So after talking with a fellow classmate about how our perceptions of public relations have changed and about what his plans are for after college it made me think I like his idea about sharing them with the world in a sense of advice. Take it or leave it. Advice and opinions should always be taken with a grain of salt.
Three years ago when I first entered college and chose my major I was so excited about public relations because the academic advisors made it sound like so much fun. I’m a people person. They said this would be great since I love organizing, planning and dealing with people. Well who would have thought three years later I would be changing my focus all together. Is it public relations’ fault or mine? There is no fault in this situation. People change over time and teachers change perceptions. Throughout my experience teachers in my degree never could understand why I was in journalism since I am letter dyslexic and spelling is not my strong point. I’m what journalist would say is an oxymoron. I can’t spell but I’m crazy good at math. And how did I end up in journalism?
At 18-years-old I thought I loved it. Funny how the advice I was given about boys can be held true about picking a major. At 18 you don’t know what you love. Well I loved writing and people. But just because I loved it didn’t mean I was very good at it in the world of PR. If everyone was meant to do PR then what would be the purpose of getting a degree in it? There would be no purpose. Sadly for me I found out three years late and one semester short of graduation. No matter how hard I tried PR and I grew a part.
I still love to write. I hope one day I can write and speak to young adults and share my story so that it may help them. My personal life story and academic story is one for the books for sure. But I can’t say that having chosen something else three years ago would have been best for me. How else would I have learned what I am meant to do? I wouldn’t have. I now know what I should be doing.
I want to go into higher education and student affairs administration. I realized that through all the hard times in school, I could always lean on my campus involvement to lift my spirits. At UNT we have amazing faculty in student affairs administration that were always there to be a friend or a parent when I needed one. I learned that I wanted to do that for other students like myself in the future. So what does this have to do with PR? Everything.
Yes, PR is about press releases, media lists, communication plans and so much more. But it is about human activity and word-of-mouth. I see PR as a form of interacting with people. That was what I was looking for since the very beginning. Maybe I was just looking in the wrong place for my people connection. The way I see it is that PR has prepared me for knowing how to communicate with people and spread a positive image to the future students that I will interact with. I am very thankful for my time, the good and the bad. Without any of it I wouldn’t know where to go from here.
I hope anyone reading this will feel lifted in the thought that everything happens for a reason. And my big piece of PR advice: PR is nothing like it is portrayed on Sex and the City.
Happy summer.
Showing posts with label JOUR 4460. Show all posts
Showing posts with label JOUR 4460. Show all posts
Friday, May 4, 2012
Saturday, April 28, 2012
UNT and the Class of 2026 - Blog 14
The second grade tour started with a full fledged tour of Apogee Stadium lead by NT40 members and Paul Batchelder, Senior Associate AD, Marketing. The students we led through the tunnels underneath the stadium and met some of the players that were there training. Next, they were taken up to the 5th floor to overlook the stadium at the highest point on the balcony. They were given a tour of the President’s Suite and the club level as well. They were so excited to see how the rooms transformed in order to host a press conference. 
The students were then taken to the main entry level of the stadium stands and were walking to the field when they spotted UNT’s beloved mascot, Scrappy the eagle. The second grade students took off running toward Scrappy hugging and jumping all over him. The alumni, current students and faculty in attendance fell silent with a proud smile on their face when the chorus of the song made it to them. The second graders were singing the UNT fight song with all their might and the UNT spirit was strong in them. “Visiting UNT with my kids was so much fun. Watching them run to Scrappy while screaming the fight song, having a picnic on the football field and a shopping spree in the bookstore all made this an amazing day. Or as one of my kids said, ‘Today was the best day of my life.’ Love the Mean Green and my Mean Green class of 2026” said Courtney Wright.
The second graders were able to have a picnic on the field with Scrappy and some of the athletic staff. They then were shown around the main campus and were able to see a real college classroom. The students were beyond thrilled and hyper to get to the bookstore and have their parents buy UNT swag for them.
“We should do this with all of our alums that are teachers,” said Paul Batchelder. “If we can get the kids out there growing up loving UNT then we would be in far better shape. These kids that live around here should grow up with the spirit of UNT and not the other Texas schools such as UT.” The tour was from 9:30 am to 1:00 pm on Thursday and took administration and athletics three weeks to prepare everything. This was the best example of PR that I have seen from UNT. It is not enough to just rely on the current students to tell their friends about UNT but for them to take the time and reach out to the surrounding schools was smart. And as Paul said, it is important to start them young so that they grow up loving UNT and when it comes time to apply they apply here at the school they grew up cheering for.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
College Students Use of Promotions - Blog 13
I was looking around a lot this week to see how college students perceive public relations. I was curious to know what most people know about it and think about it. This was a perfect week for this too because most of my friends are in the Greek Community. Two of the fraternities had philanthropy events and contests this week.
I was asking their PR chairs what they think PR is and most of their responses about were what I have come to learn as advertising. It made me think should there really be a define line between the two? Isn’t there a very good reason why the school combined the two majors into one? I have been talking with different employers and looking at job openings and so many are in the communications department where you need strong skills in both PR and advertising.
So the best word we came up with that described what they thought of PR was promotions. It seemed like a mix of PR and advertising. And this week I have seen so many ways of the fraternities promoting their event. They used social media in the biggest way I have seen them do yet. Part of their week long events includes Facebook “like” contests. The participants that have the most “likes” on their page will win extra points at the end of the event. And the Facebook pages are not limited to reaching just UNT students. Alpha Phi sorority had their page reach the the national level. Their nationals event re-posted the link to the page so that every Alpha Phi world wide would see it. It seems crazy that just a UNT event could reach that many people so far away.
The other fraternity also used social media but not as intensely as the other group. The Sigma Chis had their yearly event, Derby Days, this week and their strongest “promotion” technique they used was through the form of t-shirts. Something so simple went a long way. Just on Thursday when we were collecting money outside the union I saw so many people wearing the same Derby Days shirt. People were asking us why we were all in the same shirt and what it was about. This was excellent PR in the word of mouth sense.
It was quit a week for Greek Life. With the shirts, banners, social media and flyers all around campus people took notice. We were able to have many successful events all week and raised over $200 in one day for one philanthropy. The other events did just as well. And all week we promoted the Greek Preview Day that is happening this weekend.
All in all, I feel like I learned a lot from this week. I sort of thought PR was just press releases and fact sheets but this week was fun. From painting banners to sticking up Cut the Chis flyers all over campus I learned how others view PR and how in the real world public relations and advertising are mixed together and promotions is just as important as having a well put together press release.
I was asking their PR chairs what they think PR is and most of their responses about were what I have come to learn as advertising. It made me think should there really be a define line between the two? Isn’t there a very good reason why the school combined the two majors into one? I have been talking with different employers and looking at job openings and so many are in the communications department where you need strong skills in both PR and advertising.
 |
| Cut The Chis flyers. |
So the best word we came up with that described what they thought of PR was promotions. It seemed like a mix of PR and advertising. And this week I have seen so many ways of the fraternities promoting their event. They used social media in the biggest way I have seen them do yet. Part of their week long events includes Facebook “like” contests. The participants that have the most “likes” on their page will win extra points at the end of the event. And the Facebook pages are not limited to reaching just UNT students. Alpha Phi sorority had their page reach the the national level. Their nationals event re-posted the link to the page so that every Alpha Phi world wide would see it. It seems crazy that just a UNT event could reach that many people so far away.
 |
| Participating sororities driving around campus with their banners on their cars. |
The other fraternity also used social media but not as intensely as the other group. The Sigma Chis had their yearly event, Derby Days, this week and their strongest “promotion” technique they used was through the form of t-shirts. Something so simple went a long way. Just on Thursday when we were collecting money outside the union I saw so many people wearing the same Derby Days shirt. People were asking us why we were all in the same shirt and what it was about. This was excellent PR in the word of mouth sense.
It was quit a week for Greek Life. With the shirts, banners, social media and flyers all around campus people took notice. We were able to have many successful events all week and raised over $200 in one day for one philanthropy. The other events did just as well. And all week we promoted the Greek Preview Day that is happening this weekend.
 |
| Cut The Chis - Trenton Conger donating his hair to Wigs For Kids. |
All in all, I feel like I learned a lot from this week. I sort of thought PR was just press releases and fact sheets but this week was fun. From painting banners to sticking up Cut the Chis flyers all over campus I learned how others view PR and how in the real world public relations and advertising are mixed together and promotions is just as important as having a well put together press release.
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Internship - Blog 12
So I’m excited to announce that I got offered an internship! I wanted to talk about it and how excited I am to be doing it this summer. It is with Substance Abuse Resource Center (SARC) on campus. I will be in charge of all their PR.
I’m really excited to be vamping up their social media presence. I am going to start Tweeting out Tweets that students would be smart to remember. Such as, standard drink sizes and what not. Also, we are looking forward to working with Denton PD on getting statistics to Tweet about the statistics for at risk weekends.
I will also be working at the orientations talking to students and parents. I get to update all the promotional materials and presentations that will be distributed to them. This will be a really great experience for me in the PR world because so far I have only learned about it in a classroom and not seen it done in the real world. Everyone says that once you have an internship you will fall back in love with your major and I need that badly. It’s even a double win for me because I will be getting to work in Higher Education which is what I want to go to graduate school for.
This summer will be filled with a lot of research, writing, advertising, promoting and presenting but I am ready for it and can’t wait to see what it teaches me and I’m ready to learn.
I have never been more excited to learn from a first hand experience in public relations.
I’m really excited to be vamping up their social media presence. I am going to start Tweeting out Tweets that students would be smart to remember. Such as, standard drink sizes and what not. Also, we are looking forward to working with Denton PD on getting statistics to Tweet about the statistics for at risk weekends.
I will also be working at the orientations talking to students and parents. I get to update all the promotional materials and presentations that will be distributed to them. This will be a really great experience for me in the PR world because so far I have only learned about it in a classroom and not seen it done in the real world. Everyone says that once you have an internship you will fall back in love with your major and I need that badly. It’s even a double win for me because I will be getting to work in Higher Education which is what I want to go to graduate school for.
This summer will be filled with a lot of research, writing, advertising, promoting and presenting but I am ready for it and can’t wait to see what it teaches me and I’m ready to learn.
I have never been more excited to learn from a first hand experience in public relations.
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Handling The Tornado - Blog 11
What does this have to do with PR? It has everything to do with it. Right then in the moment UNT was creating a crisis management good or bad to be determined in the end. But as PR agents we are told to always handle the situation before it explodes. It’s easier to clean up a small mess than it is to clean up a big one. UNT had the mentality of go big or go home. The persona they were giving off to the students and the students’ families was that the safety and accurate information for the students was not the main priority. UNT is one of Texas’ largest commuter schools.
Source:
http://www.facebook.com/northtexas
Saturday, March 31, 2012
You're Your Own PR Person - Blog 10
What part of your personal life is private when it is posted to the web? At what part does the judgement start when you’re interviewing for a job? When do you turn on the charm and sell yourself? These are some of the questions that are commonly on the minds of college students who are looking for a job.
Over the course of my three years in college I have learned the answers to these questions. I never really understood at the beginning when my parents didn’t like the idea of me posting a lot of personal information on myspace, Facebook and other social media sites. Now though I completely understand. No matter if the posts are deleted they are there forever. Anything I put out on the web is subject to be seen when I’m applying for jobs. Nothing is private any more when it is on the web. And that means whatever I put out there when I was 16 reflects on me now as a college senior applying for internships.
That brings me to the second question. We all wonder when do they start judging us for the job. I have had the opportunities to listen to professionals come and speak to us in many classes. They all agree that judgement starts a good time before the interview. Whether it is when you drive on the grounds or walk into the building. Personally from my experience the best answer would be that is starts from the very moment you send in your resume. They judge you on that and go and look you up in LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. They will know so much about you before you even walk in the door. This can really hurt some of us because some students don’t see the need to present themselves professionally online when it is supposed to be social.
I have heard from professionals that if the person doesn’t look good online then they don’t hire that person. This means that we are making an impression at all times. It is not only important to charm the boss when you are in the interview but they are always watching and it is important to be on your best behavior all the time. We are our own personal PR. Anything I do is subject to grounds of how people see me. This is not only true for PR students wishing to go into public relations but true for every person. We are the best marketers of yourselves. We need to make sure that we are always presenting ourselves professionally.
I feel that as a PR student I have the upper hand because we are taught to please the client and present things to the public appropriately and effectively. I can take all that I have learned for how to handle a client and apply it to my every day life when wanting to present myself to the public. I am glad that PR has taught me that it’s not just for clients but for myself as well.
Over the course of my three years in college I have learned the answers to these questions. I never really understood at the beginning when my parents didn’t like the idea of me posting a lot of personal information on myspace, Facebook and other social media sites. Now though I completely understand. No matter if the posts are deleted they are there forever. Anything I put out on the web is subject to be seen when I’m applying for jobs. Nothing is private any more when it is on the web. And that means whatever I put out there when I was 16 reflects on me now as a college senior applying for internships.
That brings me to the second question. We all wonder when do they start judging us for the job. I have had the opportunities to listen to professionals come and speak to us in many classes. They all agree that judgement starts a good time before the interview. Whether it is when you drive on the grounds or walk into the building. Personally from my experience the best answer would be that is starts from the very moment you send in your resume. They judge you on that and go and look you up in LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. They will know so much about you before you even walk in the door. This can really hurt some of us because some students don’t see the need to present themselves professionally online when it is supposed to be social.
I have heard from professionals that if the person doesn’t look good online then they don’t hire that person. This means that we are making an impression at all times. It is not only important to charm the boss when you are in the interview but they are always watching and it is important to be on your best behavior all the time. We are our own personal PR. Anything I do is subject to grounds of how people see me. This is not only true for PR students wishing to go into public relations but true for every person. We are the best marketers of yourselves. We need to make sure that we are always presenting ourselves professionally.
I feel that as a PR student I have the upper hand because we are taught to please the client and present things to the public appropriately and effectively. I can take all that I have learned for how to handle a client and apply it to my every day life when wanting to present myself to the public. I am glad that PR has taught me that it’s not just for clients but for myself as well.
Friday, March 16, 2012
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Cans Promoting School Pride - Blog #8
The University of North Texas hosts CANstruction every Spring semester during Greek Week. Greek Week is a week where every Greek chapter comes together in eight teams to compete in friendly competitions for a whole week and then get honored at the end of the week for all that they have done that year. One of the events the teams participate in is CANstruction.
CANstruction is not just open to Greek Life but open to the entire school and any organizations or departments that wish to participate in. This year the event had to moved inside to multiple spots in the union due to the weather but that didn’t stop the students. Students come together during CANstruction to build something from their cans and then donate the cans to food homes.
The theme this year is school pride. UNT is not one of the strongest schools for school pride but the turn out this year was amazing. The new brand identity for the school is present in the structures the students are building. “Green Light to Greatness” is the new tag line and is the theme to so many different groups.
This is a different side of PR that I’ve seen. So many people think PR has to be through an agency or corporation but this spirit is a different PR. These students are walking promotions for UNT. They are coming together in spirit of UNT and will leave and tell people they know about UNT. Students that find a connection to their school are more likely to promote their school. It’s a simple fact.
These students will spread good things about UNT and continue the hype of the new tag line. The brand identity didn’t stop at the reveal event but continues in events throughout the university and through the spirits of the students. I think that is the best PR there is. An inspirational PR is what I would like to belong to. PR is more than what we learn in class with communication plans and social media releases. Those are necessary to learn but a classroom cannot teach you this. I want to be inspirational in my PR career.
CANstruction is not just open to Greek Life but open to the entire school and any organizations or departments that wish to participate in. This year the event had to moved inside to multiple spots in the union due to the weather but that didn’t stop the students. Students come together during CANstruction to build something from their cans and then donate the cans to food homes.
The theme this year is school pride. UNT is not one of the strongest schools for school pride but the turn out this year was amazing. The new brand identity for the school is present in the structures the students are building. “Green Light to Greatness” is the new tag line and is the theme to so many different groups.
This is a different side of PR that I’ve seen. So many people think PR has to be through an agency or corporation but this spirit is a different PR. These students are walking promotions for UNT. They are coming together in spirit of UNT and will leave and tell people they know about UNT. Students that find a connection to their school are more likely to promote their school. It’s a simple fact.
These students will spread good things about UNT and continue the hype of the new tag line. The brand identity didn’t stop at the reveal event but continues in events throughout the university and through the spirits of the students. I think that is the best PR there is. An inspirational PR is what I would like to belong to. PR is more than what we learn in class with communication plans and social media releases. Those are necessary to learn but a classroom cannot teach you this. I want to be inspirational in my PR career.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
UNT Tag Line Glitch - Blog 7
Early this week UNT seemed to have a major glitch in their web system when this is what the main UNT web page looked like for an entire day.
Not too long after the reveal of the new tag line “Green Light to Greatness” was revealed the UNT main page (www.unt.edu) seemed to be having some major problems.
Now I don’t personally know if the tech guy just forgot which one was the correct tag line or not but I guess it was better safe than sorry and put both tag lines on the banner. No one at UNT tech support or staff noticed this glitch until 9:00 that night when a UNT student posted a screen shot of the home page on her Facebook account. Now it’s just speculation that it was because of one student’s post out of 36,000 students but it sure was a nice coincidence. Even if it wasn’t taken down due to her post the better question is why was it even up there? And why was it left incorrect for so long that day?
The front page read “Discover the Power of Ideas” and also “Green Light to Greatness” for the entire school day. Students were talking about “UNT’s mistake” on Facebook and Twitter for all of Tuesday but it was not taken down and fixed until that night. This is not a timely correction. If I have learned anything about PR this semester it is to be timely. Don’t sit on issues or wait for them to get worse. Do something to fix it and handle the situation.
Maybe this glitch isn’t the biggest problem out there, I know it’s not but the fact that it took tech people so long to notice it and fix it is bad. It makes UNT look like a joke. We have four bold goals now but can’t even get our tag line on our front page correct? How can we be tier one when we look like fools for an entire day?
I really hope this doesn’t happen again and it just shows how powerful social media is. Some students may not have noticed what was wrong if it wasn’t for it being discussed and posted about on social media sites.
Sources:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=744604887 - Brittni Barnett’s Facebook
 |
| Top left is old UNT tag line; top right is new UNT tag line. |
Now I don’t personally know if the tech guy just forgot which one was the correct tag line or not but I guess it was better safe than sorry and put both tag lines on the banner. No one at UNT tech support or staff noticed this glitch until 9:00 that night when a UNT student posted a screen shot of the home page on her Facebook account. Now it’s just speculation that it was because of one student’s post out of 36,000 students but it sure was a nice coincidence. Even if it wasn’t taken down due to her post the better question is why was it even up there? And why was it left incorrect for so long that day?
The front page read “Discover the Power of Ideas” and also “Green Light to Greatness” for the entire school day. Students were talking about “UNT’s mistake” on Facebook and Twitter for all of Tuesday but it was not taken down and fixed until that night. This is not a timely correction. If I have learned anything about PR this semester it is to be timely. Don’t sit on issues or wait for them to get worse. Do something to fix it and handle the situation.
Maybe this glitch isn’t the biggest problem out there, I know it’s not but the fact that it took tech people so long to notice it and fix it is bad. It makes UNT look like a joke. We have four bold goals now but can’t even get our tag line on our front page correct? How can we be tier one when we look like fools for an entire day?
I really hope this doesn’t happen again and it just shows how powerful social media is. Some students may not have noticed what was wrong if it wasn’t for it being discussed and posted about on social media sites.
Sources:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=744604887 - Brittni Barnett’s Facebook
Friday, February 24, 2012
Bold Way to Get Us There - Extra Credit
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
Saturday, February 18, 2012
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.
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
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
Thursday, February 9, 2012
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
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.reuters.com/article/2012/02/04/us-jcpenney-ellendegeneres-idUSTRE8121VK20120204
Friday, February 3, 2012
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:
Friday, January 27, 2012
A "Titanic" Sized PR Problem - Blog 2
Irony. That is what I would call it. I couldn’t help but play the Alanis Morissette song “Isn’t It Ironic” in my head when I saw the Titanic preview in the theater. In both of my journalism classes we have discussed the Costa Concordia cruise ship at some point within these two weeks of school. In Mueller’s history of the media class he taught us about “present-mindedness” where people today compare events in our present time to events in the past. He used the example of the cruise ship that wrecked off the coast of Italy and the Titanic. Immediately after the wreck the news articles began comparing it to the Titanic saying it was the Titanic of today. As far as news coverage goes, that is all nice and dandy but it makes me think back to my other journalism class this semester. Public relations communications. I wonder where is the PR for this wreck.
Now I have to admit upfront and be honest with my readers that I am not the strongest news follower. By that I mean, I like the "spark notes" version of news. I like to hear what people are saying and then go look it up. Newspaper articles seem to go right over my head and make me feel unintelligent, so I normally like a friend to explain things to me in everyday terms I can understand. But my PR teacher is right. If I’m going to be in the journalism world than I need to read and be apart of it. So I have been trying to read the news more. I like to see the top stories on Yahoo and then look them up on the NY Times or Dallas Morning News sites.
On Tuesday, Jan.17, the Dallas Morning News published an article that contained statements from the recording of the cruise captain and the Coast Guard captain. These statements clearly show the negligence of the cruise captain and his refusal to reboard the ship due to the fact that it was dark. I can only imagine that most readers would have a similar reaction to the dialogue as I did. The recorded argument was aired on television for the nation to hear as well.
I would not know where to really even begin if I were the PR person for the cruise line but I am also still a student and am pursuing my education so that I learn things like this. The ship had wrecked on Friday, Jan. 13, and since then there were many articles like the Tuesday one that made its way to readers. It was not until today, Friday Jan. 27, that I came across an article that had a little bit of PR from the cruise line. The cruise line is offering survivors a $14,460 settlement. Now I cannot say that I came across every article regarding the wreck but I can say that of the ones I read this one was the first one that contained the other side’s response.
Is a payoff really PR? I am a senior now and I can honestly say that in all that I have learned, I was never taught that money solves a bad PR moment. I am curious as to where are the responses from the cruise captain saying he is sorry? Where are the responses from a CEO with the company saying they are sorry and willing to do all that it takes? That was the second thing we were taught. To always apologize. The first was “be prepared for anything” and the second was to “admit fault.” I am not saying it is strictly the CEO’s fault, not at all, I personally blame the captain, but someone should have been reassuring the public that they are incredibly sorry and are doing everything they can.
Even with the settlement offer of $14,460, there isn’t a statement of how they realize no money in the world can fix what happened and their deepest sympathies are with the survivors. They just offer money as if it fixes things. I also don’t remember being taught that. I believe we were taught to make it personable and sincere if we were having to clean up after something “sticky.”
That statement just didn’t seem right to me. I’d like to see if all the survivors agree that the 14K is the certain solution to make them happy. All around I realized that the PR for this terrible accident was a prime example of “what not to do.”
Sources:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/italian-cruise-ship-survivors-offered-14-460-person-pain-suffering-article-1.1012861
http://www.dallasnews.com/incoming/20120117-coast-guard-to-italian-cruise-captain-go-back-aboard.ece
http://www.newsday.com/news/world/officials-29-people-missing-from-costa-concordia-1.3454773
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_ITALY_CRUISE_AGROUND?SITE=TXDAM&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
http://www.dallasnews.com/incoming/20120114-divers-in-italy-find-2-more-bodies-in-shipwreck.ece
 |
| Costa Concordia. dallasnews |
On Tuesday, Jan.17, the Dallas Morning News published an article that contained statements from the recording of the cruise captain and the Coast Guard captain. These statements clearly show the negligence of the cruise captain and his refusal to reboard the ship due to the fact that it was dark. I can only imagine that most readers would have a similar reaction to the dialogue as I did. The recorded argument was aired on television for the nation to hear as well.
I would not know where to really even begin if I were the PR person for the cruise line but I am also still a student and am pursuing my education so that I learn things like this. The ship had wrecked on Friday, Jan. 13, and since then there were many articles like the Tuesday one that made its way to readers. It was not until today, Friday Jan. 27, that I came across an article that had a little bit of PR from the cruise line. The cruise line is offering survivors a $14,460 settlement. Now I cannot say that I came across every article regarding the wreck but I can say that of the ones I read this one was the first one that contained the other side’s response.
Is a payoff really PR? I am a senior now and I can honestly say that in all that I have learned, I was never taught that money solves a bad PR moment. I am curious as to where are the responses from the cruise captain saying he is sorry? Where are the responses from a CEO with the company saying they are sorry and willing to do all that it takes? That was the second thing we were taught. To always apologize. The first was “be prepared for anything” and the second was to “admit fault.” I am not saying it is strictly the CEO’s fault, not at all, I personally blame the captain, but someone should have been reassuring the public that they are incredibly sorry and are doing everything they can.
Even with the settlement offer of $14,460, there isn’t a statement of how they realize no money in the world can fix what happened and their deepest sympathies are with the survivors. They just offer money as if it fixes things. I also don’t remember being taught that. I believe we were taught to make it personable and sincere if we were having to clean up after something “sticky.”
“Foschi, the Costa CEO, said he was certain "we'll be able to find a material solution that will make them happy." ”
That statement just didn’t seem right to me. I’d like to see if all the survivors agree that the 14K is the certain solution to make them happy. All around I realized that the PR for this terrible accident was a prime example of “what not to do.”
Sources:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/italian-cruise-ship-survivors-offered-14-460-person-pain-suffering-article-1.1012861
http://www.dallasnews.com/incoming/20120117-coast-guard-to-italian-cruise-captain-go-back-aboard.ece
http://www.newsday.com/news/world/officials-29-people-missing-from-costa-concordia-1.3454773
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_ITALY_CRUISE_AGROUND?SITE=TXDAM&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
http://www.dallasnews.com/incoming/20120114-divers-in-italy-find-2-more-bodies-in-shipwreck.ece
Friday, January 20, 2012
John Legend - Blog 1
John Legend will be UNT’s guest entertainer/speaker for this spring’s Distinguished Lecture Series. He will be performing songs as well as delivering a speech on Feb. 7. The lecture tickets are free to students prior to the event, and can be picked up on the third floor of the Union at the information desk with a valid school i.d.
The lecture series is paid for by the school with funds delegated from student services fees, but the question with this series is, are the guest speakers trying to ask too much? Many people can agree that entertainers are divas but is there a line they can cross that makes them too high maintenance? For the 2011-2012 school year, the Distinguished Lecture Series requested $200,000 from student services fees and was allocated $180,000. The $180,000 was for just this one school year to bring in Robert Gates and John Legend. This allocated money is for travel expenses, comfort expenses and payment for their involvement. John Legend’s comfort expenses seem to be a bit out of the ordinary.
I went shopping with a staff member in Student Affairs Administration who is in charge of the lecture series. She brought along only a short part of Legend’s requests.
• One (1) steamer or steam iron, with board
• One (1) hot water kettle (cannot have been used to make coffee in the past)
• One (1) pack of Dixie Insular Coffee Cups (16 oz size)
• One (1) box of Ricola throat lozenges
• One (1) Honeybee honey or equivalent
• One (1) Organic Throat Coat
• Fourteen (14) bottles Fiji water, 8 oz bottles must be ROOM TEMPERATURE
This is the exact appearance of the part of the shopping list that we were shopping for that particular day. When I first saw it I did not think much about it until I started looking for the items. The steamers were more than $30 which for a one time use I felt was too much. As a student I felt the money should not be spent excessively to pamper one performer. He also does not get to keep the steamer so I did not want to over spend on a once used item. The hot water kettle was also expensive considering the school has coffee pots that adequately warm up water as well as a microwave. But the performer demands it so we have to provide it.
To my surprise Dixie brand does not make their coffee cups in 16 oz but only in 12 oz. There was an off-brand that made a 16 oz but what specified detail was more important? The brand or the size? [insert joke about size here.] So to be on the safe side we bought both. Ricola throat lozenges do not come in boxes so I was starting to get the feeling these details were fake. He gets the bag of them like everyone else in the world. The Honeybee honey did not exist on the selves of the grocery store but the list did say “or equivalent” and I was deeply tempted to get him the “Great Value” brand but had to fight the urge.
Again the request of “organic throat coat” did not seem to exist so we moved onto the last item on that one list. The Fiji water. I was no longer surprised to find out that they do not make 8 oz bottles. They make 330 mL, 500 mL, 1 L and 1.5 L. The smallest is a little over 11 oz. If he wanted that particular brand of water then he would have to deal with the size of the bottles. And if he so wished he can empty some water to make it 8 oz. He even gets a few extra bottles because there was no way to buy 14 in any variation of packages. When we were finally in line to check out I was informed that these were not even the “craziest” of his request or requests in the past from other entertainers. Now when I go to his performance on Feb. 7, I will look at him differently.
The rest of his request list was not shown to me but if this was a small example of his demands and the advisor in charge said they were not even anything compared to the rest then I will let my imagination do the rest. With this shopping trip I got to thinking about how his demands communicate to other people. And how it would be difficult to PR for him. As his PR agent you would want to sell him to others for shows and appearances but if they heard he has such high requests would they want to hire him? Is he the new Diana Ross? I am starting to think it would be easier to PR for someone more like Taylor Swift who is more down to earth and sweet. Or is that just the perspective identity her PR agent has created for her? [I have heard from people who have met T Swift that she really is as nice as she seems.]
If people from other venues saw the full list of his requests for UNT would they want to bring him in after? I have to believe no they would not. There comes a time where asking for the moon is too much. Hot water and honey for a singers throat is understandable and maybe some mixed nuts and a diet coke but specifications on size and brands are a bit much. And the rumored couch he asked for in his dressing room is over the top. Is this the work of a PR practitioner if I decide to go into entertainment PR? If so then I need to rethink corporate or a new career. I felt like an errand boy for some rich snobby family as I had to go find the items on his list. I did not like it and if I were to PR for someone independently, I hope they do not make demands like these because sooner or later said demands will ruin people’s perception of the entertainer.
The lecture series is paid for by the school with funds delegated from student services fees, but the question with this series is, are the guest speakers trying to ask too much? Many people can agree that entertainers are divas but is there a line they can cross that makes them too high maintenance? For the 2011-2012 school year, the Distinguished Lecture Series requested $200,000 from student services fees and was allocated $180,000. The $180,000 was for just this one school year to bring in Robert Gates and John Legend. This allocated money is for travel expenses, comfort expenses and payment for their involvement. John Legend’s comfort expenses seem to be a bit out of the ordinary.
I went shopping with a staff member in Student Affairs Administration who is in charge of the lecture series. She brought along only a short part of Legend’s requests.
• One (1) steamer or steam iron, with board
• One (1) hot water kettle (cannot have been used to make coffee in the past)
• One (1) pack of Dixie Insular Coffee Cups (16 oz size)
• One (1) box of Ricola throat lozenges
• One (1) Honeybee honey or equivalent
• One (1) Organic Throat Coat
• Fourteen (14) bottles Fiji water, 8 oz bottles must be ROOM TEMPERATURE
This is the exact appearance of the part of the shopping list that we were shopping for that particular day. When I first saw it I did not think much about it until I started looking for the items. The steamers were more than $30 which for a one time use I felt was too much. As a student I felt the money should not be spent excessively to pamper one performer. He also does not get to keep the steamer so I did not want to over spend on a once used item. The hot water kettle was also expensive considering the school has coffee pots that adequately warm up water as well as a microwave. But the performer demands it so we have to provide it.
To my surprise Dixie brand does not make their coffee cups in 16 oz but only in 12 oz. There was an off-brand that made a 16 oz but what specified detail was more important? The brand or the size? [insert joke about size here.] So to be on the safe side we bought both. Ricola throat lozenges do not come in boxes so I was starting to get the feeling these details were fake. He gets the bag of them like everyone else in the world. The Honeybee honey did not exist on the selves of the grocery store but the list did say “or equivalent” and I was deeply tempted to get him the “Great Value” brand but had to fight the urge.
Again the request of “organic throat coat” did not seem to exist so we moved onto the last item on that one list. The Fiji water. I was no longer surprised to find out that they do not make 8 oz bottles. They make 330 mL, 500 mL, 1 L and 1.5 L. The smallest is a little over 11 oz. If he wanted that particular brand of water then he would have to deal with the size of the bottles. And if he so wished he can empty some water to make it 8 oz. He even gets a few extra bottles because there was no way to buy 14 in any variation of packages. When we were finally in line to check out I was informed that these were not even the “craziest” of his request or requests in the past from other entertainers. Now when I go to his performance on Feb. 7, I will look at him differently.
The rest of his request list was not shown to me but if this was a small example of his demands and the advisor in charge said they were not even anything compared to the rest then I will let my imagination do the rest. With this shopping trip I got to thinking about how his demands communicate to other people. And how it would be difficult to PR for him. As his PR agent you would want to sell him to others for shows and appearances but if they heard he has such high requests would they want to hire him? Is he the new Diana Ross? I am starting to think it would be easier to PR for someone more like Taylor Swift who is more down to earth and sweet. Or is that just the perspective identity her PR agent has created for her? [I have heard from people who have met T Swift that she really is as nice as she seems.]
If people from other venues saw the full list of his requests for UNT would they want to bring him in after? I have to believe no they would not. There comes a time where asking for the moon is too much. Hot water and honey for a singers throat is understandable and maybe some mixed nuts and a diet coke but specifications on size and brands are a bit much. And the rumored couch he asked for in his dressing room is over the top. Is this the work of a PR practitioner if I decide to go into entertainment PR? If so then I need to rethink corporate or a new career. I felt like an errand boy for some rich snobby family as I had to go find the items on his list. I did not like it and if I were to PR for someone independently, I hope they do not make demands like these because sooner or later said demands will ruin people’s perception of the entertainer.
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