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• Tom Ford eyewear gets the finger (Adland)
  
• The Bourne Hypocrisy (Deceiver)
  
• Lesbos sue lesbians over brand name (Collateral Damage)
  
• Obama should have blown off mainstream media, gone with YouTube (What's Next Blog)
  

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• Russia using smiling urchins in tourism ad in war zone (Collateral Damage)
  
• The Doogie Howser of terrorism (Spinwatch)
  
• Pentagon pundits broke the law (PR Watch)
  
• Wacky PR pitches get media's attention -- if not respect (Talking Biz News)
  

[Story.]

Labels: Celebrity Culture, Heidi Montag, Political Spin, Spencer Pratt, The Hills

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• Hollywoods Publicity-Industrial Complex (Defamer)
  
• Time for a new media remix? (Ad Age)
  
• World's worst PR pitch, part 743 (What's Next Blog)
  

Nice press release by eDrugstore.MD on PR Minds. Especially like this excerpt:

"Many consumers simply do not realize they needn't pay exorbitantly for their prescription medications ... they don't know that there's a legitimate choice," notes [insert full name], eDrugstore.MD's [insert title]..."

Explains [insert last name], "We invested in the right people, individuals who are well-versed in all aspects of SEO, and our business has grown considerably because of their commitment to excellence and education."

Labels: Marketing Views, pr

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• Marketing idea of the day: drug ATMs at your doctor's office (eDrugSearch Blog)
  
• Why working at newspapers is depressing, part 456 (Black Star Rising)
  
• Disney now also stalking boys (Collateral Damage)
  
• Green for a day (Copywrite, Ink.)
  

Last month, I published a post in which I shared the favorite Web sites of a group of University of North Texas journalism students.

Since then, I've had the opportunity to speak to a class of Southern Methodist University communication students -- in this case, a group that is mostly on an advertising/PR track. So I asked them the same question: What are the three sites you are most likely to visit on any given day?

As a reminder, here were the top sites of the journalism students:

DallasNews.com (5 votes)
Yahoo! (5 votes)
WFAA.com (4 votes)
Facebook (3 votes)
CNN.com (2 votes)
MySpace
ESPN.com
MSNBC.com
Google
AOL
MSN
Reuters.com
Flickr
Yahoo! Sports
Wired News
Jasmyne Cannick
Wordpress
Weather.com
Allrecipes.com

Now, check out the top vote-getters from the SMU advertising/PR students:

SMU.edu [for e-mail] (13 votes)
Facebook (11 votes)
CNN (4 votes)
Perez Hilton (3 votes)
New York Times (3 votes)
Weather.com (2 votes)
Google (2 votes)
Deadspin
BBC
AOL
Yahoo!
DallasNews.com
Style.com
YouTube

I find it interesting that the J-students have been getting their information from local news media Web sites, while the advertising/PR students are more likely to get their information from blogs and other sources.

I don't want to read too much into such a small sample, but it does raise a chicken-and-egg scenario:

Are the J-students attracted to the field of journalism because they like the news as it is presented by local media outlets? Or, are they attracted to local media outlets because they conform to how journalism is taught in their school?

Labels: Marketing Views

Congrats, Todd. (And yes, you can click to enlarge.)

Labels: Marketing Views, power 150

Sigh ... when PR people post blog comments:

Hi,

Great stuff...

Have you promoted this blog on Fast Pitch!(www.fastpitchnetworking.com)? It's an online business network that has as one of it's features a way to promote your blog to their audience of small business owners.
FP was actually just named Website of The Week by MSNBC's 'Your Business' show for small business owners.

If you're already on another network (LinkedIn, etc.) - no problem. Fast Pitch! takes a completely different approach. Compare Networks: http://www.fastpitchnetworking.com/comapre.cfm

Keep up the good work!

Tammy

"Great stuff." I feel so special. Actually, I guess Tammy's probably a bot.

Bots. Flacks. Whatever.

Labels: Marketing Views

For those of you who aren't familiar with the stock photography business, there are two types of stock: "rights-managed" and "royalty-free."

I bet -- even if you don't know the difference between the two -- you already have a preference based on their respective names. Am I right?

Read more at Black Star Rising.

Labels: Marketing Views, rights-managed, royalty-free, stock photography

Spin Thicket 2.0 has some bugs and we're working on it ... hang in there with us. Thanks!

Labels: Marketing Views, Spin Thicket

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• Evolution of the news business, continued (PR 2.0)
  
• Is a 40-person protest in a country of 230 million really news? (Black Star Rising)
  
• Search engine smackdown: HealthPricer vs. eDrugSearch.com (eDrugSearch Blog)
  

We've got some new wheels. Kick the tires, please. Still working out a few squeaks and squeals; will post more about it later. Please let us know what you think.

Labels: Marketing Views, Spin Thicket

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• Rush Limbaugh will deny global warming until all the penguins catch on fire (De Smog Blog)
  
• Columnist turns offended readers into publicity op (Copywrite, Ink.)
  
• C'mon, admit it: That New York Magazine cover is pretty funny (Romenesko)
  

Watch out for those Chinese capitalists; we've taught them well. (Emphasis added below.)

-----Original Message-----
From: terry.wang [mailto:terry.wang@sh-net.net.cn]
Sent: Tuesday, April 01, 2008 8:50 PM
To: cbaradell
Cc: info
Subject: The dispute about idea grove


Dear Cathy Baradell:

We are Shanghai NET Network Service Co.,Ltd,which is the domain name register center in China.I have something need to confirm with you.

We received a formal application from a company who is called "Lawson(USA)Venture Capital Co.,Ltd" are applying to register "ideagrove" as their domain name and Internet Brand in China and also in Asia on Apr 2nd 2008. During our auditing procedure we find out that the alleged Meiao Co.,Ltd has no trade mark, brand nor patent even similar to that word. As authorized anti-cybersquatting organization we hereby suspect the alleged Lawson(USA)Venture Capital Co.,Ltd to be a domain grabber. Hence we need you confirmation for two things,

First of all, whether this alleged Lawson(USA)Venture Capital Co.,Ltd is your business partner or distributor in China.

Secondly, whether you are interested in registering these domains. (The alleged Lawson company will be entitled to obtain a domain not needed by original trademark owner.)

If you are not in charge of this please transfer this email to appropriate dept.

This is a letter for confirmation. If the mentioned third party is your business partner or distributor in China please DO NOT reply. We will automatically confirm application from your business partner after this audit procedure.

Best regards,
Terry Wang
Register Department
Shanghai NET Network Service Co.,Ltd
Tel: 0086-21-51750335
FAX: 0086-21-51750301
Website: www.sh-net.net.cn
E-mail: terry.wang@sh-net.net.cn

The Idea Grove, parent company of Media Orchard, has announced the termination of blogger Poopypants McGee in a brief statement.

The statement read as follows:

The Idea Grove, parent company of Media Orchard, has announced the termination of blogger Poopypants McGee.

Labels: Barney

Media Orchard announced today that it has hired precocious toddler Poopypants McGee to write most Media Orchard posts for the foreseeable future.

"After an extensive cost-benefit analysis by Media Orchard's parent company, the Idea Grove, we have determined that Idea Grove President Scott Baradell's time is better spent on billable hours, and that writing blog posts is not a cost-effective utilization of his time," said Slap Forehead, the Idea Grove's chief financial officer. "We have thus undertaken a massive worldwide search (in the form of a Craigslist ad) to identify a CARB (Cheap Ass Replacement Blogger) for Scott Baradell."

Adds Meem Littlegay, director of market research for the Idea Grove: "The hiring of CARBs has been a highly efficient tactic used by some of the most widely read blogs in marketing and across all industry sectors. Our research indicates that once a blog reaches a certain threshold of subscribers, people keep coming back to the blog no matter what kind of SAC (Stupid Ass Content) they're slinging. Of course, Media Orchard isn't really at that threshold -- but screw it."

Said Baradell: "Poopypants McGee, age 3 and three quarters, writes posts for a pat on the head and a french fry. How can I compete with that?"

[Image source]

Labels: April Fool's Day, blogging, Marketing Views