Insights for Leaders Navigating
Visibility, Credibility, and Growth.
From media strategy to reputation management, we explore the trends shaping public perception and share the approaches that drive measurable results for growing brands.
We recently ran across a PRWeek article about social media and digital communications. The article provides some interesting statistics about digital communications from the 2009 Digital Readiness Report from iPressroom, Korn/Ferry International and PRSA including:
PR leads digital communications at 51 percent of organizations, while marketing leads 40.5 percent of the time
PR generally leads several aspects of digital communications, including blogging (49 percent), microblogging (52 percent) and social networking (28 percent).
Many experts believe PR will continue to lead digital efforts. Jonathan Kopp, the global director of Ketchum Digital, notes, “The speed of engagement is changing in the digital space and PR moves faster than advertising and marketing, so it gives them an opportunity.”
To learn more about this report, read the article entitled, “Report: Social Media Falls Mostly to PR.” If you have questions about your own digital communications efforts, we’d love to help. Send us an e-mail at [email protected]
Communiqué PR has a number of mobile industry clients so we thought it would be interesting to provide insight on a blog about smartphone app stores.
Gizmodo, Gawker Media’s largest blog focusing on gadgets and technology, recently published a post comparing mobile application stores from companies including Apple, Palm, Blackberry, Nokia and Microsoft.
While many of the features are similar, blogger John Herrman, notes there are two distinct kinds of app stores: the primary store, which is the first and only source of an operating system’s apps (e.g. Apple), and the secondary store, which is built around an existing stock of third-party apps (e.g. Blackberry, Microsoft and Nokia).
There has been a lot of attention focused on mobile application stores recently as traditional players such as Palm, BlackBerry, Nokia and Microsoft have begun offering similar versions of Apple’s popular app store. While all of these stores have similar features for both consumers and app developers, the comparison of each of these stores is interesting to note. We anticipate many consumers will base their future mobile phone purchasing decisions on the features and functionalities of the device’s app store.
Read the blog post entitled, “Giz Explains: All the Smartphone Mobile App Stores,” to learn more.
John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods, recently found himself in hot water when he published an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal, candidly expressing his personal opinions about healthcare reform. In the article, Mackey argued we should move, “toward less government control and more individual empowerment” and outlined eight reforms that would improve healthcare for everyone.
The op-ed piece spurred a PR nightmare for Whole Foods, with many consumers boycotting the store and accusing Mackey of only caring for those who are “most fortunate and don’t want their piece of the pie to be smaller.”
The company responded to the consumer outcry by releasing a statement via a spokeswoman. In addition, Mackey addressed concerns by posting a blog on the company’s site about his op-ed, clarifying that Whole Foods Market as a company “has no official position on the issue.”
While both the company and Mackey have made efforts to repair the damage, it’s uncertain whether the company’s image will be able to fully recover from this incident. This situation highlights the importance of not only responding to consumer concerns in a timely manner, but also evaluating the possible impact an executive’s actions can have on the company image.
What do you think? Has this incident changed the way you feel about Whole Foods as a company? Do you think Mackey’s response to the situation was appropriate?
We would love to hear your thoughts. Leave us a comment or send an e-mail to [email protected].
On September 11, Colleen Moffitt, co-founder of Communiqué PR, will be presenting at an event entitled, “The Rise of the Social Internet and Social Media Law” sponsored by Perkins Coie and Law Seminar International.
The event will feature speakers from companies including: Avvo, Inc., Children’s Advertising Review Board (CARU), Facebook, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Perkins Coie LLP and more.
Clearly, as more organizations look to leverage social mediums, this event will provide useful insight on the legal implications and regulatory issues surrounding the corporate use of social media.
Colleen’s presentation will focus on how companies can maximize the benefits and minimize risks surrounding social media marketing.
To learn more about the event or to attend the workshops, register online at www.lawseminars.com.
Recently, one of our long-time clients Big Fish Games, the world’s leading online destination for games and interactive entertainment launched Faunasphere, a browser-based casual multiplayer online game (CMO). Players adopt and care for cute and quirky creatures, known as Fauna, and collaborate to build and explore beautiful virtual worlds. Faunasphere provides rich social networking elements and an immersive storyline, and it’s free to play.
To promote Faunasphere, Communiqué PR reached out to key influential gaming and mommy bloggers to secure game reviews and drive traffic to the Web site. To date, we’ve secured 22 reviews and press mentions in the following publications and blogs:
Casual Gaming Biz News
Cinemablend
o Reposted on USA Today
Cutie Booty Cake
Exploring War Like Worlds
Fractured Toy
FreeBrowserGamer.com
Gamers Daily News
Gamers Hell
o Reposted on Play.tm
GamesAreEvil
UGO Gamesblog
Gaming Angels
NPR
Playbbg.com
Reviews!
Seattle Examiner
The Family Gamer Online
The Gadgeteer
o Reposted on Topix
Your Fun Family
Unequalled Magazine
Visit our past blog entitled, “The Rise of Mommy Bloggers” for tips on how to approach mommy bloggers to ensure a great review of your product.
On August 10, our client SAM Medical Products, a privately held developer and manufacturer of innovative medical products used for emergency, military and hospital care, announced the launch of CELOX Trauma Gauze. CELOX Trauma Gauze is a new dual-product hemostatic gauze used to control traumatic bleeding, and cool and protect first- and second-degree burns. The gauze provides two-in-one functionality and stops bleeding in approximately 30 seconds.
We had the opportunity to test the gauze and were extremely impressed by its technology. With the look and feel similar to that of standard cotton gauze, it transforms into a gel-like material when saturated with water or a saline solution.
Instantly cooling the skin, the gauze is a great tool for treating burns – and it’s safe for the patient since the gauze is comprised of chitosan, a natural compound derived from shrimp shells.
To date, we have secured the following coverage of this announcement:
EMS Responder online
JEMS.com
Medical Hemostat
UPI.com
Portland Business Journal
With anticipated coverage appearing in:
EMS Responder -October 2009 print issue.
Journal of Emergency Medical Services (JEMS) – Fall time frame for the print issue
Responder Safety -September 2009 issue.
To learn more about CELOX Trauma Gauze feel free to send us an e-mail at [email protected].