We’ve been irritated lately by Hollywood celebs who have fallen off the A-list (oops, there’s that term again) and are now making fools of themselves to reclaim the spotlight. We’re going to post a list of the “Five Most Attention-Starved Celebrities” next week and will offer them some PR advice. If you have a suggestion, please e-mail us.
Now to the picks:
Technorati tags: Web 2.0, PR, Blogs, Websites, Public Relations, Marketing, Advertising, Media
From PRSA’s Public Relations Strategist, “As More Print Journalists Turn to Public Relations, What Will It Mean for the Profession?”:
Changes within print journalism have led to industrywide malaise, causing journalism students to reconsider their chosen field and reporters at all stages of their careers to seek new employment. Journalists turned PR-practitioners are nothing new … Yet, it seems the trend has accelerated because of marketplace pressures on newspapers. This could be a boon to the PR profession in terms of enhanced media relations capabilities and a potential lessening of PR practitioners being identified as nothing more than flacks who spin in the press.
Jefferson George, a journalist who switched to PR before returning to newspapers, had this reaction to the PRSA report in a letter to Romenesko:
I was a newspaper reporter for six years before taking my first (and only) PR job, which I had for four years. Despite a comfortable salary and impressive VP title, I left PR about six months ago and returned to newspapers — Knight Ridder, no less — at arguably the most anxious time in their history. Why? In the end, it was that whole “public service/making a difference” thing, tired as that might seem…
Do I like every story I write now? Of course not. I also didn’t like every pitch I made while in PR, but in the end, you work for the client and do what they want, or you don’t have the client very long (and maybe not other clients if word gets around). In newspapers — even in this era of “answering to Wall Street” — I still believe you work for the public.
Ah, the age-old debate.
We do think that journalism-to-PR is an increasing trend (although PRSA’s report has no hard numbers), which is one of the reasons for that little book project we’re kicking around.
The PRSA piece does have some interesting advice for journalists looking to make the switch — most humorously, the warning that many journalists have “business etiquette issues.” No, you think?
But they have their good points, too.
Technorati tags: Journalism, PR, Public Relations, Marketing
Alex Bogusky is apparently not only advertising’s “It Boy,” but also a Communist longhair. He insulted President Bush in this video from some marketing conference, saying of his agency’s iconic Burger King guy, “I wonder if one of the reasons he looks so creepy is because he looks like Bush.”
Michelle Malkin, organize a boycott of Whoppers, please. (Except for the ones you tell, of course.)
Technorati tags: Advertising, PR, Public Relations, Marketing, Michelle Malkin, Alex Bogusky, Burger King
From the Duke University press release:
Durham, N.C. — As Oscar season gets into full swing, new research indicates that what movie critics don’t say about a film appears to matter as much as what they do say.
The research, conducted by marketing professor Wagner Kamakura of Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, Suman Basuroy, assistant professor of marketing at Florida Atlantic University, and Peter Boatwright, associate professor of marketing at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business, examines the meaning of silence by professional film critics.
It finds that many film critics, faced with far too many movies to write about, tend to avoid writing reviews of bad films that they’ve seen. At the same time, a few critics, faced with the same overwhelming choice, tend to avoid reviewing good movies that they’ve watched.
As a result, moviegoers might infer the likely opinions of their favorite reviewers, even when those critics don’t actually write about a movie. The study will appear in the June 2006 issue of the journal Quantitative Marketing & Economics.
Susan Wloszczyna, film reporter for USA Today, had this reaction to the study in a letter to Romenesko:
I’ve been out of the reviewing business for about four years now, so I was somewhat surprised to see my name included in this study. After reading the findings, I was more than surprised — I was confused … I guess critics should celebrate the fact that an esteemed university is even bothering to study their profession, but these findings barely rate one star.
Guys, we know being a marketing professor is boring — but please. Go back to teaching about the 4 P’s, OK?
Technorati tags: Journalism, Advertising, Public Relations, Marketing
Our friend Kirk, an investor relations guru and former colleague from PageNet days, doesn’t think anyone actually reads Media Orchard.
Prove him wrong and learn a little about hedge funds by reading his post, “High-risk strategy for both sides.” As Kirk puts it:
It’s becoming a strange world, when utility company investors start acting like 1980s raiders, and public company management starts acting like members of the plaintiff’s bar.
Please, don’t embarrass us. Click.
(Note to our more serious readers: We’re sorry we’re so giddy today. Copywriting work is on overload and this is our only outlet for silliness.)
(Note to both serious and non-serious readers: Media Orchard wrote PageNet’s Wikipedia entry, so if you’re familiar with the company, feel free to have at it — as long as your name is not McKinney or Silver.)
Technorati tags: Investor Relations, PR, Public Relations, Marketing
