It’s pretty rare to come across a news segment that makes you stop dead in your tracks. It’s even more rare when it’s a heartwarming story. This morning as I was heading out the door to work and took a peek at the TV before shutting it off to catch the days headlines. The Today Show was doing their typical attention grabbing stories to lead off their newscast. Meredith Vieira kindly let me know to grab my tissues because this story was a tear jerker. A cute little boy caught my eye and I noticed his father was in uniform and I thought, ‘OK, I’ll bite. What’s this story about?’
To say that the next 2 minutes and 8 second of my life were heartwarming might be the understatement of the decade. I found myself at a standstill, staring at the TV with a huge smile on my face and tears in my eyes. I was speechless. Both Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira (who have broadcasted their fair share of major news stories) seemed to have the same reaction as me.
The first thing I did when I got to work was to hysterically call Lindsey and insist that she watch this clip. Her reaction was the same as mine. I sent the link to my parents, Mendy, and my friend Tyler. Everyone mentioned that the segment had a deep effect on them as well and some even admitted to crying (Tyler).
It’s so interesting how a simple 2 minute segment can have such a profound impact on so many people. I’m so thankful to the Today Show for running this segment. It’s refreshing to have a news story stop you in your tracks for a good reason. If you’ve got two free minutes (and plenty of Kleenex) be sure to check out this clip. After you do, leave me a comment with your thoughts.
Over the last couple of weeks we’ve had the opportunity to visit students at both Indiana and Purdue Universities. We had a great time telling PR majors a little more about what we do here at BLASTmedia. A big thank you goes out to all of the students and professors for their attention and great questions!
We love when our clients see increased sales as a result of the media coverage we secure for them. When it comes down to it, that’s the entire point of why they sign on with BLAST in the first place. But before a single editor can ever be pitched a client’s product or service, we’ve got a lot of legwork to do.
This week I’ve been doing just that—researching media outlets and journalists that will be a great fit for our new client BabyPlus, a prenatal education system. We definitely have to use a wide angle lens when planning a new campaign and go beyond the obvious targets—magazines that focus on pregnancy and parenting. There are so many people besides pregnant women with whom to share the BabyPlus story —soon-to-be fathers, couples just beginning to think about starting families, grandparents, women who have pregnant friends, obstetricians, pediatricians, educators and so on. Of course there are freelancers who reach these audiences, along with broadcast and online outlets. Today, the term ‘online’ encompasses so much— including online magazines, blogs and podcast that are read, viewed, or heard by our target audiences. General women’s interest magazines, like Glamour and Redbook are also a fit as they each have writers who cover parenting topics. Even though their readers might not be pregnant now, they might be soon or they could have friends, coworkers, or sisters who are. We can’t forget where grandparents get their news either—BabyPlus is an ideal gift for them to give their adult children.
I really believe in BabyPlus’ ability to boost a child’s mental development and the breadth of press who will be interested is very wide. I’m confident that our client will be happy with the coverage we secure and I really hope our hard work will result in soon-to-be parents learning about a new way they can raise healthy children. After all, you know what they say—it takes a village. Here at BLASTmedia, we’re just other villagers.
There has been a lot online over the last couple of days about popular blogger Kathy Sierra and the death threats posted on her blog and elsewhere on the Web (if you haven’t seen it, you can read about it here and here) Obviously, I think this is tragic, scary, stupid, and all in all a sad commentary on how the internet can provide individuals with a sense of freedom and anonymity that can cause them to behave in ways they normally would not. As “citizen journalism” (blogs, wikis, etc) continues to become part of the new Web, it is interesting to see what some people are willing to comment on, post etc. Any day of the week you can go to our local paper online and read multiple comments on stories ranging from immigration, to Purdue and IU, to city government - and read people ridiculing other comments, the subjects of the story or just random people. Are we really that hateful of a society? Are we heading down a path where well thought out arguments and civil discourse are pushed aside for name calling, threats, and sophomoric antics? I would like to think that the internet and the new forms of communication are providing for a smarter citizenry but then I see things like the Kathy issue and I wonder where we are heading? How far are people willing to go when cloaked by and ISP and a username?
One of my favorite things about BLASTmedia is getting sneak peeks into all kinds of different industries. I love working with a variety of clients/products and the endless creative opportunities that come as I get familiar with their businesses. Far from boring, the assortment of clients ranging from tech to health to action sports certainly makes for an eclectic “to do” list.
I recently started working with HangTimer- a quirky sports watch that measures, well, your hang time. As part of my initial research I got to work reading magazines like National Geographic Adventure, Transworld SnowBoarding and Outside. You better believe I loved every second of it!
For those of you not familiar with the action sports industry, I would like to impart some interesting jargon I’ve come across:
• A snowboarder doing jumps and flips is performing a trick not a stunt
• When racing motocross it is important to scrap- a strategy not to lose momentum by getting too much air.
• Backcountry is where only the extreme dare to go
• Bail - give up or fall while snowboarding
• Biff - to crash
• Dump - snow that has fallen or will fall
• Huck - when someone goes off a jump and gets huge airtime with no style
• Kicker - a jump
Having done PR for one company and then working at an agency, I know that agency life is for me. If you work in-house, make sure it is a company/product that you truly enjoy – you will be living and breathing it 24-7. I love the variety of my days and bouncing back and forth between interesting industries and companies. If you had to do PR for one company, what company would you choose?
Our San Francisco office has been up and running for quite some time and I’ve had quite a few BLASTmedia visitors over the last couple of weeks. I was lucky enough to have Kelly and Mendy keep me company back in February, was treated to a visit from Lindsey a few weeks ago for GDC, and hosted Heidi during a leg of Gordano’s press tour just last week.
While playing the gracious hostess I noticed a very interesting habit amongst the BLASTmedia employees – we always leave our office door open. That’s rather interesting considering we’re the only office on our floor to do this.
Every morning when I get off the elevator at the 7th floor of the Hearst Building in San Francisco and every morning I’m always sad to see that every other office leaves their door shut. My solution was to leave our door open and hopefully encourage visitors to our office! I’m not the only one who noticed my habit, it’s been pointed out to me by several different people – Brennan our fantastic landlord at the Hearst Building, our FedEx delivery man, even a random employee of the phone company who was looking for another office suite. My response was always the same, “Why would I shut the door?” I WANT people to come visit our office! I want people to check out our really cool new space and I want to tell people about what I do because, well, I love what I do!
I never mentioned my habit to any of my coworkers, so I found it even more interesting that every BLAST team member who worked out of this office also chose to leave the door open. When I asked each person about this, everyone’s response was similar, “We want people to stop by!” I think this attitude speaks volumes about the BLASTmedia culture. We love people and we love our job! It’s instinct to create a welcoming environment – whether it’s in our office or at a client’s booth at a trade show.
So next time you’re in San Francisco, be sure to stop by our office and say hello. We’ll leave the door open for you!
For over 15 years, Barney was a favorite member of my extended family. He loved Hershey’s kisses, confronting dogs twice his size and “singing” Happy Birthday and Row, Row, Row Your Boat. But his life came to an abrupt end February 24.
Unfortunately, Barney was also a fan of Ol’ Roy wet dog food – part of the Menu Foods line of pet brands that has been recently linked to the deaths of at least 16 pets. About a week before he died Barney stopped eating and drinking. He didn’t even perk up when somebody opened up a Hershey’s kiss. A blood test revealed that his kidneys were failing. It was time to put Barney to sleep.
Barney’s untimely death was the result of eating Menu Food’s pet food containing rat poison. Menu Foods, the manufacturer of 95 brands of pet food, had received complaints of pets dying after eating its food but didn’t recall any products until they’d confirmed the deaths were the result of the food. How many pets’ lives could have been spared if their owners would have heard about the potential problem earlier?
So Menu Foods, what’s in your crisis communications plan? So far, you’ve got a nifty little press release dated March 16 on your "enhanced Web site." I don’t claim to be an expert in crisis communications, but I think you could do a bit more. The press release wasn’t even distributed over public US newswires, despite the fact that a large number American pets were obviously affected. I tried calling both hotline numbers provided for worried pet owners to call—neither one worked. The Web site isn’t what I’d consider enhanced either— the most recent information is a press release from March 19, which simply announces the launch of the enhanced Web site and the availability of the defective hotline number.
I hope Menu Foods makes an effort to reach out to the families affected by its tainted products. A press conference is scheduled for later this afternoon—I can’t wait to hear what the spokesperson says. What do you think—will Menu Foods do more than apologize? How should they handle the dozens of lawsuits that are sure to come?
It's that time of year again - and BLASTmedia is certainly joining in the March Madness hype. Mornings are full of game re-enactments from the night before, there's trash talking at the printer, no piece of paper will be tossed in the recycling bin without first being wadded up, dribbled, pump-faked and finger-rolled. And, then there's the office pool...strange how the front runner is also the organizer who has yet to 'publicly' display his bracket choices. We think he's just bitter since Purdue has crashed and burned...Hmmmm...
I'm still getting my heart rate down from the Buckeyes win last night - whew! What a game. Greg Oden and Mike Conley are actually from right here in Indianapolis. Speaking of Indianapolis, Butler faces off against Florida tonight at 7:10 PM. As a Buckeye, and now a Hoosier transplant, I'm rooting AGAINST Florida, but would secretly LOVE to see the Bucks get their chance against the Gators in basektball at the final game.
The Indy Star is taking an online poll on who will win the game tonight against Butler and Florida - 57% says Butler; 43% Florida. According to my friends and family, it looks like the most popular Final Four choices are Ohio State, Florida, Kansas and North Carolina.
A recent study estimated that the typical fan will spend about 13 minutes a day on basketball Web sites. A different study from WorkPlace Media says that only 30 percent of workers plunked down money on office pools last week, and that two-thirds of them risked $10 or less. Among the findings:
- Thirty-three percent of us will wait until we get home to watch the action.
- Only one in 10 will go online at work to keep track of their picks.
- Almost 70 percent said they did not take part in a pool.
OK, so YouTube has been getting beat up as of late and is currently facing a small $1 billion lawsuit. Despite their woes, YouTube has been a source of joy for me this week and has touched the hearts of others in the office as well. I was told I missed one of the "best performances in American Idol history" (quote from Heidi) this week, performed by our favorite guy Blake Lewis. We were able to watch it on YouTube over, and over, and...well just check it out yourself. It was pretty money. Joyful moment number one brought to me by YouTube.
Then today, Mendy clued us in that she had missed last night's new episode of Grey's Anatomy, thanks to her basketball-watching husband. Ouch. Last night's episode was just OK, but it had a really intense scene that knocked it out of the park. Could we possibly find just that scene on YouTube? But of course. We were able to share the touching moment with Mendy and experience the goose bumps all over again. Touching moment brought to us by YouTube.
Do you think that YouTube will always reign supreme as the user-generated video King? Let us know your thoughts!
...and not all Account Execs are PR geniuses day after day. Sometimes we get stuck. Whether it is with a new launch idea, creative positioning of a post-launch product, a fresh pitch angle - whatever the case may be, we sometimes need help. We here at BLAST try to be inspired on every pitch, every product launch and every client announcement. But we are only human and sometimes an account needs some new legs. When we are running on empty, it is very important to get re-filled rather quickly - otherwise a day can turn into a week without throwing new ideas to the press. So when those moments hit, we depend on the insight and creativity of each other to help brainstorm, step back and reevaluate our positioning - usually inspiring us with different angles and ideas to get us back in the game. It’s a total team effort, and I think it’s vital to keeping our clients consistently in the news. What helps inspire you when you run out of ideas?
About 3 weeks ago, we started working with Clipmarks - a really cool and progressive Web 2.0 company. Clipmarks is a Web-clipping tool that allows you to clip just the text or multimedia on a Web page (or multiple Web pages) that you find most interesting, and automatically save it, email it, or blog it. Clipmarks has been working the rankings the past 30 days, and was just ranked the No. 5 fastest-growing Web 2.0 site this month. Brilliant! We just wanted to give our new client a quick shout out...congrats, Clipmarks!
Dear [!First Name!], I am a Foreign National commissioned from a small village in Nigeria…
Wish you could do something more to get revenge on those bozos who spam you with promises of getting inheritances from long lost relatives overseas if you just give them your bank account number first? I’m astonished by how many people respond to these scams—our friends across the pond have lost £8.4 million in a Nigerian e-mail scam. Recently, a former e-mail con artist went public with his tricks on ABC’s 20/20. Of course most of his counterparts won’t be exposed any time soon, unless they happen to email the wrong person.
Kudos to the ‘scambaiters’ for fighting back. They respond to the scam emails, acting like any other victim, but don’t give out their personal information. Instead, they get the scammers to continue communicating with them and do silly things, like wear tutus or sing imaginary songs, all with the hope that the would-be-victim is eventually going to send them money. Some ‘scambaiters’ get their revenge just for fun, while others do it with the goal of finding out the scammers’ identities to turn them into law enforcement authorities.
Now if only I could get my own friends and family to quit forwarding emails offering a piece of Bill Gates’ fortune for sending the email to 10 friends within an hour. People that I consider to be intelligent individuals clog my inbox with this junk all the time. Mom, I love you, but why did you just send me an email saying that Dr. Seuss’s Cat in the Hat would grant my wishes? Maybe I’ll scambait her into believing I’m the Tooth Fairy and will give her a shiny quarter if she only complies with my request…
Just flew in from Vegas, and boy, are my arms tired….
Working trade shows are a large part of what we do. Trade shows can be a great way for our clients to represent themselves and their products, all the while making great press contacts. I had the privilege of attending PMA this past week - the Photo Marketing Association’s annual trade show. The show took place in Las Vegas, where thousands of photo-industry retailers, members of the press, distributors and executives took part in the four-day event. I had a something happen that likely will never happen again, but proved that I could indeed perform under the worst of scenarios.
I was there representing one of our clients, VisibleDust, who makes sensor cleaning solutions for DSLR cameras. Unclean sensors are a growing problem among DSRL camera users, and VisibleDust had generated a lot of pre-show buzz. We set up more than 20 media appointments for editors to come by and check out VisibleDust’s line of products, and we were anxiously waiting our first appointment on the first day of the show. The first media appointment is always a little nerve-wracking—you want to make sure that you cover all of the information and you hope that the editor walks away saying to themselves “that is a product I need to cover.” Our appointment arrived on time, and we began our product demo. Amanda from VisibleDust, who was giving the product demo, picked up one of the sensor cleaning brushes just as bird droppings fell directly onto the product! We all looked up trying to find the bird and I’m thinking to myself, “Please don’t let this be happening.” Here we are, in the middle of the Las Vegas Convention center—an indoor venue—and a bird has just ruined our first product demonstration. Of all the places this disgusting mess could have landed, it was in our hall, on our booth and on the actual product we were demoing to an editor! I looked at the editor, who was just staring blankly at what had just happened, and simply said, “Welcome to PMA.”
There are times in this job, and in life, that things completely out of the ordinary happen. But, it is how you deal with these unforeseen circumstances (such as bird poop), that makes you good at what you do. I could have been a total girl about it, freaked out, and completely lost the editor. But everyone at the booth kept their cool, laughed it off and continued on with the product demonstration (with a new product of course). The rest of the meeting went really well, and needless to say, I think we left a lasting impression on the editor. After all, isn’t that what a trade show is all about?
I was recently visiting with some family I hadn't seen in awhile, and per usual, the conversation turned to what I did for a living. For most people, this could be explained in a simple statement. I'm an accountant. I'm a teacher. I 'm a clown. If you are a PR person, you know that explaining what we do for a living often takes a full conversation.
What was interesting is that, after everyone fully understood what I do, I received a collective "You have a really cool job." And you know what? They're right. What BLASTmedia does IS cool. Let's not make the over-generalization that all PR jobs are cool - some are downright boring and less than ideal. But, what we do at BLASTmedia is rewarding and exciting. We get to travel, meet with high profile editors and producers, and see the results of our work in the national press. One of the reasons we get to work such a cool job is because we are so freakin' good at what we do. Seriously. BLASTmedia makes up one percent of less than one percent of PR firms in the country, yet we could challenge any global agency to a little game of "Coverage Ran."
Hey, don't take our word for it. Sabrina Cook in our San Francisco office just got a shout-out from an editor at a Snow Industry Association show who was fed up with meeting bad PR people at trade shows. Sabrina was a breath of fresh air and he let people know about it on Snowhugger.net. Sabrina now sits with the cool kids at lunch.
Do you think your job is cool? Let us know about it!
Last Wednesday I was lucky enough to attend a preview for one of the most talked about art exhibits in San Francisco – Picasso and American Art. Now, unless you live under a rock in San Francisco you know that the exhibit at SFMOMA displays Picasso’s works alongside the works of famous American artists that have been inspired by Picasso. So, when the opportunity to be among the first to check out this exhibit came my way - I jumped on it.
To say that the exhibit was large would be an understatement. By the time Picasso died, he had more than 4,000 masterpieces. Seeing Picasso’s work alongside some of the greatest American artists was amazing and the complete breadth of work that was inspired by this man was astounding. At one point I found myself standing just inches from Femme Assise (Seated Woman) and it was then that I realized this was a once in a lifetime opportunity!
If you will be visiting San Francisco between now and the end of May, I highly recommend stopping by the SFMOMA and checking it out.
The New York Times reported today that there are new choices for taking care of the 4.2 million Americans over age 85. Do you know any of the aging Americans who need a little extra help these days?
I do. My paternal grandparents are 92 and 85. And, as they’re aging, they need some extra help with things that they used to be able to take care of on their own. It’s difficult for them to keep up with housework, like vacuuming, laundry and dusting. Preparing meals isn’t as simple of a task for them as it used to be, especially since they can’t drive themselves to the grocery store to pick up extra ingredients. Their mental and physical health is sharply declining and it’s painful for me to watch them deteriorate so drastically.
While it hurts me, I am not the family member overwhelmed with the responsibility of determining how to best help my grandparents live out the rest of their years. My baby boomer dad struggles—his head and heart at odds—as he is forced to make financial and healthcare decisions for his parents.
My family’s situation is pretty typical. My dad is among the 21% of Americans who are currently caring for an aging parent or have in the past. Luckily, he’s avoided the fate of many—he wouldn’t be like the 43% of his counterparts who have dealt with family disputes related to caring for elderly parents.
The graying of America and the struggle to help aging parents retain their health, independence and dignity is so prevalent that it has spawned an ongoing feature by NBC News. Trading Places: Caring for Your Parents offers practical advice for the sandwich generation of care givers, provides resources for information on aging and chronicles newscasters’ personal experiences with their own parents.
Have you been faced with the challenge of caring for an aging family member? How did you handle it?
