thinking campaign for ABC

A new print ad for ABC’s “FlashForward” features a black and white code which when held up to a web cam brings the computer to a 3D advertisement; this is a great example of QR Code or ‘URL Killer’ technology

Does the universe need another Twitter?

Yahoo! has launched their own version of Twitter call “Meme”

Coyne PR Industry Hot Sheet 8/28

California holds a garage sale -- with cars autographed by Schwarzenegger

The California State government is finding creative ways to bridge the budget gap – inspired by an idea from one of his 1 million Twitter followers, Governor Schwarzenegger has signed the visors of used cars in order to help them sell; the state is also holding an eBay garage sale, selling over 6,000 items including State of California coat hangers and confiscated jewelry

Wieden takes a closer look at gamers' faces

Sony and Wieden + Kennedy Tokyo have launched a new campaign for PlayStation 3, PlayFace, which features YouTube videos of facial expressions gamers make while playing

Who’s Driving Twitter’s Popularity? Not Teens

According to a recent New York Times article, the majority of the Twitter population is comprised of adults, not teenagers ; the article claims that teens are resistant to tweeting because they are more focused on a targeted group of friends, not the broad audience that is reached by Twitter  and that teens view the site as too professional for their use

SAS Globe of (Facebook) Fortune

European airline SAS has launched an online competition that utilizes Facebook Connect to give away free trips; here’s how it works, the user “spins” a digital globe and stops it wherever the hand lands is the destination, then the application randomly picks a travel companion out of the user’s friends, to enter to win the trip the user must write a persuasive entry on why they should win the trip – the catch? trips will only depart from Scandinavia

Your friends don't remember last night, but Captain Morgan does

Captain Morgan has launched an interactive website, CallingAllCaptains.com, which allows visitors to prank call their friends as a cute girl from a bar, an unpaid bartender or an angry boyfriend; a similar website was created to promote Snakes On A Plane – 1.5 million people sent messages voiced by Samuel L. Jackson to their friends

KFC's Double Down Sandwich: Is Chicken Instead Of Bread Going Too Far? (VIDEO)

As covered by Fox News, KFC has released a new sandwich in Rhode Island and Nebraska which replaces bread with pieces of fried chicken – despite its regional release, the low-carb sandwich has received national coverage in print, online and on television; most coverage mentions the low nutritional value of the meal, including a posting on famed fatty-food blog, This Is Why You’re Fat

Tricked-out cars urge you to hook up with 79 ChicagoNow blogs

To promote blogs on ChicagoNow.com, themed car stunts have been placed around the city – for example, the “Sex and the Windy City” blog  car was rigged to look like a steamy tryst; the mini-stunts have resulted in a 234% increase in homepage traffic

Who Would Watch a Show About Publicists?

Despite the failure of MTV’s PoweR Girls, featuring publicist Lizzie Grubman, Kim Kardashian has announced that she will produce a show about publicists; "Every week we'll have a different celebrity and a different crisis and drama...”

Kimberly-Clark set to roll out three Latin-flavored Kleenex boxes

Kimberly-Clark is releasing three Latin artist-inspired Kleenex boxes; the tissue company held a contest in March looking for three Latino-inspired designs to feature on limited edition tissue boxes

What's Going Viral? Thrilling Stunts and Hidden-Camera Pranks

The Advertising Age Viral Video Chart highlights the top viral videos from the week of August 17 – the top contenders continue to feature hidden-camera pranks, such as Office Depot’s “Penny Pranks” or unbelievable stunts like Microsoft’s “slip ‘n slide” viral sensation “MEGAWOOSH”

Coyne PR Industry Hot Sheet 8/14

The coolest campaigns, promotions, ideas and advertisements of the week...

PR and advertising are at a crossroads

As a result of cut budgets and the shift from costly print to digital media, the lines between PR and advertising have become blurred – PR and advertising agencies must now work together to survive the harsh economic client, combining traditional advertising tactics with buzz generating viral strategy, shedding light on the future of the communication industry; article provides examples of how agencies have worked together to produce successful PR-advertising hybrid campaigns

Microsoft takes off with giant-water-slide ad

Microsoft Germany has released a clever (but staged) viral video commercial featuring a man launching himself down a giant “slip ‘n slide” type slide into an inflatable swimming pool; the video has received over 800,000 views in one week

News applications fastest growing on the iPhone

According to recent data released by O’Reilly Media, news applications are the most popular category of iPhone applications

Intel Apes "Elf Yourself" Concept for Tomorrow's Stars` Site

Intel has launched a personalized video generator, “Tomorrow’s Stars Today” that allows users to insert themselves into their latest commercial; while the concept behind this application is very cool, the website has taken over an hour to create a 3D video – long production time may prevent users from sharing their video

Mad Men's Playboy takeover

AMC’s Mad Men took over Playboy.com last week, not through banner ads but by revising content to fit with the shows’ 1960s feel including traditional bunny-eared playmates and time-appropriate drink mixes; this is a great example of how advertising and editorial content can be combined to create a larger impact

The Honda Eco (and cheesy) Grand Prix

Honda has launched an advergame in Japan to teach people about eco-friendly driving; adverblog hails the site not for its game, but for the video intro which “is simply fantastic, very funny, very cheesy”; the advergame takes over 20 min to load, which could prevent users from playing

WANTED: Pop Candy guest bloggers!

USA Today Pop Candy blogger Whitney Matheson is going on vacation and is inviting readers to submit posts while she is gone

That banzai pool is very little

A community blog post featured video and images of disappointed kids with an inflatable pool much smaller than what was promised on the products packaging –

the video has received over 5,000 views since 8/9; comments on the blog question whether the blogger should blame Kmart for selling the product or the manufacturer for the blatant false advertising

Macy's Preps Star-Studded Fall Effort

Macy’s has partnered with Feed America to launch a new, multi-media campaign, “Come Together” which promotes family togetherness with traditional advertising and social media PR tactics and raises awareness of U.S. hunger – to kick-off the program, Macy’s is holding "World’s Largest Dinner Party" on September 15 at its 650 U.S. locations; the Herald Square flagship store event will be attended by Martha Stewart and Emeril Lagasse 

Photos: Making the World's Longest BLT at Iron Barley, 8.9.09

To celebrate the fifth annual Tomato Fest in St. Louis, Iron Barley restaurant owner Tom Coghill and a crew of 90 volunteers worked together to break the world record for the largest BLT sandwich

Domino's launches new dessert with delivery to Mount St. Helens

To generate publicity for the launch of Domino’s new Chocolate Lava Crunch dessert, the pizza chain took a helicopter to Mount St. Helens and handed out samples of the treat to tourists

Kid Vlogs from Apple Store, We Smell a New Commercial Campaign

Kids these days – tween vlogger Nicholifavs has generated a following for his lip-synced YouTube posts, generated exclusively at the Apple Store on 5^th Avenue in NYC

Facebook Grew Twice As Fast As Twitter In July 

According to internet marketing research ComScore, Facebook is growing twice as fast Twitter, a trend that is likely to continue following the social network giant’s purchase of FriendFeed earlier this week; the study attributed July’s growth to the addition of the “Everyone” button, a feature which allows users to share their information al la carte with the entire community

Day andNight

Interesting data graph of the population of New York City from day to night; the drastic change in traffic shows the importance of research when setting time of day for stunts and special events

Coyne PR Industry Hot Sheet 8/7

 The coolest campaigns, promotions, ideas and advertisements of the week...

CBS: Name Your Price for a Super Bowl Spot

Due to the state of the economy, CBS is selling Super Bowl ad slots for “best offer” – accepted prices will vary depending on length and placement of segment

NASA Crew Takes YouTube Questions In Spanish, English

Crew members from the upcoming STS-128 shuttle launch to the International Space Station (ISS) will be answering questions (in English and Spanish) submitted via YouTube – answers to the questions will be given during a live feed from the ISS

Madmenize yourself

AMC has launched a web site, MadMenYourself.com, which allows users to create their own Mad Men character; avitars created on the site can be downloaded and shared as headshots for Facebook or iPhones or as a full picture for desktop use

JetBlue and United give Twitter a try to sell airline seats fast

Airlines are using Twitter to alert frequent fliers to last minute deals – Jet Blue “Cheeps” and United Airline’s “Twares” offer seats at extreme discounts (as low as $9) for limited windows of time with hopes that the communication will help fill half-booked flights

10 Words I Would Love To See Banned From Press Releases

TechCrunch blogger Robin Wauters list 10 words she would love to never see again in a press release including leader, best, award-winning, revolutionary and synergy

Häagen-Dazs still trying to save honey bees

As part of their continued effort to save the honey bees, Häagen-Dazs is asking users to upload photos of them planting flowers to Facebook, Twitter and Flickr – the top three photos will be awarded with a year’s supply of ice cream

Mattress dominoes brings a sleepy British bed company to life

Workers at Bensons for Beds, a mattress company in the U.K., created a viral video of themselves breaking the world record for “Mattress Dominoes” – the YouTube video has generated over 300,000 views since 7/26 and has a five-star rating on the site

Oxygen's virtual plastic-surgery tool is ugly, any way you slice it

To promote Oxygen’s new plastic surgery reality show, Addicted to Beauty, the network has launched a web application that allows users to give themselves virtual plastic surgery; finished products can be shared via e-mail and social networking sites

If tandy sounds like candy, why go with "the shack"?

Following in the footsteps of Pizza Hut, Radio Shack is rebranding itself as “The Shack”

Canadian Mist whisky can teach you a thing or two about booze

Canadian Mist whiskey has launched a "Science Behind the Cocktail" tour, hitting arts and science museums across the country – the tour features the Canadian Mist’s official “spirits scientist” and CEO – “Chief Entertaining Officer” who will answer questions about the science behind the booze

The future of retail is here 

Facebook has now added e-commerce to their site – users can purchase products through company fan pages housed on the social network; this is a great opportunity for companies to reach consumers at their point of purchase in an environment supported by word-of-mouth product endorsement

What Is 230? General Motors Seems to Know

General Motors has released advertisements for “230” – but what is it? Similar to the launch of Disney Parks’ D23, General Motors has release a launch date (8/11) but remains hush about what “230” actually is, creating a bit of buzz for the brand