Bold Way to Get Us There - Extra Credit

    On Monday, February 13, UNT revealed the new logo, tag line and goals for the university. Since the start of the semester UNT had been doing everything to inform the students about the event that would be taking place. Emails were sent out multiple times to the students, the dean of students announced it at different organization’s council meetings and social media was covering it nonstop. I would bet that almost any student with on-campus classes (not under the influence of illegal substances) had heard something about the event even if they weren’t fully sure as to what it was.
    Teachers assigned extra credit for going to the event, organizations were asked to be present, etc. but the greatest use of spreading the message was how Twitter was in full use with news about the event. The hashtag #untbold was trending that day in DFW. Students had been enticed to attend for the chance to win a free iPad 2, bag giveaways and the anticipated windbreaker jacket.
    The event had such high attendance that attendees were relocated to overflow rooms once the main seating area was full. There was a nice musical number in the beginning and the first speaker was for sure my favorite. They picked someone with a great voice to start us off and hold our attention. I thought the brief history of our school was nice and funny at times. They did a great job of having each goal be read by a different person. The four bold goals are:
    1. Provide the best undergraduate educational experience in Texas.
    2. Provide superior graduate education, scholarship and artistic endeavors and     achieve status among the nation’s tier-one research institutions.
    3. Become a national leader among universities in student support, employee     relations, operational effectiveness and service to constituencies.
    4. Establish UNT as a nationally recognized, engaged university and regional        leader by building and expanding mutually beneficial partnerships and      resources.

    They did a good job about announcing the goals, but my opinion on the actual goals is for another discussion. But the wild crowd to get out of there and grab our free stuff turned crazy and students were running for the next place where the jackets and free iPad would be. The people working the event had told students the wrong place at first and some students took off to two different locations. There was a very long line waiting for the doors to open but it turned into a mob once they did and the students took off for the entrances. I was among one of the first people in but the confusion and craziness distracted me and I didn’t receive my free jacket.
    Once other students realized that the tickets for jackets were gone it calmed down a bit and they just wanted the free food next. It was crazy and loud but also fun. However a lot of the students felt tricked because they didn’t receive the freebies that were rumored to be there and then gave up and left.

    The talk about the event and the new goals and logo was still fresh the next day but after a day people seemed to go on with their lives and forgot about it. But the school just recently grabbed the student’s attention again by offering up another order of the jackets. The jackets have the new tag line on them and the logo which is an excellent way to remind people of this big change.
    The buzz about it on social media sites has become almost nothing now but during the event it received a lot of coverage. Local news stations were even there. All in all, I thought it went really well as events go. They seemed to manage to get a lot of people there from all representation of UNT and there didn’t even have to be a tailgate before it to attract people. I think offering up prizes for going was a genius way to get the students to attend. It was bold to have us all running like mad people to get inside but it was awesome and a memory I’m grateful to have.

Sources:
http://www.unt.edu/features/four-bold-goals-event.htm

Buzz About JK Rowling Sweeps Twitter - Blog 6

Twitter To Full Speed - Blog 5

    Last weekend I had the pleasure of going to the AFLV central conference as a representative for UNT’s Greek Life with the rest of the Panhellenic executive officers. Up until this point I had only heard about how important Twitter is and how important it is for us to learn it and use its full potential. This weekend I was able to see first hand how cool it is and how it can be used. I really wished I had a smart phone so I could participate in the Twitter frenzy.

    The conference actually asked us to tweet all our thoughts and participate with them throughout the conference by tweeting to the hashtags of #AFLV and #CFLNBGLC and the individual hashtags for each break out session. My only experience with Twitter that far was only a classroom experience. I just recently, as in this semester, got myself an account and used it solely for my class.

Example of AFLV hashtag use.

Example of AFLV hashtag use.

Example of AFLV hashtag use.

    After this weekend though I have found myself spending much more time on it and really enjoying it. I know now how important it is and see the potential for it in a PR world and for every company/organization out there. The conference tweeted room locations for each break out session or any important information that the people attending the conference could possibly need. I really liked the updates AFLV gave through it regarding times of events and weather updates. They even tweeted when and where the free giveaways were. I was lucky enough to be traveling with people who were able to keep my updated throughout the trip but I felt really left out when everyone was getting freebies when they retweeted or used the hashtag. It was really cool to see AFLV trending in St. Louis.

    It was well incorporated into the entire weekend conference and a great way to stay involved and know what was happening. I now see the importance and usability for Twitter. This is one bandwagon I’m happy I jumped on. If you have any doubts about Twitter put them to rest because it really is the new way.

Source:
https://twitter.com/#!/search/%23AFLV

JC Penney Stands United With Ellen DeGeneres - Blog 4

    Last week’s blog was about how Komen had a PR problem because of different side complaints from supporters caused by their different decisions to support or not support their grant to Planned Parenthood. I was disappointed with the PR for Komen and hoped to see an example of good PR to re-encourage me as a PR student and show me that it’s not all bad. I’m glad to say that JC Penney has charged the PR spark within me with their (in my opinion) well handled PR regarding their decision to hire Ellen DeGeneres as their company spokesperson.
    JC Penney announced that their new spokesperson would be Ellen DeGeneres and she had announced to the public her excitement for the partnership. However, the conservative One Million Moms group did not share that excitement for the new partnership. The group members are pressing JC Penney to fire DeGeneres and hire a new spokesperson due to the fact that she is a lesbian. The members feel that DeGeneres’ personal life decisions reflect poorly on the JC Penney company and is opposite of what JC Penney is supposed to represent. The group’s argument is that “JC Penney is supposed to be middle America, the place where families shop... and people who believe that marriage is between a man and a woman and children should not be exposed and propagandized in homosexuality have a moral problem with that,” said Sandy Rios, Fox News contributor. (Source.)
    JC Penney has been getting a lot of heat about their partnership with DeGeneres just like Komen was getting heat for canceling their grant to Planned Parenthood but JC Penney rose to the challenge. They stood strong behind their decision and came out and said they would continue the partnership with DeGeneres. I felt like the PR decision behind that was brilliant. No matter if people agreed with Komen’s decision to support the grant or not most people could agree that Komen didn’t seem strong in their manner to keep changing their minds. JC Penney on the other hand made a decision and stuck to it and displayed a strong and united front with DeGeneres. “JC Penney officials were unwavering in their support of DeGeneres,” said NBC New York. (Source.) Unwavering. A perfect word choice for this situation. A company and their PR should be unwavering or they look weak and lose credibility.
    The One Million Moms group is threatening to boycott shopping at JC Penney because of DeGeneres. I thought of it as absurd, but I wondered what a mother of those “like” beliefs would say about this situation. My own mother is a conservative, Christian mother like the moms described in the group. I called my mom and informed her about this controversy going on and asked what her stance would be and I was impressed with her answer. “Someone doesn’t deserve to be fired because they are gay and I’m not going to stop shopping there because of her. I love their clothes and low prices. Gay people deserve to work too. How is this different than when people refused black people? It’s not different which makes it wrong,” said Oralia K. (Last name unavailable for privacy purposes.) It really dawned on me how serious this is once I heard my mom say that. If the company had fired DeGeneres what message would that be sending? PR would have been a nightmare after that. I think the PR is being handled great with the company releasing statements that they will continue to stand by her and their decision.
    It brings me hope that even in the midst of all other negative PR moments there are still shinning examples of good ones. PR should be all day every day because if you are controlling things as they come up then you will be better prepared for when something bigger happens and you will know how to handle it. I think JC Penney handled this perfectly. I for one will continue to shop there and tell anyone who will listen to shop there. “Don’t back down to bullies.” That was what we were taught throughout childhood and this is the adult version of it in this JC Penney/Ellen DeGeneres/One Million Moms situation. JC Penney and DeGeneres won’t back down to bullies like One Million Moms and that is a prime example of a great PR decision.

Sources:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/08/ellen-degeneres-one-million-moms-jc-penney_n_1262623.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/08/ellen-degeneres-jc-penney-bill-oreilly_n_1263473.html

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/entertainment/television/Elen-DeGeneres-Responds-to-JC-Penney-Controversy-138924989.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/04/us-jcpenney-ellendegeneres-idUSTRE8121VK20120204

Komen Gets Fired At About Promotional Firearms - Blog 3

Susan G. Komen doesn’t seem to be able to catch a break. Earlier this week they came out and said they would not be giving money to Planned Parenthood due to a policy that denies money to be given to groups under investigation. However, at the end of the week Komen decided to continue giving Planned Parenthood the grant after rewording the policy. There are many people firing at Komen for these decisions and to top it off the NPO is also rumored to be partnered with a pink handgun campaign.

This week has been a PR nightmare for the communications people of the non-profit. The founder and CEO of Susan G. Komen, Nancy Brinker, released a statement trying to clear up the confusion as to why Planned Parenthood was receiving funding from them. Their Twitter and Facebook accounts are flooded with people from both sides expressing their opinions and concerns. It was all a roar on every social media site and it only got louder when they announced that they reversed the decision and will continue said funding.

Their PR manager must not be sleeping. From a PR standpoint I commend them for replying to every negative and positive remark posted. But, the Twitter page seems to be a regurgitation of the same thing. “Please read our latest statement” is one of the two responses that is repeated for a reply. Personally I think it looks bad that Komen has been so wishy-washy in their decisions. I feel that this reflects poorly on them. No matter my opinion on their decision to fund or not fund PP I believe that changing their minds, twice, lowers their credibility. In class we have been taught how important credibility is for any company. The last thing we want to clean up as PR practitioners is a credibility crisis. They should have stood by a decision. They made it very clear they would not be funding PP because of the investigation, but then came back around and changed the policy and went back to funding PP. It is this indecisiveness that reflects poorly on them. (Official statement.)

The backlash does not stop there though. While trying to handle the negative results of their decisions regarding funding they are also trying to handle the accusations of a partnership with Discount Gun Sales to promote a special edition pink gun for breast cancer awareness month. Discount Gun Sales was forced to take town their website with the gun, but I was able to get this link to a story about it. Right now on Twitter they are replying to every individual that refers to this gun company saying that “they are not an official partner of ours.”

They’ve also had to reword to say they have never been any type of partner. Yes responding to accusations of the partnership is good and providing the public with a list of official partners as well but they set themselves up for more speculations. People are paying attention to their every word and since they repeatedly assured the public that it was never an “official” partnership it left room for doubt. They had to come back and say it was never any kind of partnership but by now the damage is done. The doubt has already spread.

Like I said it has been a PR nightmare because of the fact that the rumors of the partnership were passed along fast. People are not focusing on the good that they do because there is too much talk about the funds and the promotional gun. This could have been handled better within the NPO and their PR reps should have warned them against reversing their decision. Be prepared for anything. I don’t believe Komen was prepared for this. Their image has now been changed to a cowardly mouse. No matter what side you are on for the funding you can recognize the cowardliness. It was cowardly to initially stop the funding if you believe the funding was appropriate and it was cowardly to change their mind and go back to funding. It portrays that they were easily bullied into decisions and did not want to take the heat for what they were doing but by not sticking to one decision makes both sides mad instead of just one. Their PR should have been faster in getting the gun site down and in releasing an official statement other than a tweet that the partnership was illegitimate.

This is a big mess for PR to clean up and I hope Komen and others learned from this. I know I have.

Sources:

http://yourlife.usatoday.com/health/story/2012-02-02/Komen-says-Planned-Parenthood-plans-are-mischaracterized/52938458/1

https://twitter.com/komenforthecure

http://www.facebook.com/susangkomenforthecure?sk=wall&filter=12

http://ww5.komen.org/KomenNewsArticle.aspx?id=19327354148

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/02/03/1061310/-The-Susan-G-Komen-pink-pistol:-Perfect-for-shooting-yourself-in-the-foot