Edelman is way out in front with the use of blogs for public relations purposes. That's not news. News is Edelman's blog-savvy workforce using their skills to help dig one of America's most battered companies--Wal-Mart--out of a PR hole. From The New York Times: Under assault as never before, Wal-Mart is increasingly looking beyond the mainstream media and working directly with bloggers, feeding them exclusive …
No Vendor
Gracenet founder, Sylvia Paull, knows how to say no to a client. Sign up for lessons here: I like to help make strategy, not be told what I'm supposed to do as part of someone else's strategy, especially when people don't know what they are doing and think they do. I've had many startup guys come to me with some great technology they have developed or are developing and want me to do PR. "Who is going to use it? For …
You Can Comment But You Can’t Hide
It's in poorly constructed English, but anonymous postings may become a thing of the past in New Jersey. This bill would require an operator of any interactive computer service or an Internet service provider to establish, maintain and enforce a policy requiring an information content provider who posts messages on a public forum website either to be identified by legal name and address or to register a legal name …
Boards Plussed
Normally, the simplest idea is the best idea. But sometimes an idea can be too simple. When that's the case, it's necessary to have a great director lined up. Which is precisely what TBWA\CHIAT\DAY\SF did, when facing this quandry. They wisely chose Reginald Pike's Brian Lee Hughes to make their latest spots for Adidas. …
Introducing Brand-Filtered News
I didn't have to scroll far in Benetton's blog to find something totally unrelated to their core business. After President Bush and his wife visited a shrine in New Delhi, India, Hindu priests conducted a purification of the shrine. Not because of the Bush or his wife, who (like everyone else) removed their shoes before entering, but rather because of the bomb-sniffing security dogs that accompanied the US President …
The Hook
It's All Advertising picked up on Crispin Porter's podcast, an audio effort from Katie Kempner, VP of Agency Communications at the Miami shop. An archive of shows is available from Webmasterradio.fm. In one episode, Kempner discusses yogic flying with Interactive CD, Jeff Benjamin. Benjamin apparently used his knowledge of yogic flying to woo Alex Bogusky's assistant. The podcast carries advertising. [UPDATE] It …
Citibankers Up A Creek
Boing Boing is running a customer service horror story about Citibank. Citibank customer Jake Appelbaum tried to withdraw cash with his ATM card on Saturday night in Toronto. The ATM machine rejected the transaction and urged Applebaum to contact his financial institution. When he did, he discoverd his problems were part of a much larger fraud crisis at the bank. The supervisor informed me that there had been no …
No Qualms From BMW’s Writers
From The New York Times: Nobody had to pay author Karin Slaughter to put a BMW in one of her books: it's what the protagonist, Dr. Sara Linton, drives in five Grant County crime novels. In the acknowledgments for "Indelible" in 2004, Ms. Slaughter wrote, "I've had Sara drive a BMW in every one of these books in the hopes that the nice folks over in Munich will thank me with a shiny new 330Ci." Ms. Slaughter never did …
Digits Piling Up
From USA TODAY: Media and entertainment conglomerate NBC Universal Monday said it would acquire iVillage, operator of a network of websites for women, for $600 million in a bid to bolster its Internet strategy. The deal, expected to close in the second quarter, underscores the ambitions of established media companies to establish a presence on the Internet as the medium develops into a bona-fide alternative to …
Writers Guild Resists Advertainment
From The New York Times: A Hollywood union is stepping up its campaign against the embedding of brands and products in entertainment and, as they say in the movies, this time it's personal The Writers Guild of America, West, is making fun of the interweaving of sponsors' wares into films and TV shows with a so-called viral video that is scheduled to appear this week on a union-sponsored Web site. The video mocks Tyra …
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