Category: Public Relations

Adopt or Dump a Social Media Challenge?

Cherith AndesBlog, Marketing, Public Relations, Raleigh PR Agency, Social Media + Influencer Engagement, , , , ,

Everybody’s doing it. Or more accurately, everybody did it.

The recent ALS Ice Bucket Challenge ignited one of the year’s largest grassroots social media campaigns with more than 8 million videos posted on YouTube alone. In a matter of months, the challenge raised more than $100 million for the ALS Association from approximately 3 million donors, including celebrities ranging from bubbly Justin Bieber to grim-faced Lady Gaga.

It wasn’t just a dump. The Ice Bucket Challenge became a tidal wave, an international campaign that no doubt will earn an accolade in the Guinness World Book of Records or a spot on Time Magazine’s top ten lists. An iconic demonstration of our nation’s generosity and passion.

Naturally, other organizations were eager to join the fun and show support with their own icy baths. And as clients sought our counsel, we encouraged them to consider two key questions before deciding to adopt—or dump—any social media challenge.

1. Who Are You?

Take a moment and reflect. In fact, feel free to loop the 1978 rock classic “Who Are You?” in the background during your self-assessment (we’re fans of mood music). Does the purpose of the challenge support your company’s own core values? Does the outcome align with your organization’s mission and vision?

Don’t get me wrong. Social media thrives on spontaneity, and in fact, it’s often “off-the-cuff” videos that build the strongest personal rapport with your audience. But viral trends, such as social media challenges or picture contests, can carry weighty messages that warrant careful consideration before your team invests in an endeavor. Fortunately, many campaigns, such as the ALS Challenge, support positive change for worthy causes—and it can be an easy choice to partner with these efforts.

2. How will you take it from icy to spicy?

Viral challenges offer the perfect opportunity to showcase your organization’s personality. How can you craft your own memorable moment by adding an extra dose of creative pizzazz?

Newland Communities, the nation’s largest private developer and a Clairemont client, stepped up their game when they accepted the ice bucket challenge. Rather than follow the typical backyard-bucket pattern, Newland incorporated a key icon from its own company—a dump truck—and drenched its team with a truckload of ice and water. In addition, the team bypassed the garden hose and used water from a nearby pond, addressing public concerns that the challenge wasted water and supporting Newland’s own commitment to sustainability. In the muddy mayhem that ensued, Newland created a video that earned a spot on the ABC 11 morning news.

Cause + creativity = a hefty dose of fun!

 

 

 

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Visual Fatigue? Laughter to the Rescue!

Cherith AndesBlog, Marketing, Public Relations, , ,

Intern Stephanie Zirker shares the marketing prescription to combat society’s visual fatigue.

As a society, we’re flooded, and it’s tiring us out. Our culture is awash with visual imagery: infographics that appeal to our inner statistician, artistic logos plastered across every gadget and live snapchats and Instagram feeds that vie for our short attention spans. The very act of filtering rampant  stimulation exhausts the human brain, leading to a condition known as “visual fatigue.”

Mayer’s Five Keys

Richard Mayer, American educational psychologist at the University of California Santa Barbara, published an extensive study on how the human brain processes visual traffic. He narrowed the essential principles for effective visual communication to five core precepts: continuity, coherence, signaling and segmenting.

Aesthetically engaging objects incorporate both words and images, a quality known as continuity. Effective imagery also streamlines information and demonstrates coherency, ensuring that the text coincides with the graphics. Signaling relates to the importance of connecting all the crucial points to form one comprehensive argument. Lastly, visual division of the content helps to narrow the viewer’s focus.

Mayer’s findings are calculated and constructive. However, there is one component not mentioned that warrants greater attention: the human component.

The Sixth Key

Last semester while studying in Florence, Italy, I was struck by (wait for it!) the city’s street signs. Yes! I said street signs! Some clever individual or company would replace the otherwise mundane traffic indicators with humorous – and sometimes edgy – cartoon versions. Following the discovery of these little gems, every stroll morphed into a scavenger hunt to document all of the creative signs I could find.

Fish Street Sign from Italy Stephanie Sign 2 Stephanie Sign 3

Never have I been more intrigued by road signs in my life. The signs sparked frequent conversation among students and even earned their own Facebook photo album. Why so much attention? Because they made me laugh.

Go on. Laugh a Little.

People’s strongest memories recall moments that made them laugh, cry or even blush. While visual communication in the professional world should never aim embarrass or sadden to win favor of viewers, emotions leave impressions. Videos that go viral or photos that attract thousands of Facebook likes more often than not incite some chuckles.

Remember Psy’s “Gangnam Style” (2,055,146,326 views) or “Charlie Bit My Finger” (749,153,849 views)? And of course, who can forget Saturday Night Live’s Blue Oyster Cult parody, “More Cowbell”? As Christopher Walken so famously said in that skit, “I’ve got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell!” America collectively memorialized that performance and still incorporates it into our daily culture.

Humor isn’t the magic bullet, but effective communication requires careful balance of Mayer’s four principles…and a little tickling of the funny bone.

 

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PRSA Leadership Rally 2014

Sarah HattmanBlog, Professional Development, Public Relations, , ,

When I was approached by the president of the North Carolina Public Relations Society (NCPRSA) about attending the Leadership Rally in New York with our chapter’s president elect Tony Arnold and website chair Lauren Parker, I was flattered and excited. The Leadership Rally is an annual event designed to help prepare leaders for the next year and beyond with important orientation, networking and of course leadership sessions. It was an amazing experience! Not only did I have the pleasure of meeting industry leaders and getting a lot of great ideas, I also got to spend three days in the Big Apple (but that’s for another post).

I gleaned important information on topics ranging from increasing engagement among members to financial literacy, and the highlight for me was keynote speaker Fred Cook. He is the CEO of GolinHarris, one of the world’s largest and most successful PR firms. Cook has worked with big companies including Nintendo, McDonald’s and Walmart, and big names ranging from Sheldon Adelson to Steve Jobs.

Cook’s presentation discussed highlights from his new book “Improvise: Unconventional Career Advice from an Unlikely CEO.” He told us about his unusual path to success that began with odd jobs ranging from tour guide to chauffeur. Eventually he found his passion for PR and realized there are many paths to success. Cook gave us his best advice from his long, winding and (what many would consider) unconventional path.

Here are a few of my favorite tips from Cook that can be applied to evoke the leader in us all, no matter where you are in your career.

1. Expose Yourself – No, it’s not what you are thinking. It is about getting outside of your comfort zone and experiencing new things. Pick up a magazine that is not necessarily of interest to you. For example, I often find myself reading Southern Living, Better Homes and Gardens and People, but in order to expose myself Cook says I should be reaching for the latest issue of  Guns & Ammo. The idea is to get you to experience new things. You will benefit from exploring ideas outside of your comfort zone and learn a lot about the world around you.

2. Ask the Captain – By literally asking the captain, Cook was able to talk his way into a job as a cabin boy on a tanker ship heading to Asia. In the business world the “captain” is usually a senior executive who can be intimidating to anyone just starting their careers or new to a profession. But Cook’s advice is to not be shy because the captains are the one who can guide your career.  He says if you aspire to be a captain, you should talk to them and ask questions every chance you get. After all, you never know where it might take you.

3.Enlist an Entourage – You’ve probably heard the phrase, “It takes a village to raise a child.” Well this saying can also be tailored and applied to successful people too. Behind every successful person, whether it is a billionaire, a politician or an entertainer, there is a team of people responsible for making them look good. According to Cook, there is always someone one step ahead of you, and you are always going to be competing with people who have more experience and better connections. So in order to get to the top, you need to start compiling your entourage now.

 

 

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Direct Mail…Effective Marketing or Waste of Paper?

Tracy LathanBlog, Marketing, Public Relations, , , , 2 Comments on Direct Mail…Effective Marketing or Waste of Paper?

I don’t know about you, but I am pretty quick to throw out direct mail these days. I barely have time to sort through the important stuff. I used to enjoy flipping through the catalogues, but with the exception of a select few, I have started tossing those as well.

In fact, it was a catalogue that sparked the idea for this blog post. Or should we say, the massive mailer from Restoration Hardware that landed on my front steps a few weeks ago. This thing was unreal…not sure how my mailman even carried it from the truck. My first reaction was…what a waste of paper! And being a PR person, my second thought was how much RH had to allocate from their marketing budget just for the printing and shipping costs for this beast.

Apparently, I was not alone. After doing a little digging it turns out quite a few people were turned off by this tactic. Articles like The Internet Tells RH What It Can Do With Its 17-Pound Catalog showcase some of the creative ways people have used their mailer. The response on social media channels has been extremely negative. Someone even created a Tumblr account, Deforestation Hardware, that is seeking to organize a mass return of the catalogs back to a Restoration Hardware location in L.A.

Surely some research must have been done for them to make the call to mass produce and ship these to households across America. Certainly they considered there would be a negative response by some, especially those who are environmentally conscious. And with so much shopping done online these days, are catalogues even necessary anymore?

So it got me thinking…is direct mail still an effective marketing tool? For all the marketing professionals out there, do you use still direct mail or catalogues as a part of your marketing mix? And for the consumers, effective tactic or waste of paper? We would love to hear your thoughts!

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Self-iquette: Selfie Etiquette

Cherith AndesBlog, Public Relations, Social Media + Influencer Engagement, , ,

Kaitlyn Goforth, Clairemont’s wonderful intern, takes an honest look at the do’s and don’ts of the selfie world.

#ToSelfie or #NotToSelfie?

Last fall, Paul McCartney claimed on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon that he took the first selfie. Former secretary of state Colin Powell made similar claims in March, posting a mirror picture he took in the 50s to Facebook. It’s caption, “Eat your heart out Ellen!,” referenced Ellen DeGeneres’s recent trend-setting “Oscar selfie” with three million retweets. Regardless of who was the first to snap a photo of this sort, we can all agree on one thing: selfies have officially taken over social media.

We see them everywhere. Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat–the list continues. Recently, there has been talk about selfie etiquette, particularly after President Obama was seen snapping one at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service. Celebrities such as Kim Kardashian and Miley Cyrus stay in the news constantly with their skin-bearing photos, and David Ortiz faced controversy with his Samsung-sponsored selfie. As communication experts, public relations practitioners and simply social media users, this leads us to the main question. When is it appropriate to take a selfie, and ultimately, what’s the point?

#ITweetThereforeIAm

People take selfies on vacation, in restaurants and even while sitting in their cubicle to update friends or followers about the hum-drum goings-ons in their lives. Suddenly, there is a social media frenzy of sharing every moment online, leading people to ask: “If you don’t post it, did you really do it?” Most smart phones are even equipped with front-facing cameras, enabling users to get the perfect angle on their self-portraits. This has lead to selfies following plane crashes, selfies while rushing the field and selfies while driving (#dangerous). The reason people are on social media is to keep up with others, but we’ve got to ask if the selfie game has simply gone too far.

#SelfieEtiquette

Next time you have the yearning to snap a selfie, remember these do’s and don’ts. It may save you from social media scrutiny.

  • DON’T take a selfie at a funeral. President Obama didn’t set a great example, but in general, a funeral should be a selfie-free zone. People are there to grieve the loss of their loved one, not to watch you try to gain Instagram followers.
  • DON’T take a selfie in a public restroom. Not only is this not the greatest setting for a photo, but there is also the issue of privacy.
  • DON’T take a selfie in the car. Not only is it obvious (we all see your seat belt), but you also should probably be more focused on, well, driving! Wait until you’re safely out of the car to pose for a photo.
  • DO check what’s behind you. You don’t want your dirty clothes or your Justin Beiber poster in the background for everyone to see.
  • DO choose quality photos. No one wants to see a grainy or dark picture on his or her newsfeed. If you’re going to post a selfie, make it a good one.
  • DO take selfies with friends! These photos are fun and maybe even Instagramable. There’s no better way to capture memories than through awesome pictures.

#HereToStay

The “selfie” urge is understandable: you’re having a great hair day, you’re traveling the world or you’re sitting on the beach and you want the world to know about it. Gone are the days of experiencing something remarkable and leaving with only a memory. Regardless, “selfie” was officially added to the Oxford dictionary in 2013.  It is here to stay, so we all better get used to it.

 

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