Shop Talk

Many people hate having to sit through commercials when they go to the movies, so it’s not uncommon that they’ll grab their snacks right before showtime, or in some cases, not even make their way to the theater until a minute before the opening credits roll.

That may be about to change. At least it has on Broadway. The first live commercial was “aired” last night promoting London tourism. It would be remiss of me if I didn’t note that this has been attempted in Europe as well. They’ll actually “air” one final commercial this Friday in Pittsburgh. (I want to go just to witness this)! You can read more about the event here. (Subscription required).

Theatre-goers are invariably a different group of people than are movie-goers. They won’t get up and walk away. They have to sit and watch. Thus, they’re an easy target.

The initial reaction of the people who attended the Broadway show seemed unphased, but it will be interesting to observe reactions if other products and services are thrown into the mix. The live commercial phenomenon may be a bore and a bit of a nuisance. It may not even become an ongoing thing, but the sheer concept is brilliant.

An Illinois school board is taking measures to pay more attention to the internet activities of its high school students … sort of.

According to an article from the Associated Press,

“The board of Community High School District 128 voted
unanimously on Monday to require that all students
participating in extracurricular activities sign a pledge
agreeing that evidence of ‘illegal or inappropriate’
behavior posted on the Internet could be grounds
for disciplinary action.”

The school will not be traipsing about on a witch hunt per se, but will make every effort to investigate troublesome activity when tipped by concerned students and parents. Some criticism has arisen from parents who feel that it is their duty and not the school’s responsibility to monitor their children.

Whether those concerned parents like it or not, the school is ultimately responsible for the safety of its students while classes are in session. To ignore any tips or suspicious activity would make for a big PR crisis for the district, even more so if something were to actually happen.

Parents can take a more active role in monitoring their children’s Web activity, but they won’t always know what their children do when they’re not at home. Whatever schools can do to prevent another shooting on the scale of Columbine (the killers kept online journals and websites) or just any school violence for that matter, the safer students and their parents can feel (hopefully).

Here’s a question I have: What about the students who are not in extracurricular activities? Why aren’t they signing the pledge? It should be the goal of the district to have EVERY student sign. It would make their decision more valid, in my humble opinion. It could become an issue of Johnny Q., captain of the football squad, finding out that Susie H. doesn’t have to sign because she doesn’t participate in extracurricular activities. He may think, “Well if they’re not making Susie sign, they why do I have to sign?” I honestly don’t know what they’re doing with the roughly 20-percent who aren’t in extracurriculars, but I’d certainly hope there is no backlash. I’m not criticizing their efforts either because it is a good idea. I’ve read too many stories about students posting threats on MySpace; it’s even happened near my hometown. Something must be done.

Getting back to the issue of monitoring: I do not believe this is an invasion of privacy as has been argued by some. This school district is answering to a higher call: protecting the safety of its students. Web content is always readily available for scrutiny, privacy or no privacy. The school district’s associate superindent, Prentiss Lea, said it best: “The concept that searching a blog site is an invasion of privacy is almost an oxymoron … it is called the World Wide Web.”

Warning: This is a long post. Grab a snack and settle in, you may be here a while. 

I stated earlier that I would blog about my experience at the Eastern Communication Association’s annual conference, held this year in Philadelphia. 

I was there to participate in a panel discussion about the rewards and challenges of being involved with PRSSA. As it turned out, all of us present had traveled from the Pittsburgh area. As we went around and talked about our experiences and our personal philosophies about PRSSA, it was refreshing to discover that we all found ourselves in the same boat when it came to opportunities and challenges. No chapter present was made to feel bad about the work they did or didn’t do this academic year. 

I attended some other events here and there, but what stuck with me the most was the conference’s keynote presentation given by Dr. Gayatri Spivak of Columbia University. Ailing from a bad cold, she apologized to us at the beginning of her lecture noting that she may be hard to follow. Although she had cancelled many engagements due to her physical health, she could not cancel her appearance at the conference. 

She began by talking about her home country, India, and how although it is the largest democracy, there are people who do not know that there is a world out there beyond their country, meaning they are really unaware of worldly matters. This is not their fault, as they do not have the resources. She related our problem with gas and oil prices to the plight of some Indians who are among the poorest of the poor. “The children cannot study in the evenings,” she said. Everything must be done in the daylight because they cannot afford to burn oil in the evenings. 

That anecdote spoke out to me. While we complain about the cost of gas to fill our cars (still inherently, a luxury), children elsewhere suffer all for the same reason in their studies because they cannot have a full educational experience, a basic right that should be afforded to all human beings. 

She said it was imperative that we transform ourselves and not remain nationally focused. “The world is not the same immigrant spectrum outside of the United States,” she stated. “We must strive to know more about people other than their ethnicities.” 

She noted that the basic meaning of a keynote is to keep the composition in tune and presented her thoughts on how she visualized her role in keeping the conference’s theme in tune. “In your program, you state that you ‘know as much about communication if not more than the rest of the world.’ It is a beautifully-worded statement and now you must live up to it,” she said. 

Her message boiled down to this: We must take an interest in understanding the world in order to transform it. 

Her next point was that the “internet does not spell democracy,” which I thought to be very interesting because the information superhighway is seen as a gateway to the freedom of access to information, but when you think about it, her statement rings true most specifically to the phenomenon known as the ‘digital divide.’ Not everyone has the luxury of internet access, telephone service or even computers, especially true here in the United States. Therefore, they are not aware of the internet’s power in daily life. We can take it a step further and focus on the countries that restrict internet access to their citizens and/or censor certain content. 

According to Spivak, we must make a re-arrangement of our own desires and know what the desires of others might be. How true that is for PR practitioners. When we think about our target audiences, we must put ourselves in their shoes and think about desires. What are they looking for? What must we do to convey our message(s)? What do they hope they will do in return? 

Moreover, we have to think on the global level. When dealing with an international market, we can’t necessarily push a U.S.-centric perspective on them. We must understand that there is more to T-Fal other than its founding in France (known as Tefal there and acquired by SEB in 1968) and the fact that it sells kitchen appliances and cookware. It’s about understanding the various corporate cultures and the people who make it happen, from the CEO down to the hourly factory worker. We must become more culturally sensitive or aware, in simpler terms. 

I greatly enjoyed Spivak’s address and it put many things about the world and the field into perspective for me …, things I hope to incorporate when I become a practitioner in the field (relatively soon, I hope).

Okay, so that’s obviously a Rent reference, but it still fits to the new (well, quasi-new) service that Disney is offering to its ABC viewers: Free TV!

Viewers have their pick from recent episodes (or, in some cases, full seasons) of “Alias”, “Lost,” “Commander in Chief” and “Desparate Housewives”; obviously the top rated shows for the Mouse House.

The promotion is a little over two weeks old and has already drawn more than three million viewers, according to a Reuters report. (The promotion will actually run from May 1-June 30).

Personally, I think the idea is ingenious. In a world already dominated by VCRs, DVD recorders and TiVo, it’s no surprise that the internet would be the next medium to target television viewers. Internet usage is now at 1 billion users, according to an AFP article. That’s roughly a sixth of the world’s population! Obviously, it would be hard to target a billion users, but it’s evident that internet content is becoming more market specific, an important factor for PR.

And what of this free promotion? I tried to analyze the target market and I think it’s mostly targeted toward people on the go. Not everyone has time to sit down in front of the television anymore. Heck, I was out in Pittsburgh all day Wednesday and I missed the latest episode of “Lost.” After berating myself for not buying a video tape for my VCR (yes, I do have one, sadly), I realized that I could just watch the show online. Of course! I was disappointed that I could not watch the episode until Thursday because episodes are usually posted 12 hours after the initial broadcast. Nevertheless, I was glad I would not be out of the loop when the much anticipated finale is broadcast on Wednesday. (I’m so excited)!

What I liked most about the free broadcast was the commercial breaks, or lackthereof. Three thirty-second commercials were placed throughout the episode. That’s it! It was actually glorious that I didn’t have to sit through commercial upon commercial. This may be an appeal factor as well. I can just miss my shows and watch them tomorrow. They won’t be any different, but they’ll have less commercials!

What intrigues me is this: The episodes are free, but can also be bought at iTunes for $1.99 (sans commercials). There is talk that the free promotion may be turned into a pay service. Would people catch on with that? Most already pay for some form of cable or satellite television and can get ABC as part of their packages. Why would they pay just to watch the same shows online? I guess it’s the same as asking why people buy the episodes on iTunes when they could record them from their television sets. No commercials, sure, but you can fast forward through them on a VCR, DVD, or TiVo.

Still, an even greater question comes to my mind: Are we becoming too dependent on the internet? Think about it. You’ve probably heard the term “couch potato culture,” at one time or another. This basically assumes that we spend more time on the couch than in physical activity which for the large part, is true. Look at the United States’ current battle with obesity.

Think about the internet. We can now do anything on it, even watch our favorite shows. Replace the couch with a chair and it is basically the same thing. I’m not saying the internet is a bad thing at all, but I marvel at how much we’ve come to rely on it. Could you imagine your life without the internet? I know it’s not that hard for our parents and grandparents to go on about life without it, but for those of us who acquired the knowledge and usage from an early age, it’s hard at times to function without.

Since we’re all on this forward (hehe) path, I thought that I may as well pitch what I’ve been doing. It does need a little more exposure and I didn’t have the time or the energy to devote to it before graduation. Because I have a blog, I might as well use it as a resource to put the word out.

If you’re familiar with the YoungPRPros listserv on Yahoo!, you’ll know that it is a network of over 3,000 pre-professionals and professionals. If you had no clue, well, now you know. It’s essentially a forum to ask questions, trade stories, network and contribute a brag or two. I know I’ve gotten a lot out of it and I’ve tried to encourage others to join as well. 

There has been talk recently of starting a student list for various reasons. It was a good idea. I think it can work because there are several other successful lists that have branched off from YPRP. I volunteered to help, but it didn’t get off the ground for whatever reason. Most likely, everyone was just too busy.

So, I decided to take it upon myself to start the list. I decided to call it “Can We Talk?” Obviously, it’s very Joan Rivers-esque. I got the idea from my professor talking about the kids at a university she taught at previously. They made shirts which reflected that tagline in conjunction with the department’s Communication Studies Week (I think). 

It’s fitting because we are, after all, communicators. The purpose of the list is to encourage pre- and younger professionals to communicate their ideas and frustrations. It’s a tough field and I want them to feel comfortable with making rookie mistakes, and learn from them as well. 

I’m still trying to sort out specifics. I think I want to start a job board in some sense and profile a few more seasoned professionals. There are some who are already members and I’m very thankful that they’ve taken an interest in this fledgling operation and helping the younger professionals. 

I hope that in the future, we’ll be able to do what YPRP has done and is doing for many professionals. 

I’m extending an open invitation to join. Or, you can just poke around. That works too.

Click here to sign up.

 

1. I am anal retentive when it comes to packaging my work together. Not like that’s a bad thing; I just pay extreme attention to detail!

2. I am actually capable of putting together an awesome portfolio. (I re-vamped my original and I must say it looks 10x better).

3. The blood (papercuts), sweat (running all over the place) and tears (I cried a little when my internship was over) finally culminated today with my presentation of the completed PR plan to the Chamber of Commerce.

4. You never know who you’ll meet in a Barnes and Noble.

5. I apparently have nice pink toenails as some guy commented as I walked the streets of Pittsburgh. (Had to throw that in).

6. I can really do anything I put my mind to. (Just a reinforcement).

7. I think I comment more at Forward than I post here. LOL.

8. The value of sleep is seriously underrated.

I am now a Cal U alumna!!

Bring on the world!!

I graduate tomorrow … Ah. Where has the time gone? I’ll make a post reflecting on my, count ‘em five years of college (there’s a reason for that), but I don’t know if I will post that on here or my personal blog.

I’m off to Pittsburgh in a bit. Woohoo. Some may call me crazy, but I love that city. I think people overlook it when it comes to the PR market, too. There’s Ketchum, Burson-Marsteller, Euro RSCG and all of the small to mid-size agencies. Not to mention, there are quite a few well known corporations that are headquartered in the city. World-class universities; a vibrant culture; excellent networking opportunities - I think the city has a little something to offer everyone. Well, it has my vote.

Edit: OK, I’m not going to Pittsburgh now, but I will next week.

I’m doing my spring cleaning right now. Yes, late I know. I found my final group project from Intro. to PR with this quote on one of the pages. I’ve always liked it and I think it gives a defining sense to the practice of PR.              

               We believe PR should be practiced to serve the
               public interest, to develop mutual understanding
               between organizations and their publics, and to
               contribute to informed debate on issues in society.

                                                   James E. Grunig
                                                   (attributed)

Passed along in a class email from a professor:

Covert Recruiting Video in Schools, on Planes and TV

Topics: war/peace | U.S. government | public relations | media

Source: Chicago Tribune, May 6, 2006 

One Navy officer profiled in “Today’s Military,” who’s a liaison to TV and movie studios

United Airlines’ new in-flight video “was produced and funded by the Department of Defense — a fact passengers do not learn from watching it,” reports Jason George. The 13-minute segment, “Today’s Military,” profiles five “military glamor jobs.” It shows only “one soldier beyond U.S. borders,” who’s “doing humanitarian work in Thailand” — a remarkable focus at a time of war. The Defense Department paid United $36,000 to run the video for one month. A United spokesperson said “between 7 to 15 minutes” of their two-hour programming is sponsored video. The military video was excerpted from a 48-minute feature, produced by the Mullen firm, that’s aired on at least two Illinois TV stations: Springfield’s ABC and Peoria’s UPN affiliates. The feature “does not say who produced it until the final credits roll” and the Defense Human Resources Activity is listed. The goal is to educate “influencers,” including parents and teachers. “This fall, 40,000 copies” of the feature “will be shipped to high school guidance counselors for distribution to students.”

I don’t want to get into a big discussion on the war and whatnot. I’m not surprised at this news, but it obviously does bring ethics into the equation. I’m wondering how many parents and teachers can actually be persuaded by this video of these military men and women in so-called glamour jobs and encourage students to enlist.