Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
Canada confirmed its third case of mad cow disease, just two weeks after its last case and after the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced plans to normalize cattle and beef trade with Canada.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
Colin Powell said U.S. aid to tsunami-stricken countries "does give the Muslim world and the rest of the world an opportunity to see American generosity, American values in action. ...
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
"President Bush's political allies are raising millions of dollars for an election-style campaign to promote private Social Security accounts, as Democrats and Republicans prepare for what they predict will be the most expensive and extensive public policy debate since the 1993 fight over the Clinton administration's failed health care plan," reports Jim VandeHei.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
BuzzMetrics, a New York-based specialist in word-of-mouth marketing, is among the companies working to tame the internet by going after "determined detractors," which the New York Times defines as "persistent critics of a company or product that mount their own public relations offensive, often online." According to Paul Rand, managing director at Ketchum Midwest in Chicago, "One determined detractor can do as much damage as 100,000 positive mentions can do good." Detractors, he said, can become "reputation t
Despite finishing second in the annual Sydney to Hobart blue-water racing classic, the yacht named after communications giant AAPT outperformed most of its rivals in the PR stakes.
While big racing boats such as AAPT fly with the wind they also burn bucketloads of cash. Which is why the big boats need big sponsors. Corporate sponsors look to the bottom line and expect a return on investment that is primarily measured on the amount of media coverage they garner.
Submitted by Laura Miller on
Public service announcements -- those informational spots that air for free on radio and TV -- are technically not supposed to be thought of in commercial terms, but Erica Iacono writes that "there are ways for corporate sponsors to gain recognition" through PSAs. In a PR Week feature examining how to get "the extra mile out of a PSA," Iacono highlights a King Oscar sardines partnership with the Women's Sports Foundation.
This year marks the beginning of a new tradition for the Center for Media and Democracy. To remember the people and players responsible for polluting our information environment, we are issuing a new year-end prize that we call the "Falsies Awards." The top ten finalists will each receive a million bucks worth of free coupons, a lifetime supply of non-fattening ice cream, an expenses-paid vacation in Fallujah, and our promise to respect them in the morning. The winners of the Falsies Awards for 2004 are:
Let's hear it for video news releases finally getting a smattering of the public scrutiny they deserve. A video news release or VNR is a simulated TV news story. Video clips paid for by corporations, government agencies, and non-governmental organizations are commonly passed off as legitimate news segments on local newscasts throughout the United States. VNRs are designed to be indistinguishable from traditional TV news and are often aired without the original producers and sponsors being identified and sometimes without any local editing.
For a while, it looked as though one lone cow might succeed.
Government officials promised to implement food safety measures long championed by consumer, family farm, health, environmental, and public interest organizations. Industry groups -- and their former lobbyists now working for regulatory agencies -- were on the defensive.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
"With the U.S. government set to issue new dietary guidelines for Americans in January," food industry groups and PR firms are preparing to capitalize on the recommendations, writes PR Week. Burson-Marsteller's U.S.
Submitted by Laura Miller on
When White House Budget Director Joshua B. Bolten introduced a "single mom" from Iowa to promote President Bush's plan to dismantle Social Security, she was presented as one of the "regular folks" in favor of private savings accounts. But Sandra Jaques, who addressed a White House economics conference on Thursday, "is not any random single mother," the New York Times' Edmund Andrews wrote.
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