PR ImPRessions

First, let me say that my thoughts and prayers are with each family member and friend of the the 32 people who so senselessly lost their lives on April 16, 2007. This crime will cause so much extensive pain to so many. I will continue to think of all of the victims and families of victims.

But, now I’m going to look at this situation from a different perspective–a PR perspective. Will Virginia Tech ever recover? This universiy has been the scene of two shootings this year. Although the first shooting had nothing to do with the school, but with an escaped criminal and the police officers, it still took place on campus. Now, after family members entrusted the school with their children even after this tragedy, another tragic shooting has taken place. “The largest mass murder in history,” is what the news networks are calling it.

This creates the questions: How will Virginia Tech recover? Will parents ever allow their children to go back to a place where a gunman killed 32 innocent people? Why did this happen there? And most importantly, couldn’t this have happened at a number of colleges or universities?

Although we don’t yet know the answers to these questions, we will soon find out if this school, the students and the faculty will be able to continue after this tragedy. This is more than something PR can fix; this is a problem that can only be healed by prayer.

Instead of watching the media place blame, I would like to see people come together to find a solution. There are so many people who feel guilty today, and there is no sense in placing blame. After time for recovery, time for families to heal and time to let students recover we can start to examine this situation.

The world is a scary place. College, high school and elementary students in this country are supposed to be living in “the land of the free.” A place where we have rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. On days like yesterday, you can’t help but wonder– what’s happening to this country? Is there any way that crisis management or public relations can help with a problem so vast?

This time next month, I hope to be an Auburn University Alum. I will graduate on May 10, 2007, with a degree in Public Relations. I am finishing my internship at Columbus and the Valley Magazine, and soon I’ll begin hunting for a job.

During my internship, I have had opportunities to write for two magazines: Columbus and the Valley Magazine and The Valley Parent. I have written three “Daytripping” pieces for The Valley Parent. These 2-page articles are all about places within driving distance that parents can take their children to for a afternoon of fun. I wrote another story about supporting our troops for The Valley Parent. I also have written for Columbus and the Valley Magazine. I have written one profile and I recently completed a special advertising section about women in business. I interviewed more than 15 women, and I wrote 15 mini-profiles. The short pieces were half-page and full-page stories that focus on women in the area and where they work. The deadlines taught me how to complete projects in a timely manner and distribute my time.

One thing I have learned this semester is the importance of organization and scheduling. Taking nine hours and completing an internship has required constant planning. Although I’m struggling to complete each project, I am extremely grateful for my experiences this semester. I’ve learned that I love this field. I enjoy the variety of each project, and that each day is different. I love meeting new people in the community, and getting to be a part of exciting events. I enjoy being creative, and people actually appreciating it.

I am excited to begin the next chapter in my life, and I am hoping that it begins as soon as I cross the stage with a diploma in my hand at Auburn University.

CaringBridge is a nonprofit organization that offers free personalized WEB sites to families during times of trial or times of celebration. CaringBridge is “a place to heal, celebrate and share.” The CaringBridge mission is to “bring together a global community of care powered by the love of family and friends in an easy, accessible and private way.”

At caringbridge.org, a family can set up a site to keep friends and other relatives up to date with the current status of a sick family member. You can create a journal, and upload photos. There is also a guest book, so that family members and the person who is ill or hospitalized can read encouraging words from important people in their lives.

CaringBridge is great for families going through medical hardships, because it is an easy way to communicate with a whole group of people at once. When someone is devoting so much time to taking care of a sick relative, they also have to keep in touch with all the concerned friends. This adds pressure, and much of the time he or she should spend resting gets taken up with answering e-mails, returning phone calls and updating all of the concerned friends. They of course appreciate the thoughts, but keeping everyone informed is a job in itself. When a parent, spouse or child is ill, a person really doesn’t need a second, third or maybe even fourth job. CaringBridge is a great way to keep everyone informed, thank people and save lots of time.

Caringbridge.org relies on volunteers, sponsors and donations to continue providing this great service for families. Make a difference, and check out
CaringBridge. This is a great thing for families in need of prayer and support.

As you know from my previous post, my sister lives in Enterprise, Ala., where the tornado hit last week. She was on the phone constantly for the next several days, and the last thing on her mind was her cell phone plan and how many minutes she was “over.”

Well, it’s not much in the big scheme of things, but the small things people do are what makes the biggest difference when people are going through trying times.

Anna called Nextel when she recieved her bill, and explained to the customer services representative that she lives in Enterprise, Ala., and a little bit about her situation. The Nextel employee told her that she was in Panama City, and told her how much they all had been thinking of the community of Enterprise. Anna then went on to explain that she had to call a ton of people in the last several days to let them know she and her family were safe. Anna then asked, if they had decided that they would make any overage allowances to customers in Enterprise becuase of the situation. The woman said that they hadn’t talked about that yet, but put Anna on hold to see what she could do.

The Nextel representative offered to move the time when Anna’s free night minutes begin from 9 p.m. to 6 p.m. This would usually cost an extra $10 a month, but for this bill Anna won’t be charged. And she can remove the service whenever she wants so she won’t have to pay the $10 each month.

It’s not much, but it sure does make you feel good to know that people care. Way to go, Nextel. THAT’S how you keep a customer!

Last Thursday I debated going to class as I watched WSFA. The tornado warnings were popping up like popcorn, and every time I looked up another county was blinking bright red on the small Alabama map on the corner of the screen. Then it happened, the Tornado warning for Enterprise, Ala.

Immediately my girls come to mind. My two nieces, my sister and brother-in-law live in Enterprise, you see.

The panic sets in. I decide to go to class, because I already have two absences and only three are allowed. On the drive to class, I call my sister and tune in to a radio station that is airing the television station’s weather warnings. I call her cell phone–no answer. I call her home phone–no answer. My face feels hot and my heart is racing. ‘Don’t panic’ I tell myself. I know my mother and boyfriend will say I am overreacting. Again I call. One more time. And again. Still no answer. The meteorologist announces on the radio, “All available state troopers in the state are headed to Enterprise; a tornado has hit.”

I am at the school now, and with my cell phone in hand I walk through the rain still dialing. Finally I call Thomas, my boyfriend, and tell him to continue calling her phone until she answers…she HAS to answer. I’m in front of the classroom now, but all the students are leaving–Auburn University just announced class is canceled.

Heading back to my car, I call my mom. She tells me not to panic. She hasn’t heard about the tornado. I call Thomas…he can’t get through to my sister either. And her home voice mail is full. My chest gets tight when I hear about the high school–they say the roof is gone. None of us know yet.

I drive through the rain–but I see nothing as my mind spins with terrible thoughts. I call my brother-in-law. He answers, and relief rushes over me. But it only lasts for a moment. He tells me he’s ok, the house is fine, and my nieces are safe. ‘Thank you, God,’ I think. But he says nothing about my sister. “Is Anna ok? Where’s Anna?” The fear takes over me again.

He says he doesn’t know. She was leaving her school, College Street Elementary, at 1 p.m. The tornado hit at 1:15 p.m. ‘Oh God, Oh God,’ is all I can think. I tell my brother-in-law to call me as soon as he hears from her. I know he is afraid, too. Neither of us will say it.

I hang up and dial my mom. “Mom–Thomas (my brother-in-law’s name is Thomas, too) is ok, the girls are safe, their house is fine, but we can’t find Anna!” She tells me to slow down, but I can’t. “We can’t find Anna! They’ve called in all the state troopers. It’s bad, mom, and we think Anna was in her car!” My mom is quiet for a minute. She tells me that she probably lost service on her cell phone, and she just can’t make it home because of traffic. She holds back tears though, and her voice trembles. I begin to cry, too. She tells me to pray.

I’m in my driveway, now. I go inside and stand in front of the television. I’m still calling–I can’t stop calling. No answer…no answer. They’re saying it’s bad. Really bad. It’s not just the roof at the high school. The high school’s gone. “It’s like a war zone,” a caller says. The fear almost chokes me. I try to figure out the path of the tornado. I try to figure out where she was driving. ‘Oh God…Oh God,’ is all I can think.

My phone rings, and I pick up before I look to see who it is. My sister–in tears. ‘Thank you God,’ I think. The relief almost makes my knees buckle. “Are you ok? Where are you? What happened?” I flood her with questions. She is hugging her daughters at her in-laws’ house. Her babies are safe. “There was a tornado,” she says through tears. “I’m ok,” she says. “I’ll call you when I can talk,” she says.

“I love you, Anna,” I say fighting back tears of relief. She says she loves me too, and she has 15 messages. There are many more worried friends and family members to call back. They all receive good news from Anna, though.

My family was safe, but throughout that day and the next, we found out other families in Enterprise received sad news as they searched for loved ones.Other sisters did not feel the same sense of relief I felt. Other sisters in Enterprise lost sisters or brothers.

I left early the next morning for Enterprise. I packed my bag, called work and went to see my family. I had to put my arms around them–I needed to see them and touch them.

Please keep praying for Enterprise. There is so much healing still to come. Some sisters searched and found what I most feared. I was not one of them, and I thank God. I pray for those of you who lost someone. Enterprise, you are loved more now than ever before.

AMBER Alert is a program dedicated to “America’s missing,” and was created to broadcast information about missing children and their abductors. It became a nationwide effort in 2003. The program is improving, and as of Aug. 3, 2006, 42 children have been recovered successfully thanks to this initiative. In May of 2006, AMBER Alert began a campaign to create a wireless alert system. This wireless system allows people to receive text messages which contain the details about the missing child and abductor. The campaign was developed to motivate people to sign up so they can receive the wireless alerts via text message. According to wireless amber alert, “The campaign is designed to educate the public about the program, inspire them to sign up for the alerts, and most importantly, increase the number of people who may be able to help in locating an abducted child.”

To receive the text message alerts your wireless provider must be a participating carrier and your cell phone must be text message capable. You are able to enter up to five ZIP codes, and you will only be notified when there is an AMBER alert within these areas. This campaign was developed by the Ad Council and involves radio, Internet, newspaper and outdoor advertising. To see how the wireless AMBER Alert system works visit Wireless Amber Alerts. This wireless system of alerts now allows people to learn about missing children any where they have cell phone service, making it even more likely for a missing child to be safely recovered and brought home.

To sign up for free wireless AMBER alerts cell phone users can go to https://www.wirelessamberalerts.org/index.jsp and enter their ten-digit number. The numbers are guaranteed to only be used for AMBER alerts, and they won’t be sold to any third party. There are no charges associated with the AMBER alert text messages. Go to http://www.wirelessfoundation.org/amber/carriers.cfm to find out if your wireless provider offers text messaged AMBER alerts. This social media campaign could save the life of a child, maybe even a child you know.

The talking M&M’s are characters we all have come to know in the last 12 years. The commercials are memorable, especially the Christmas ad with Santa Claus: “They are real,” says Santa. “He is real,” says the M&M. Both characters faint.

M&M has recently taken this campaign to an all new level, allowing the consumers to get involved online. You, too, can become a talking M&M now. At www.becomeanmm.com, customers can create their own M&M. You can make the M&M look like you, choosing your body shape, shell color, facial features, hairstyles, clothes, and accessories. You also name your character. You can then make a video or a photo with your M&M, choosing backgrounds and props.

This new campaign is being promoted with a commercial that tells consumers, “There’s an M&M in everyone. Find yours at BecomeAnMM.com.” The commercial shows a whole theater full of different-looking M&M’s. According to The New York Times, “In the first three weeks, more than 2.2 million computer users have visited the Web site.” This Campaign began on January, and Masterfoods executives have been pleased with the traffic that this campaign has created.

This social media campaign is a perfect example of how marketers are realizing that a large part of their audiences are now spending more time on the Internet than they are watching television and reading magazines. They also made a smart move by using print and television ads to promote this endeavor, guiding customers to the site by encouraging them to become an M&M and listing the site at the bottom of the page or screen.

Visitors to the site can use their M&M characters to create video or photos, and then e-mail “themselves” to friends, send them to thier cell phones, or send them through IM’s. This campaign was created by M&M’s ad agency, BBDO Worldwide in New York and the public relations efforts are being handled by the offices of Weber Shandwick.

This new online campaign is in response to audiences’ ability to skip over commercials because of features like TiVo, and also the increasing popularity of viral marketing. I’ve already made myself an M&M. It’s a cute idea, and as soon as I saw the ad it perked my interest. Mars made a good move with this one, and it seems to have a lot of people talking. Mars might have suffered from the Snickers ad, but this M&M ad is getting great feedback from customers. Any time a company tries something new, you never know exactly what kind of reaction you’ll get. Using the Internet and viral marketing is sure to put Masterfoods ahead in the game of candy land. Go to the site and try it out. Become an M&M! http://www.becomeanmm.com/

Watch another become an M&M commercial here: http://us.mms.com/us/fungames/tv/play_wmv.jsp?movieid=MZFM0051_Animation

Snickers definitely created a stir with their newest attempted ad campaign, but probably not in the way they hoped. Masterbrand, the company that owns Snickers, pulled the ad which was perceived as “Anti-gay” and “encouraging violence towards gay people.” The ad features two men who both begin eating a Snickers bar at different ends. When they get to the middle they “accidentally kiss.” After they realize what happened they try to do something”manly” to recover from the man kiss. The men then begin ripping out chest hair to show that they’re still tough.

Snickers had a whole campaign planned out that involved filming NFL players as they watched the ad, having a WEB site where audiences could go watch and vote on alternate endings to the commercial and then premiering the commercial with the most votes at the Daytona 500. But the controversy stopped this campaign in its tracks.

But did Snickers not know that an ad like this was bound to make some group angry? And especially since the issues with the cast of Grey’s Anatomy have been so recently public? OR…one wonders if this amount of attention was exactly what Snickers wanted. No–They probably did not expect the whole campaign to be cancelled, but they definitely knew they were going to start a stir. The two most controversial ads, Snickers and the GM ad, are the only two ads that are still being discussed two weeks after the Super Bowl.

The Snickers ad may have made a lot of people angry, but you have to give Masterfoods credit for not only pulling the ad quickly and apologizing to its consumers, but also for keeping the name of its product in the news for two weeks after the ad was pulled. The talk about Snickers might be negative right now, but at least the company moved fast. They pulled the ad and apologized. They did not wait two weeks and ignore the problem. You have to give them some credit. At least THEY remembered a major rule about PR. Damage control has to be quick and honest. The ad may have failed, but the team who dealt with the aftermath certainly did not.

Watch the controversial ad here:

The largest network in the world for independent PR firms, Worldcom, recently formed a “Global Rapid Response Team.” This is a team of PR practitioners located in different countries around the world that specialize in dealing with clients’ emergencies. They are the new “911″ of company crisis. The response team will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Tom Donoghue is chairman of the Worldcom crisis team, and he is also available all hours of every day. According to www.odwyerpr.com, the Worldcom crisis team has “100 offices in 133 cities on six continents.” With so many locations, this group of PR pros can be almost anywhere in just a quick skip.

So my question is, if I decide to do crisis management, when do I sleep? I’ve always been attracted to the nail-biter endings. I work well under pressure even though it terrifies me, and I really like the adrenaline rush of a good scare. With all that said, crisis management sounds great to me. A different company with a new problem to solve every day sounds like a fun challenge.

But the no sleep part…I was hoping that after college maybe those sleepless nights would become less frequent. One of the difficult things about college is that each day’s schedule is different. Some days you’re waking up at 5 a.m. and some nights you’re up until 5 a.m. The schedule doesn’t matter because the deadlines have to be met.

I am completely aware that when I begin work in the “real world” there will be even more work, but I was looking forward to the regularity of that schedule. Going to work at the same time every day and getting into a routine is good for everybody. Pediatricians always told us that when we were in elementary school, but you can’t do it in college. So you run yourself ragged going to school, socializing, studying, studying, maybe some sleeping, and going to school. And even those activities are in a random order every day, and some of them don’t always get done.

I guess what I’m saying is, The Worldcom’s “Global Rapid Response Team” sounds like a great idea, and it sounds like a “client in trouble’s dream come true.” It even sounds like a fun career! I guess all this means that I might as well get into the routine of having no routine. I’ll just keep making sure the important stuff gets done, and hope I can sleep when I’m dead.

Today, I finally decided to take a stab at writing a story that I have avoided working on for several weeks. As a senior in public relations at Auburn University, I am interning at a local magazine. The internship has been a dream come true so far, giving me opportunities to write feature stories, watch the development of the magazine, learn about advertising and participate in the “behind the scenes” work. Another perk is that I work at a magazine that shares office space with its PR firm, giving me a variety of experience in different areas.

I was honored when I was assigned a feature story for the April/May issue, and I began preparing questions for an interview right away. After one cancelled interview, and several rounds of phone tag, I finally interviewed my subject. Since the interview, I have procrastinated instead of writing the story immediately.

Now, I have good reason for my procrastination. This story is unlike any story I have ever heard or read, and I’m worried that my words won’t justify the beauty of the story. I just can’t seem to bring my pen to paper (or fingers to keys). I have completed every single assignment for school, folded my clothes, cleaned my bathroom and organized my shoes.

I am now an expert at procrastination, but the deadline can no longer be ignored. Tomorrow, at 8 a.m. CST, I need to have that story written, edited and edited again. So for now, I’m going to take of my PR hat, and put on my feature writing hat. But if anyone has any future suggestions or remedies for writer’s block, please send them my way! I work the best when I’m under pressure, but the ticking clock and approaching deadline sure do make me nervous.