The Buzz at Lyman PR
Lyman PR’s Father’s Day Gift Guide
To solve the age-old question of what to get for Father’s Day, LPR has a number of clients with ideas to satisfy the hip, sophisticated or adventurous dad:
The new sleek, black Sonos S5
A trip to Westin Napa for a wine country weekend
Can’t make it to Napa Valley? With a TastingRoom.com you can bring a wine tasting experience to Dad’s living room
An adventurous Southern California weekend on Catalina Island, with a new hotel, restaurant, beach club and Zip Line adventure
Wrapsol to protect his new shiny iPhone or iPad
Is dad a ski or snowboard fanatic? Jet up to Mammoth Mountain on Horizon Air for a weekend on the slopes. Give him an extra treat with a stay at Westin Mammoth
Life’s not always like a box of chocolates – add a little more fun this year and treat dad to an extra special Father’s Day.
ADiFY Reports 5 of 11 Vertical Ad Categories Significantly Up in Q1
ADiFY has reported that 5 of 11 online vertical ad categories saw significant pricing gains in Q1 2010 versus 2009, with Healthy Living and Lifestyle, Food, and Sports segments leading the way.
New AP Stylebook Hip to Social Media
The Associated Press has released an updated Stylebook, further refining the news industry’s guidelines for grammar, punctuation and reporting practices.
In a sign of the times, this newest edition addresses social media with 42 entries about terms such as app, blog, avatar and RSS. There’s also a segment dedicated to Facebook and related actions, including fan, friend and unfriend.
And ever the hipsters, IM, Googled and Mashup – terms already widely used — are now ‘officially’ recognized by the AP.
But no longer just for the media industry, parents can now turn to the Stylebook to decode the befuddling language so popular with their children. Sadly, many of these have become regular staples in our adult dialogue as well:
BFF – Best Friend Forever
C – See You Later
LOL – Laugh Out Loud
ROFL – Rolling On Floor Laughing
And a few more worth adding to the lexicon:
BRB – Be Right Back
G2G – Got To Go
IDK – I Don’t Know
NSFW – Not Safe For Work
Find the new AP Stylebook online here.
The Tour of California: Over in a Flash
The 2010 Tour of California came to a finally yesterday. Seems like it went by a flash.
The Wrath of Lance, Brought to you by Twitter
Lance Armstrong is the rare professional athlete who has transcended sport to become a household name. Apparently when you’re given a 40% chance of surviving cancer, beat it, and then ascend to the upper echelon your profession, celebrity follows. And thanks to social media so does an influence that makes <most> everyone sit up and take notice.
Last year Armstrong returned to professional cycling and embarked on a brilliant social media campaign from the back of the team’s tour bus. During the Giro d’ Italia – Italy’s version of the Tour de France – Lance and teammate Levi Leipheimer recounted what happened during that day’s stage with a short video interview that was posted to the team’s website as well as Lance’s Twitter and Facebook accounts: no reporter, no scripted footage, just a raw and unedited recount of the good, bad and ugly.
The result? Fans watched, talked back and joined in. Today Armstrong’s Twitter account has amassed nearly 2.5 million followers, which is about 28,000 less than USA Today’s daily circulation and a half million more than the Wall Street Journal. Lance has nearly complete control of his ‘brand’ and the ability to speak directly to an engaged audience. And when Lance talks, people listen.
Earlier this year when ESPN’s Tony Kornheiser suggested on air that motorists run down cyclists he signed up to be a recipient of Lance’s Twitter Wrath:
Rarely if ever one to eat crow, Tony issued an apology and continued to backpedal through a live on-air interview with Lance later that week.
Fast forward to yesterday and Versus TV, which is broadcasting the Tour of California. With the most action-filled stage just two minutes from concluding the network decided to switch to pre-game hockey. Lance, who had lobbied the race organizers to move it to May, was not a happy biker.
Perhaps I’m wrong but my guess is that Versus anticipated Lance and his legion of followers would lift the network as opposed to throwing rocks at it. Cutting from the end of a sporting event to watch the warm-ups for another? Bad move. And in the highly regarded corporate communication strategy of “sticking your head in the sand until this blows over” Versus neglected to issue an apology or even “my bad” statement. Worse move.
Perhaps companies will soon realize that social media also brings positive and/or negative consequences in the form of social media wrath. But in the meantime, luckily cycling fans have Lance watching their back.
Keeping up with Ongoing Changes to the Travel Media Landscape
LPR had an opportunity to hear trends and preferences from some top travel media last week, including Peter Greenberg, USA Today’s Veronica Stoddart, Catherine Hamm of the Los Angeles Times, and Norie Quintos of National Geographic Traveler.
Key takeaways from this opportunity include the USA Today Travel Deputy Managing Editor’s top ten travel trends of 2010:
1. Bargain Travel – travel deals are still expected
2. Health & Wellness Vacations
3. Culinary Travel
4. Adventure Travel – softer adventure key for families and Boomers (52% of Adventure Travelers are women)
5. Eco-Travel
6. Group Travel
7. Women-Only Travel
8. Cruising
9. Religious Travel & Pilgrimages
10. Volunteer Travel
Our job as PR practitioners is to make the media’s jobs easier, as newsrooms are constantly being re-purposed, often seeing a downsize in staff yet an upswing in outlets they must maintain. This results in less time spent on story exploration and more time spent on all the different platforms. Therefore, think like a journalist, know your outlets and create pitches that are newsworthy and current.
How is this accomplished? According to the panel, be consumer-oriented, think better, smarter, cheaper. Speak to interesting touch points such as a Kid’s Club, or freebies offered to guests, and not just the destination as a whole. Ask yourself before pitching, “Who Cares?” and “Why Now?” Talk to different departments within an outlet to find the best fit for your story, but always be transparent on who else you’re approaching when doing so. Be clear and concise, use hyperlinks in email pitches, and make sure the subject line is clear over clever, plus states the location of what you’re pitching, since geography plays a big part in piquing interest.
The panel also encouraged PR practitioners to forget the hard sell and instead demonstrate expertise, even if it means seeking out other possible competitors that are doing something similar. Think in longer trends, and make sure to do your math correctly when pitching, it’s the writers and editors that receive the backlash when you don’t.
Ms. Quintos relayed that editors are now seeing a “Return to Travel” this year, a welcome trend for all of us in the tourism industry.
Quick List: 10 Dos and Don’ts for Brands on Twitter, from Mashable
Here’s a quick snapshot of a Mashable article on 10 Dos and Don’ts for Brands on Twitter. Check out the original blog post for additional details.
1. Don’t be a Showoff
2. Don’t Use Poor Grammar or Spelling
3. Don’t Get Too Personal
4. Don’t Auto-Tweet
5. Don’t Leave Air in the Conversation
6. Don’t Overtweet
7. Do Shout Out to Users Who Mention You
8. Do Monitor Keywords and Competitors
9. Do Make and Informative Profile
10. Do Fish Where the Fish Are
Favorite Corporate Press Rooms
In our last post we described press room items beneficial to media. In this blog we look at our favorite press rooms along with a video tour of a few of them.
Nokia http://www.nokia.com/press. What we like: “For Broadcasters” section – “Easy access to Nokia video & audio material, soundbites, broadcast quality clips and more.”
Seagate http://media.seagate.com/. What we like: Seagate Social (bottom right) – handy links to all social mediums that Seagate is on. Also like the links to the two blogs – for consumer and enterprise.
Google http://www.google.com/press/. What we like: the layout – there’s a clean left column for easy clicking to the resource or materials a journo is looking for. Also like the reviewers guides link for suggestions on how to assess products.
Red Lobster http://www.redlobster.com/press/. What we like: Story ideas! E.g.) Red Lobster’s Tips for pairing Wine with Seafood. Imagine the possibilities here.
Sony http://news.sel.sony.com/en/press_room. What we like: This is a big company with lots of products. Where to start? They overcome this by vertically organizing their press room. Also, they have a link to executive speeches. You can imagine easy access to public presentations, as well. Also like the “Add Sony as a Friend” with click ways to become a part of social channels.
Nike http://www.nikebiz.com/media/. What we like: very clean tabs for clicking through to what you need. Email or print option for releases. (Download in Word would be another to consider.)
How to build a press room that serves the needs of today’s media
In the age of digital, the Press Room or Media Center has evolved from a dry list of press releases, to an interactive information hub, as visually appealing and entertaining as the consumer or client portion of the company website. Though most companies today are fulfilling the insatiable need for information by including product specifications, images, video tutorials, creative ads and much more for their press audiences, few are able to aggregate the information in a form that appeals to the research minded journalist and the attention deficit blogger alike.
We scoured the net for best case practices and have identified some basic guidelines:
>Organization is Key
>Make it visually stunning
->Interaction is a must
We also compiled a list of items that are worth considering adding to your press room:
>Aggregate all product information in/from microsites
>Awards/ Recognitions
>Calendar of Events (Industry/ Company/ Product Specific)
>Case Studies
>Company Information (general)
>Company Timeline
>Customer Success Stories
>Customizable Downloads – releases, photos, videos, product trials (if software)
>Developer Tools and info on APIs
>Executive speeches and presentations (that are public, of course)
>Fact Sheets
>Guidelines/considerations on how to review a product
>Image Gallery or a link to Flickr
>Links to Related Blogs and Communities (Industry/ Company/ Product Specific)
>Links to Company/ Employee Blogs
>Links to Investor Relations page and Contact Us (easy jumps for consumers, IR)
>Media Contacts (by country/region)
>Press Releases
>Product Information and Sell Sheets
>Recent coverage/publicity
>Search Boxes (for your site, press room or in general)
>Social Media Feeds (Twitter/ Facebook/ Digg Updates)
>Story Ideas
>Video Gallery
>YouTube Channel
In our next blog post we’ll list our picks for favorite company press rooms and take a video tour of a few.
Trefethen Family Vineyards’ video review of ‘Fallow’ wine: a light, airy and distinctive approach
Trefethen Family Vineyards’ recently released a video introduction of their new ‘Fallow’ wine, which we found to be light, airy and distinctive. Enjoy the video here.
Fallow from Trefethen Family Vineyards on Vimeo.
