Adventures in Public Relations

February 27, 2012

Topic of the Week – Feb. 27

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This week’s TOW is for both PRCA 3030 and PRCA 3330.

As the image above indicates, this week’s topic is about your dream job. What is your career dream job? How do you plan to shine among all the others wanting the same dream job? What are you doing now to achieve the end goal of your “dream job”?

Image from http://thesmarterwallet.com/2010/find-dream-job-income/

February 20, 2012

PRCA 3330 Topic of the Week – Feb. 20

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This TOW is for the PRCA 3330 class.

If time travel were possible, what would you do? Where would you go? Why did you choose to visit there? If you were to go back in time, would you worry about how one small change could affect the future?

Image from: http://www.offthemark.com/cartoons/time+travel/

February 20, 2012

PRCA 3030 Topic of the Week – Feb. 20

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This TOW is for the PRCA 3030 class.

As we discussed in class last week, Pinterest is a fast growing social media site. It was reported that the site set the record for the “fastest standalone website to surpass the 10 million mark” (http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/10784.aspx). Read the following articles and use the following questions to craft your blog post. Do you see PR value in Pinterest? Please describe why/why not. Do you think it is a fad that will be here today and gone in a few months? Do you have your own Pinterest account? How often do you use it, repin or like items, etc.? Would you recommend Pinterest to others (friends, co-workers, etc.)? Why/why not?

How 11 brands are reaching customers on Pinterest http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/10007.aspx

PR pro recommends Pinterest—a social media platform for visual thinkers http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/8081.aspx

Image from: http://pinterest.com/about/goodies/

February 13, 2012

Topic of the Week – Feb. 13

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This week’s topic of the week is in honor of Valentine’s Day. This day of romance has been celebrated for years and there are many theories as to how this day of love got its start. What are some of the best and worst gifts you have received on Valentine’s Day? When you receive something you don’t particularly like, do you let the giver know? If so, how?

From a public relations standpoint, if you worked for a greeting card company, florist or chocolate manufacturer, how would you persuade the public to buy from you rather than your competition?

Image from http://www.astorybooklife.com/holidays/valentines-day-conversation-hearts/

February 6, 2012

PRCA 3030 Topic of the Week – Feb. 6

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This TOW is for the PRCA 3030 class.

How has social media changed the PR world? In your opinion, are the changes for the better or the worse? Due to the fact that anyone can have a social media account, many believe they can take on these responsibilities without a background in public relations. What do you think about individuals/companies that employ social media, but don’t have a background in public relations? Do you think this hurts the company/individual?

Image from: http://www.pixmule.com/other-social-media/

February 6, 2012

PRCA 3330 Topic of the Week – Feb. 6

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This TOW is for the PRCA 3330 class.

Everyone has them. Some are minor, while others seem to drive you over the edge. What are they? Pet peeves. Those things that annoy us. What annoys you and why?

Image from: http://www.agweb.com/blog/Rubes_Cartoons_-_Tales_from_a_Twisted_Mind_263/?Year=2009&Month=11

February 2, 2012

What would you have done?

Posted by grooverpr under PRCA 3030, PRCA 3330 | Tags: sundance |
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As you all know, I attended the Sundance Film Festival last week in Park City, Utah. Every venue/theatre is staffed with volunteers. These are individuals, mostly from the Park City/Salt Lake City area who give of their time to work at the festival. They assist with everything from helping visitors get on the right shuttle, to working concessions, to keeping the lines moving, to helping find empty seats in the theatre. These individuals are UNPAID and, in my opinion, did a fantastic job – especially when dealing with people who felt they were somehow “owed” something. While at the festival I saw some interesting things, not just in the movies, but playing out in front of me. Following is one of those situations.

At each movie theatre there are seats that are reserved. These are saved for the director, producer, and/or other “important” people. At the end of a screening the director and/or producer would go to the front of the theatre to engage in a Q&A session with the audience. Thus, it made sense they have seats with easy access. At this one theatre, a gentleman was being seated in the reserved section when he told the volunteer that he wanted the aisle seat. Upon being told that the aisle seat and the seat next to it were saved for the director and his wife, the man continued to be upset. The female volunteer told him in an even, yet professional tone, that she understood his request, but reiterated that the director of the film was coming and was expecting to have that seat. The man finally relented and sat in the third seat from the aisle.

I don’t know the whole reason for why this man felt he had to have an aisle seat or why he didn’t think the director of the film deserved it. What I did see in this situation was that the volunteer acted in a completely professional manner throughout the entire interaction. Through this interaction she used public relations skills to temper the situation, rather than allowing it to escalate and make all patrons in the theatre aware of what was going on. I only saw this because it was three rows directly in front of me.

I am sure there were plenty of other incidents like this one that played out during the two weeks of the festival. My questions for you are, if you were in this situation or one like it, how would you have reacted? How would you employ your public relations skills to not only defuse the situation, but to keep the patron happy?

Please note: Respond directly to this post in the comments section. Your responses must be submitted by noon, Friday, Feb. 10, in order to receive credit. Also, leave your name at the end of your post so I know who wrote the comment.

P.S. The photo is mine.

January 30, 2012

Topic of the Week – Jan. 30

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This week’s topic of the week is for both the PR writing and PR & Social Media classes.

Having just returned from the Sundance Film Festival I wonder how many of you read the book before (or even after) seeing a movie. The questions for this week are, would you rather read the book, watch the movie, or both? Why? Which do you usually prefer? What, if anything, has been your favorite book to movie adaptation?

Image from http://www.readingkingdom.com/blog/2011/04/01/books-better-than-movies/

January 21, 2012