We love receiving gifts from clients, even if it is for their own shameless self-promotion! Harl from SmartShield surprised us this week with a care package filled with...ball caps. Ball caps with the SmartShield logo on them. But the cool factor doesn't end with decals, these hats actually have SPF 30 embedded in the material. That is some serious sun protection. And right in time for the National Skin Cancer Awareness Month (May). Thanks Harl!
Here at BLAST we pride ourselves on the relationships we build not only with our clients or editors, but those who enter and serve our office. One of our favorites happens to be our office UPS delivery man, Bill Carlen.
Not only do we look forward to his daily visits to our office, but we keep track of his weekend activities as a semi-pro quarterback for the NorCal Lawmen. Last weekend we had the honor of watching our first semi-pro game as we cheered for our local UPS friend.
While the team may have lost, they are currently 5-1 and most likely headed to the playoffs. Keep up the good work both on and off the field Bill!
Blast's Pro Bikeboard team of one tackles world's windiest street. Jess braves tourists and taxis; she flies by inquisitive camera holders and laughing coworkers. And man, are those brakes loud!
It's a big week for the San Francisco Giants as they commemorated the first Major League regular-season game played on the West Coast 50 years ago! As we had visitors from our Indianapolis office in town, we thought we should share the baseball experience with them. So, we bundled up as it was a chilly night and enjoyed cold beers, hot dogs, nachos, Cracker Jacks and I think someone had a slice of pizza as well. Needless to say we had a great time....and, walked home to burn some calories!
It used to be that Media Relations was a game of phone tag, snail mail and riding the fine line between persistence and patience. Then the internet and email introduced PR pros to the future of the industry; to bloggers and same day coverage; eliminating the need for patience! OK, not completely... yet. Still, we happily let the fax collect dust; eagerly turned our backs on pens and paper and embraced online reviews. We tell newbies of the dark days when we would wait for the mailman to bring word from editors and the like.
Well thank god for email and FedEx, I say. But those services are old news. I'm more interested in what's next, or rather now for our industry. Lately I've noticed that a good percentage of my clients' online reviews use video to highlight product features. Not only is this media more engaging, in some circumstances it may bridge the gaps between consumer interest and purchase.
A great example of this is a new game by Fun Slides- Face-Off Frenzy PowerBand Hockey. The game itself can be converted into three sizes and is almost the size of a standard air hockey table fully extended, but the fact that FOF can be broken down and sold in a tiny package, causes confusion for consumers upon seeing it on the shelves of their local retailer.
So we arranged some FOF video reviews to show consumers the packaging versus the size of the actual game, how it's played and even stored, resulting in less confusion about what the game actually is, and more sales!
I foresee more and more of these types of reviews, especially as we continue to move away from print. The best part? You just need to know how to point a camera (like we did making my Carpet Skates video).
Gear Diary is a great example of a blog that uses these types of reviews. Just this week they posted a video review of Coghlan's LED Micro Lantern and Face-Off Frenzy. Thank you Gear Diary bloggers and all the others who follow suit! Here's to the future of coverage-
We are very excited to be working with Coghlan's, a world leader in camping and outdoor accessories. Although their catalog has over 450 items, we are focusing on a few of their newest products- the LED Micro Lantern and LED Clip-on Headlight. So first things first. We need the opinion of our unofficial, increasingly aware, Russian Reviewer. Here is what Michael had to say:
"This headlight is easy to attach and the band is comfortable- doesn't squeeze or pinch. I like the nice, round spotlight it gives off but don't understand why you need flashing, who works with a flashing light? The push button to turn the light on should be raised a bit higher. Overall I really like this."
Michael also suggested using the Clip-on Headlight for his dog on night walks. Hmmm. I'm thinking he may also be a pitch angle gold mine!
The 2008 Olympic torch is lighting the way for protests around the world. San Francisco had to cut our relay in half for the very same reason Olympic officials decided to bring the torch here in the first place- our large and diverse Asian population.
After the chaos in London and Paris, San Francisco officials were weary of the large number of Pro-Chinese vs. Pro-Tibetan protesters. Which led them to pull an April fools-esque stunt on the mob of spectators (some of which had taken off work or traveled long distances to be here). From Fox News-
"Then, at the opening ceremony, the first torchbearer took the flame from a lantern brought to the stage and held it aloft before running into a warehouse. A motorcycle escort departed, but the torchbearer was nowhere in sight.
Officials drove the torch about a mile inland and handed it off to two runners away from protesters and media, and they began jogging toward the Golden Gate Bridge, in the opposite direction of the crowds awaiting its passing."
