Communicate Your Success

Jonathan Richardson February 21st, 2007

Pizza Hut is jumping on the word-of-mouth bandwagon with a new contest that looks to “hire” an Honorary Vice President of Pizza. You can check out the details on their site, but the basics are submit a two-minute video of your love for Pizza Hut pies and hope you win $25k and pizza for a year.

I’m sure this effort will clear its ROI, but it seems like these types of promotions are already reaching saturation. With Cingular, McDonalds, NBC, Career Builder, Disney, etc. recently touting contests on You Tube, standout marketing in this arena is getting harder by the upload. I can’t fault people for wanting to replicate success, but as a wise professor once told me, “if you can’t be the first to do something, move on and be first at something else.”

Instead of spending time on contests like this, why not come up with a way for me (18-34 male demo) to order a large pepperoni directly from my Xbox. Now there’s a tasty way to market.

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Jonathan Richardson February 18th, 2007

The American Cancer Society has launched a fund raising effort that will give at least a dozen unsigned bands some quality time with major label representatives while raising money for a good cause.

The effort, dubbed “Download for a Cure,” is asking unsigned bands to submit an application and two songs to showcasing their talent. Bands selected for the effort will be featured in a virtual album available for purchase from iTunes and get some valuable face-time with A&R folks from labels including Interscope and Atlantic.  Proceeds from albumn sales on iTunes will benefit the American Cancer Society.

 If you are a musician looking to leave your play-for-booze gig and hit the mainstage, you have until May 15 to visit www.downloadforacure.org and rock out.

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Jonathan Richardson February 16th, 2007

ConAgra Foods announced this week that it is voluntarily recalling Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter produced by the company with product code 2111 imprinted on the lid. The recall stems from CDC information suggesting the yummy spread contains salmonella. A quick check of my pantry reveals I’m one of the consumers that should discard the product.

So now that I can’t eat the peanut butter I purchased, I need more PB for my J. As a consumer, do I give ConAgra another shot at my business or make like choosy moms (or dads) and choose Jif? As I don’t consider peanut butter an emotional purchase, I’ll probably just bring the label from my old jar back in and replace it. No harm, no foul.

I was initially concerned as a ConAgra press release stated I would have to “return the Peter Pan Peanut Butter or Great Value Peanut Butter product lid along with (my) name and mailing address to ConAgra Foods, P.O. Box 3768, Omaha, NE 68103.”

Translated, this means:

• Find box for lid
• Travel to post office to mail said box and lid
• Pay to ship box to ConAgra
• Wait for refund check
• Take refund check to bank and deposit so I can purchase more peanut butter
• Return to initial place of purchase to replace previous peanut butter

Instead of a peanut butter to-do list, ConAgra wised up and, as of 2/16/07, is now allowing consumers to return the product to the place of purchase for a full refund.

By not making consumers jump through hoops to resolve the issue, ConAgra has saved face and prevented adding insult to an already injured consumer trust.

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Jonathan Richardson February 15th, 2007

I typically don’t pay much attention to entertainment news or celebrity gossip, but I thought it was interesting that a memorial has been set up in Second Life for Anna Nicole Smith. Take a virtual look back at http://slurl.com/secondlife/(unknown%20region)/230/248/69.

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Jonathan Richardson February 7th, 2007

I don’t know why Pythagoras had it out for me in college, or what exactly a Golgi Apparatus does, but now I can brush up on a variety of thought-provoking subjects that eluded me in my more studious days with the University Channel Podcast. 

Maintained by Princeton University, this collegiate conduit features an assortment of academic lectures, panels and events in podcast and vidcast form. Institutions including Vanderbilt, Princeton and the University of Texas all have programs available for download via the University Channel Podcast site or iTunes. Now only one question remains… does listening to a Princeton podcast make me an honorary Tiger?

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Jonathan Richardson February 5th, 2007

Shift Communications has released their take on the online pressroom with a new social media newsroom template. I don’t know that the reporters I typically work with would use a newsroom like this to its fullest potential, but it’s a step in the right direction none the less. Better to lead the way and have to wait for others to catch up than starting from last place in an all hare race. Download the template at at http://www.shiftcomm.com/downloads/smnewsroom_template.pdf.

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Jonathan Richardson February 2nd, 2007

This year, the FCC will revisit regulations governing a company’s ability to own more than one broadcast medium in the same market and decide whether to relax current regulations that keep a single corporation from controlling what you watch, hear and read. And while organization including the Newspaper Association of America and Gannett lobby for relaxed regulations, activists are leading the charge to stop big media from homogenizing information and the media industry.

By allowing a company to own television, radio and print outlets in a community, consumers in that population face the risk of losing alternative sources of information and the character and culture an independently owned media outlet can bring. Even with other sources of information such as the Web, the possibility to influence public opinion or promote a specific agenda becomes very real when listeners and readers are presented with only one option.

Media deregulation also can hamper public relations practitioners working to advance their organization’s goals in a smaller community. Decisions made at the corporate level can squeeze programming or content out of a medium in favor of additional advertising space or self-promoting agendas. Time that was previously devoted to local stories or events is discarded to the angst of news directors and editors and now used to increase the bottom line of a company in another state.

Eric Klinenberg, author of Fighting for Air: The Battle to Control America’s Media, recently gave a great presentation at Vanderbilt University that outlines the dangers of media consolidation in detail. His speech is available via the Vanderbilt News Service as a podcast for those who would like to learn more.

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Jonathan Richardson January 31st, 2007

With the flexibility, freedom and viral nature of blogs and video sharing sites, advertisers and communicators now have even more ways to propagate their message and start a conversation. These new tools however, must still be used under many of the guidelines that govern traditional media.

In a recent example, vacuum cleaner manufacturer Dyson, Inc. was challenged by a competitor through the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus to prove claims made about the company’s product in a video posted to YouTube. The video, titled “Dyson Ball Video – Dyson has balls,” suggested that Dyson’s vacuum provided more suction and did not clog like competing models manufactured by Hoover, Euro-Pro and Kenmore.

In its petition to NAD, Dyson competitor Euro-Pro stated the comparison between vacuums of different size under less-than-usual circumstances was misleading and not a true head-to-head test.

After reviewing both positions, NAD issued a decision saying it considered the video a comparative product demonstration and “was therefore advertising and subject to the legal requirement that it be truthful and accurate.”

So what does this mean for those using social media tools to promote their product? In a word . . . nothing. Though the tools may change, truthful and honest communication is just as important now as it ever was. Just because there’s a new way to do things doesn’t give us the freedom to abandon our responsibility to accurately portray our product, service or goal.

Dyson has since taken down the video it posted to YouTube, but you can request a copy of the NAD’s report by visiting their Web site at nadreview.org.

Disclaimer: NAD is a division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, which licenses my employer, The Better Business Bureau of Northwest Florida, Inc. That said, I am not involved with any cases or disputes brought before the NAD.

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Jonathan Richardson January 25th, 2007

I know it’s advertising, but I like this spot. Rather than taking the standard route and shooting Woods behind the wheel endorsing the automobile, the commercial keeps your attention by doing something different. Watching people who most likely drive nicer cars than a Buick win an SUV isn’t captivating, but seeing the surprised looks and imagining yourself in that position makes it interesting to watch. Plus, it helps to remind us how important it is not to choose the wrong spokesperson to hock your wares.

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Jonathan Richardson November 1st, 2006

Thank you to everyone in Eileen’s ICM class that was present for the presentation I gave on social media. I know it was a ton of information to digest, but don’t worry. You’ve come a long way and are developing a solid foundation from which to launch successful careers. I’ve included the presentation I gave along with some links for more information on social media should you decide to further explore this burgeoning trend in communications.

If you have any questions, please feel free to post a comment to this entry or shoot me an e-mail to jrichardson@communicateyoursuccess.com. And remember, it’s about quality, not quantity. Finish college with strong writing and communication skills and the rest will fall in place. Good luck.

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