Content marketing in a B2B context isn't as sexy as launching a new show on cable, making a glossy magazine, or cutting a record, but it can be entertaining and informative to a broad audience, nevertheless. Take the Free Press online newsroom from Intel. Social Media Today calls it a "leading example of not only how to integrate social media but also how to create content aimed at more than just …
You Might Have A Beef With “Pink Slime” But Its Makers Have A Beef With That Name
If you want a good lesson in the power of words, branding, and crisis PR, consider the case of a product its maker calls "lean, finely textured beef" and others call "pink slime." The campaign to rid supermarkets, schools, and restaurants of "pink slime" is having an effect on its maker, according to the Huffington Post: Craig Letch, director of food quality and assurance for Beef Products Inc., declined to …
Fighting Words: Foamposite One Galaxy
Creating over-the-top-demand for a product (or service) is a what brand managers dream about. But in real life, it's a perfect storm that only a few will ever experience. Apple knows this storm, and so does Nike. I use the word storm not lightly. Last week, people began rioting outside shopping malls in Florida and Maryland, creating Black Friday-like criminal mayhem over a $220 basketball shoe from Nike. …
Continue Reading about Fighting Words: Foamposite One Galaxy →
One of Adland’s Stranger Marriages
Strawberry Frog has Leaped to What's Next, namely the acquisition of the firm by APCO Worldwide, a stakeholder-engagement firm (whatever that means). The strawberry frogs will no doubt want to know what it's like to work at APCO Worldwide. No worries, the stakeholder-engagement firm (whatever that means) has made a video to answer that. According to Stuart Smith of Politics of Marketing: The spin on …
KFC Tries To Be Finger Lickin’ Good Again
KFC is out to win hearts and minds with its latest family-based public relations campaign. The fast feeder gave one military family an emotional and unexpected reunion this week. The 17-year-old twin daughters of Capt. Cherissa Jackson arrived at a Baltimore-area restaurant to help KFC employees assemble gift packages, but the gift turned out to be all theirs. And check it out, the brand needn't bother making …
Continue Reading about KFC Tries To Be Finger Lickin’ Good Again →
FedEx Man Takes His Job And Shoves It
FedEx charges a good deal of money to move precious packages around the world in very few hours. It's a high wire act, and the holidays add considerable pressure on the company's staff to perform. Sadly, not every staffer is able to perform up to the company's standards, a fact that will be made increasingly evident, thanks to the number of cell phone cameras, and home security cameras in play today. The …
Continue Reading about FedEx Man Takes His Job And Shoves It →
It’s Important for Brands to Listen To Customers And Their Own Conscience
TLC's new show "All-American Muslim" is a nightmare for Lowe's, and an example to other brands of what not to do. The California-based home repair retailer was advertising during the reality-based program, until some racist wing nuts in Florida started making noise, which frightened Lowe's into withdrawing its ads from the show. While it is true that listening to customers is important, a brand team has no …
Continue Reading about It’s Important for Brands to Listen To Customers And Their Own Conscience →
End The Negligence – Send MBAs Into Action With Proper PR Training
There's an interesting discussion about the need for mainstream press taking place in the comments on Vinny Warren's post about the Chicago Tribune's lack of a clue when it comes to reporting on the city's advertising business. "I have a hard time believing in the old model where we lean on the press to reach our public. We reach our public directly today," I contend. Of course, there is room for both the direct …
Continue Reading about End The Negligence – Send MBAs Into Action With Proper PR Training →