Sometimes PR people catch a lot of flack and are stereotyped as deceitful and pushy masters of spin - see YouTube video below - or as ditzy, unimportant "booth babes" if you are a PR female. At BLAST, we are confident that the services we provide to both our clients and the press are valuable. In fact, we help the press do their jobs quickly and effectively by providing them the information they need (images, samples, interviews, specs, etc) in a timely and professional manner. Without PR people, journalists would have to work harder at their jobs, digging for facts, finding the right contacts to interview and Googling for more research. That's why it is always refreshing to get an unsolicited, kind email from a press person thanking you for the work that you do.

I received a brief, but impactful email yesterday from a magazine writer out of Dallas that simply said: "Thank you very much for sending me the hi-res images. I will most definitely send you a copy of our magazine once it is published. You make my job easier and I thank you very much."

While we definitely don't need kudos from the press to legitimize the work that we do, I have to admit it was nice to hear. Any PR people or journalists out there with thoughts on the subject?

Warning: Contains brief bad language...

P.S. Anyone know from what movie my headline is quoted?

Posted by lindsey at 04:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

It’s official. I’m homesick. I’ve been out in our San Francisco office for a little over seven months and it finally hit me the other weekend. What brought this on? Two words. Football season. High school football, college football, NFL. You name it, I watch it. There’s something about the start of the football season that’s almost magical. The air smells sweeter and your weekends seem to have a purpose.

I guess I always assumed that everyone in the U.S. was obsessed with football. Everyone I know in the Midwest loves it and would clear their Saturdays, Sundays and Monday nights for football. My belief came crashing to a halt about two weeks ago. You see, this is the first football season that I’ve spent outside of the Midwest and I realized everyone isn’t obsessed with football. Maybe it’s the fact that the games start around 9 a.m. out here (yes, I’ve had to set my alarm clock to catch a Purdue game). I will admit that the football games just seem a little off when, instead of eating hot wings, you’re eating Eggs Benedict. And I’ll also admit that it seemed a little odd to be hitting up a sports bar at 9 a.m. on a Saturday.

So maybe it is the time difference or maybe it’s just different out here, but you don’t come across nearly as many crazed football fans here. Don’t get me wrong, San Francisco has its fair share of unique, crazed individuals. For example, we have the San Francisco Twins and the World Famous Bush Man, but I really can’t believe there aren’t more football nuts like me. I suppose it’s just something I’ll need to get used to and maybe I can slowly turn San Francisco into a football city! Stay tuned for more details!

Posted by sabrina at 02:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

It’s crazy how much time Americans spend at work. And we're not the only people who think so. -The rest of the world thinks we’re crazy because of the hours spent working and the amount of vacation time we take. My Aunts and Uncles live in Germany (both of my Aunts married Germans…long story, best told while drinking German beer). My Aunts have now lived there for over 30 years and have long forgotten the American work day/week/month/year. Every German has a mandatory 6 week vacation schedule (that’s right 6 weeks!). Our average 2 week a year vacation is a source of dumbfoundment (made up word) for them. –Crazy for them to understand our work habits and crazy for us to think about a 6 week vacation (seriously, 6 WEEKS!?).

So, my point of this blog posting isn’t to rant or rave about working too much or too long. My point is this: If we are going to spend most of our lives at the office, doesn’t it make sense to work somewhere where you love the people you work with and love what you do? I can’t imagine showing up everyday of the rest of my life to a job that I don’t love -and not work with bright and interesting people who challenge me to be better at what I do. I run into far too many people who spend a majority of their life working somewhere that doesn’t inspire them and are surrounded by uninspiring people.

As I tell my relatives in Germany, there is a reason why we have the number economy in the world: we work hard. Now, if we can just figure out how to play harder and for longer, we’ll be in business……..Germany anyone?

Posted by kelly at 02:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

This week BLASTmedia is launching a cool interactive contest for FunSlides- our famous toy designer client that inspire kids to off the couch and move! Targeting big kids this time, our FunSlides FaceBook contest is aimed at the ever elusive group of college students by using their number one social marketing network FaceBook as a medium. Below are some contest details.

Monday, September 24- Friday, October 5

First 50 students to visit this page- http://www.funslides.com/facebook.html will receive a free pair of skates in the mail to use in this contest!!

We want to make you famous! Enter our Carpet Skates contest, make a crazy video, and we will post it to this Facebook page! The best video gets $500!!

Get the skates. Get creative. Video tape it. Email katie@blastmedia.com. She will post your video to this page and the public can vote for the best, funniest, craziest mini-movie.

Do not post right to this page- your video will be removed. Must send to Katie first.

RULES:
1. No Nudity, Drugs or Alcohol use in videos
2. First 50 to sign up here- http://www.funslides.com/facebook.html
will receive a free pair of Carpet Skates
3. Not in the first 50? You can purchase a pair for $19.99 at www.funslides.com and enter the contest
4. Best video gets $500

Posted by Katie at 05:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

One of the best parts of working at BLASTmedia is the opportunity to travel with our clients. Last weekend, I accompanied BabyPlus executives to Las Vegas for the ABC Kids Expo—one of the largest baby and children’s products trade shows. We had a fantastic time and made many great connections with members of the media! Plus, we had the chance to experience the world-class live entertainment for which Las Vegas is acclaimed when we checked out The Beatles LOVE by Cirque de Soleil. What are some of the fun opportunities that you get to do at work?

Posted by Carey Hart at 01:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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Posted by cmh at 05:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It’s been a rough couple of months for the airline industry. It seems like every day you hear another discouraging story about the number of delayed flights, irritated passengers, or rude employees. I travel quite a bit for my job and have spent my fair share of time in the airport. Just last Friday I had a return flight from Boston, with a layover in New York’s JFK airport. The plane was late arriving to Boston and late leaving for NYC (a special thanks to the screaming child who cried the entire time). Because my flight was late arriving in NYC I missed my connecting flight and had to take a much later flight. Once I was finally on the plane we waited on the runway for 90 minutes for our turn to take off. I should have arrived in San Francisco at 10:30 pm and instead arrived at 2:30 am. Such is life I suppose.

But, I couldn’t help but laugh the other morning while watching The Today Show. Their Travel Editor, Peter Greenburg, was doing the obligatory report on the upcoming Labor Day travel issues. He decided to give his list of suggestions for travel over the holiday weekend. The list was INSANE and if anyone decides to follow his “advice” I wish you the best of luck! I’ve included the list below with some of my thoughts.

1. "Fly direct." Easier said than done my friend! I live in San Francisco, a fairly large city, and I can’t tell you how hard it is to find a direct flight. In this day and age, finding a direct flight, at a decent hour, for a decent price is pretty tough.

2. "If you do have a layover, allow at least 2 hours to make your connecting flight." Seriously? 2 hours?! This is only a 3 day weekend. I don’t need to spend 2 of my 3 days in an airport waiting for my connecting flight.

3. "Don’t check bags." Great idea, except for the fact that about 85% of Americans don’t understand the current TSA regulations for liquids. This means that the lady in front of me in the security line has listened to your infinite wisdom to carry on her bags and is now holding up the entire security line because she doesn’t understand why she can’t bring her full sized container of contact lenses solution, shampoo, conditioner, and mouthwash.

4. "Come home on Sunday." Now this is where I draw the line! Isn’t the point of traveling over the holiday weekend to enjoy the 3 days that we have off?

My advice to you dear reader is simple. Expect to be delayed. Manage your expectations. If you understand the current travel situation then you won’t be shocked when things take a little longer than planned. And if you’re one of the lucky ones who can arrive on time, let it be a very pleasant surprise and catch a few extra rays of sun for me! What about you? Do you have any travel tips?

Posted by sabrina at 03:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)