My life in Academia.

Ever feel like this?

Well, that is how my week has been. Lately school has gotten pretty busy. Now, I'm not complaining yet.. I started my new job and I have some interesting assignments I'm working on and I wanted to share. This weekend I am doing a critical analysis on an advertisement for my Critical and Cultural Theory class. My group picked this ad. Huggies had a lot of criticism over their "Dad-Test" Campaign and we thought this would be a great one to critique. I am also doing a small reaction paper on the Super Bowl ads. That should be fun right? I also have a social media plan I need to get started on for the mini-session I took. (It was a great class!) My favorite assignment yet is for the campaigns class I am taking this semester. I am doing a campaign for the Historical Hattiesburg Downtown Association. I am super excited about this. I always liked being involved in the Mainstreet organization in my hometown so I decided to seek out the organization in Hattiesburg like it. I met with the Executive Director and learned quite a bit about the organization and I am excited to get started on the campaign. Well, that is it for now. Plenty to keep me busy. Hope everyone is having a great Thursday!

The Piano Stairs

Today I was searching for an advertisement to analyze for one of my classes and came across this video:

The point of this project was to make the stairs fun so that people would take the stairs more often than the escalator.The video stated that 66% more people took the stairs after the transformation. I just thought this was incredibly creative and just plain cool and I wanted to share.

Happy Friday!

"Rethinking Reputation"

I am currently reading a book for my PR Strategies class that is titled " Rethinking Reputation: How PR Trumps Marketing and Advertising in the New Media World." Fraser P. Seitel and John Doorley authored this book. So far Part I has been a very interesting read and it focuses on building reputation. The people and companies highlighted in the first five chapters  are very hard working and creative. Some of the stories are incredible.
 I think my favorite story was the one about the two girls who were juniors in college when they started their company CitySlips. Susie Levitt and Katie Shea attended New York University and met their junior year. They quickly became good friends and they both wanted to start their own business. A few weeks later the girls came up with an idea. They both were complaining about how they love high heels but hate how their feet hurt when they have to wear them for long periods of time. The idea was born that maybe there can be stylish shoes that are comfortable too. The girls started the process with only $10,000. It was only enough to choose a manufacturer and produce a first batch of the slippers. With some good old relationship building these girls were able to get far. Everything fell into place for them because they were willing to take the time and reach out for help. In the end CitySlips became insanely popular. They were able to accomplish their dream. Their key: "Relationships are like magic slippers. Cherish them!" (pp. 27)

(I do not own this image)

So, if you want a light read, this is a good book about success stories based on PR concepts. I am sure Part II will be as good as Part I. So if you get time check this book out, and if you have already read it, let me know what you think!

What PR misconception would you like to clear up?

PR News did an informal poll on Facebook and asked, "What’s the one PR misconception you’d like to clear up?” See it here.

The poll turned up some interesting answers. Many respondents answered with the usual PR is the same as journalism/marketing/advertising etc, PR people are "spin doctors", that PR is all about writing press releases, PR people are glorified "party planners", that PR is BS, and many more.

I think most of the answers were right on. There are a lot of misconceptions about public relations. I think it is our job as PR professionals to try to educate the public on what PR is and clear up those misconceptions. So, PR professionals and students, what is a misconception you would like to clear up?

Coke's Campaign- New Ad "Be OK"

The second ad for the new Coca-Cola Campaign was released during American Idol on Wednesday. This spot called "Be OK" once again stresses the importance of being fit and healthy and showcases how easy it is to burn calories while having fun. The ad starts out with a can of Coke that equals "140 HAPPY Calories to spend on EXTRA happy activities." It then showcases people doing "happy activities" and emphasizes if you do this activity for this amount of time you will burn calories without even knowing it and maybe enough to burn off a can of Coke. So, what are your opinions on this ad from Coke? I think it is a nice complement to their previous ad "Coming Together". This campaign will be an interesting one to watch from Coke.

Coke's new campaign

Yesterday, Coca-Cola unveiled a new ad campaign targeted at fighting obesity. They are planning to launch a series of ads this week in the United States that highlight some of the new choices Coke is offering to their consumers. They are clearly marking the calorie content on the front of the packaging and offering more low calorie and no calorie options of some of their most highly consumed beverages. They are re-packaging the sodas into smaller serving sizes in an effort to do their part to end the obesity epidemic. Their first ad titled "Coming Together" was launched yesterday and  in a featured story on their website they state they will launch later this week another ad titled "Be OK."  Several well known blogs have touched on this today and many of the comments think this campaign is hypocritical on Coca-Cola's part. Other comments also feel like Coke is doing a good thing by telling the consumer to educate themselves on how many calories they intake. So what do you think about Coke's newest campaign? Hypocritical or good marketing sense? Both? I'd love to hear your feedback.

Facebook in Real Life.

Since it is late I thought I'd share one of my favorite social media "funny videos" with you. Facebook in real life. Does facebook ever make you feel like this in real life?

What is PR?

This is a question Public Relations professionals and students alike ask themselves quite often. There are many definitions of PR. Last semester my PR Theory class had a ongoing discussion of this very question all semester. We came up with answers like "managing strategic relationships", "managing and maintaining reputations and relationships with the media and various publics", "relationship builder", "creating, maintaining and managing relationships that benefit each party" etc. 
Yesterday, PRowl Public Relations posted on their blog a graphic that PRNewswire compiled of all the definitions of PR that their followers and friends came up with: http://www.bloglovin.com/frame?blog=2355207&link=aHR0cDovL3Byb3dscHVibGljcmVsYXRpb25zLmJsb2dzcG90LmNvbS8

PR(Plus) made a very creative video with how they define public relations.

So, how do YOU define PR? Post in the comments below! Thanks for reading.

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Hello!

Hi, My name is Clemmie. I am currently a grad student at The University of Southern Mississippi working on my MS in Public Relations. I graduated from Mississippi University for Women with a BA in Communication in 2011. I started this blog to look into articles that discuss issues and topics concerning Public Relations and the Mass Communication fields. In my free time I enjoy books, movies, crafts, music, weather and history. Thank you for viewing the blog!