Lights out in Vegas

Monday night, at 9:30 pm, all of the lights at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas went out for one minute. So, who was responsible for this monumental black out? No, it’s not George Clooney or Brad Pitt from Oceans 11.

Instead, Monday night’s black out was inspired by Absolut’s “Global Cooling” campaign. The campaign aims to “draw attention to the effects of global warming” and was initially launched in January. The campaign is supported by the AOR Public Relations Agency, Ketchum.

“Absolut is encouraging consumers and bar/nightclub owners to save energy,” Sarah Bessette, PR manager for Absolut Spirits. We found this “lights out” PR strategy rather bold and thought we would share. To read more about this PR campaign read Absolut puts out lights for environment from PR Week by Nicole Zerillo.

How to reach your target audiences through special events- Part 1-Tips from Everyday Public Relations for Lawyers

Here are a few tips on how to reach your target audiences through special events. Please see some of our tips and tactics below.

Tip One:

• Celebrate a holiday or anniversary.
• Conduct a poll or survey.
• Create a contest.

Tip Two:

• In the current day and age, community relations are of growing importance to law firms. Because society expects corporations to be socially responsible, becoming active in the community is to everyone’s advantage.
• Community relations activities can include exhibitions, celebrations, ceremonies, speeches, sponsorship of nonprofit organizations, pro bono work, official representation at functions and participation in community activities.

For more important tips on using PR to reach your target audiences through special events, read Chapter 6 in Everyday Public Relations for Lawyers. Excerpt from Everyday Public Relations for Lawyers, Copyright 2007. Furia Rubel Communications, Inc. To purchase the book, click here.

The Average American – Knowing Your Audience

Pitching news to the average American in an engaging way is a skill that all PR specialists have been perfecting for years. The underlying question that begs to be asked is; do we really know who the average American is? An article from the Los Angeles Times titled “In Search of the Average American” by Breanna Maloney explores this question and offers us a few new and entertaining statistics on the average American.

Did you know…

• The average American can name all Three Stooges but not all three branches of the federal government.
  
• The average American lives within three miles of a McDonalds
  
• The average American believes nature is sacred or spiritual but spends 95% of his time indoors.
  
• Sixty percent of Americans eat peanut butter at least once a week, and the average American eats three pounds of it a year.

These indiscriminate statistics, among others, were all compiled by author Kevin O’Keefe in his most recent book The Average American: The Extraordinary Search for the Nation’s Most Ordinary Citizen. For his research, O’Keefe criss-crossed the country for more than two years and knocked down “many of the myths about Americans.”

For example, “We have this image that the average American is lacking in smarts,” O’Keefe says, “but in this country, the average IQ scores have increased three points per decade since nationwide IQ testing began in the 1920s.” Additionally, he disproves the age old assumption of the average American as someone who lives on a farm in Middle America. “The last time that most Americans lived in rural areas was about 100 years ago. Most average Americans live in metropolitan areas,” says O’Keefe.

Kevin O’Keefe initially held high-profile jobs in the sports and entertainment industries, designing countless national marketing and public relations campaigns to reach the average American. More of O’Keefe’s notable research and findings are in the article, In search of the average American.

We found O’Keefe’s research on the average American interesting as it is so very important for all firms and businesses to target and intimately know their audiences.

Twitter for fun & Customers' attention

Everyday, more and more discussions about the power and impact of new social media outlets are penetrating PR publications. Alexandra Bruell, writer from PR Week, recently recounted the story of Lane Bryant. Lane Bryant is a plus-sized clothing retailer who utilizes popular social outlets such as Twitter, to build brand recognition.

To engage consumers, Lane Bryant created a wardrobe giveaway contest in which the winner won a trip to London with tickets to the premiere of the movie Mamma Mia! Kristyn Wilson, the media relations manager of Lane Bryant’s PR team (MediaSource) felt “that the media doesn't cover who won contests, unless you won the power ball, it was not a story angle.”

To overcome that obstacle, the contest winner used Twitter to “tweet” her journey overseas and build interest in the movie and clothing brand. Amy Vogt, VP of marketing, PR and Communications for Lane Bryant said, “This is the first time it was used purely for fun…We believe this is the first time Twitter was used in this fashion and our feedback has been nothing but positive.”

Lane Bryant and the PR team both agree “now that we have our customer’s attention, we want to keep their attention.” For more on developing media strategies and online networks through new social outlets, read Alexandra Bruell’s article Lane Bryant builds online strategy with Twitter, MySpace.