Risë Birnbaum and "the buzz"

Elbow, Elbow, Wrist, Wrist

With the looming nuptials of the Prince and soon-to-be Princess, the world is buzzing with wedding preparations. The Royal Public Relations Services have been working hard to fill our screens with pictures to play on our childhood fantasies of one day being Princess and get us excited for the big day.

But with the exception of Philadelphia native Princess Grace, who showed us our Princess dreams can come true, it’s not likely in the cards for most of us.  Why?  Mostly, because we chose to leave our British ancestry behind a wet trail of tea leaves, along with pretty much any chance of becoming a Princess. 

After reading (and reading…and reading) about this wedding, I’m starting to think being a Princess is not all it’s cracked up to be. Princess Catherine has lots of work ahead of her to be a royal. At first it just seemed a bit odd that she will no longer be Kate Middleton, but rather Princess Catherine and then I learned it will officially be "Her Royal Highness Princess William of Wales." No royal blood, no royal title.

All in all the wedding is exciting and has shown what a lot of good publicity can do. Between pre-game shows and celebrities in large hats eating appetizers and sipping champagne, the media frenzy itself is enough to entertain for hours.  

I haven’t seen a social media campaign executed so well since the presidential election. Did you know you can send a video message of congrats to the couple on the official YouTube Wedding Book?

With Twitter followers hanging on every word, a live stream of the wedding on YouTube, a Royal website … this is not your typical fairytale wedding. This wedding is going viral. Using all of today’s communications and social media tools to distribute their news, England is showing it’s not all cricket and scones. 

Thanks to the Twitter feed, we now know:

• The Royal Invitation List (complete with Kate’s local bar owner and postman)
• The Royal Seating Plan
• And, The Royal Flowers

With all the hype, is there any place on the planet not planning a royal banquet to watch the royal wedding on the royal screen? And, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.  So, yes, we at zcomm have developed a royal contest, too. As regal as the royal party is, America has a special brand of ruling class all our own. Check it out to vote for these American “royals” and win $100 restaurant.com gift card.  And for the record, we will be holding a high tea and ordering in some scones here at zcomm to celebrate the wedding.

HARD TO MAKE HEADLINES

With today’s headlines centered on global issues such as Japan’s earthquakes, a shutdown in the US government, school shootouts in Brazil and, of course, the upcoming Royal Wedding, PR professionals’ jobs are getting tougher by the day. While finding your way into the news fold has always taken finesse, global turmoil has made it nearly impossible to get the latest survey, product launch or company announcement into the mainstream limelight.

So, what’s a PR professional to do? Here’s what -- let the earth-shattering, breaking news dominate the print and broadcast media, and take to the digital streets. Go where the people are – online! Need some numbers to convince you that online is where it’s at?

According to the Pew Institute’s  2011 State of the News Media Report:

• 34% of respondents said they read news online within the past 24 hours as opposed to 31% who favored newspapers
• 41% said they get most of their news online, 10% more than those who said they got most of their news from a newspaper.
• The 18-to-29-year-old group overwhelmingly cast their vote with the web; 65% said the Internet was their main news source.
• Only 40% of people in the study said they read the news in an online or print newspaper, a 12% drop from five years ago.

And now, think about it logically, not only do blogs and online news sites not suffer from the “space” constraint of a 30-minute newscast, but your story doesn’t go away at the end of 30 minutes either. The Internet is a bank of information that never disappears. Your story becomes part of the archive, the longtail of the web that keeps stories alive. For better or worse, what happens on the Internet stays there for life!

And consumers aren’t the only ones getting their news online, journalists also search the sites for their next big story. Can’t get your story on the New York Times Online?  Try one of the hundreds of niche blogs that attract the right audience as well as reporters who are interested in the topic.

PR professionals are no longer locked into a handful of outlets. We now have access to millions of sites that are a better fit for our news and will generate more attention for our client. Sometimes the sites may reel in smaller audiences but they carry a lot of weight with their fans.

Ssssso, take a tip from the Bronx Zoo Cobra, if you want attention go out and make some noise ! If a venomous snake on the town can make headlines with all the breaking news, so can your story!

Climbing the Best Practices Summit

Nothing says spring in NYC then 40 degrees and windy.  No wonder all those New Yorkers (and I’m a native) walk at like a 5mph pace.  It’s just to stay warm in March.

I was on my way to the 2011 Ragan Media Relations Best Practices Summit. It was a terrific Ragan Communications conference where I spoke with my colleague Robin Lane on integrating traditional and social PR tactics to create a successful campaign. We highlighted our own success with the Silver Diner restaurant group.

    

 

Of course Robin and I were sandwiched between Tim McIntyre, VP Communications, Domino’s about how they masterfully handled a brand-damaging video, and Carlos Dominguez, SVP, Cisco about what’s hot in the digital world and what’s coming down the pike.

Tim was great.  Guess is that you know all about the famous Domino’s employee video that caused a scandal for the company.  And while you heard the media’s take on it, it was quite different to hear Tim’s. Despite the criticism Domino’s received for the campaign, their response was actually incredibly thoughtful. No, they didn’t race online with their response, but rather investigated the video and searched out the culprits before they could do more damage.  The team discovered it was a hoax and put its president on YouTube to remind us how much Domino’s cares about its customers. 

And Carlos was super cool.  From his witty intro showing his Cisco ID photo’s gradual increase in quality as he climbed the corporate ladder…to his “controversial big ideas” on what’s in store for the tech side of things.  First, a mind blowing idea – email will be dead.  Yup, Carlos predicts that this time-suck way of communicating will be replaced by customized finite communities.  For example, we will collaborate on projects in secure professional communities rather than through individual email.  Everything will take place in these communities.  No more email updates.  Can you fathom that?  At least I won’t wear out my delete button as much. 

The second “big idea” was that intent marketing is about to explode.  All the research points to the value of consumer reviews and online feedback in people’s purchasing decision. And according to Carlos, the marketers are not going to just dabble at taking advantage but throw themselves in head first. Say I want to buy a small car around $25k with great gas mileage.  In today’s world, I’m more likely to ask my social network than rely on consumer reports and test driving 8 different models.  By simply stating my intent, I will find myself targeted and sold to by all the car dealers online. Companies and brands will track you online and come to you. 

Just these two new thoughts have kept my mind spinning since the conference.  Not sure about email biting the dust so fast, but intent marketing is already happening.

Hats off to Mark Ragan who put on a great show.