September 29, 2009

Microsoft Windows 7 House Party: Public Relations Disaster or Video Marketing Triumph?

If you create something so bad that it goes viral, is it a public relations disaster or a video marketing triumph?

That's the question that journalists and bloggers are asking after watching HostingYourParty, which tells you how to host a Microsoft Windows 7 House Party.

Microsoft is putting a Tupperware-style twist on the upcoming Windows 7 rollout -- launching a new initiative to encourage thousands of employees, partners and technology enthusiasts to throw parties in their homes and communities to demonstrate and help spread the word about its new operating system.

People accepted as official launch party hosts will get their own copy of Windows 7 Ultimate Edition, and a chance to win a computer. But unlike the Tupperware model, there will be no literal selling. These parties are more about generating word-of-mouth buzz.

To promote this idea, Microsoft has uploaded a video to YouTube. Some journalists and bloggers think it is a public relations disaster.

Cindy Perman of CNBC writes, "You just knew that once they put the Microsoft geeks in charge of the "party," that it wouldn't be a 10-kegger and before long, we'd all be putting lampshades over our heads."

Ian Douglas, a tech blogger for the Daily Telegraph in London, writes, "I'm beginning to think that no one involved with Microsoft's advertising has ever left the house or spoken to a real person."

And James Lileks of The Bleat writes, "If Microsoft had been put in charge of marketing sex, the human race would have ended long ago, because no one would be caught dead doing something that uncool."

Now, you may be tempted to watch this 6-minute, 14-second video yourself -- to jump to your own conclusion. But, I warn you -- only serious geeks like me will watch beyond the first minute.

HostingYourParty

Now, if Microsoft really wanted to show people how to hold a Windows 7 Launch Party, they might have created a remix of the 1950s educational video below about what, in fact, makes a "good" party.

1950 - What Makes a Good Party

Not all of the reaction to Microsoft's Windows 7 House Party has been negative. Some of it can be charitably described as "mixed."

David Meerman Scott of Web Ink Now, asks, "Is this Microsoft Windows 7 House Party thing real? Or is it an incredibly wonderful and clever spoof on a 50s educational video that is so well done as to have fooled most observers who seem to think it is legit?"

Janice L. Brown of The Fussy Marketer also asks, "Hmm, if something goes viral because it's so bad, does that still count as achieving the marketing goals?"

Nevertheless, Lieutenant Columbo, if he were blogging these days, would ask just one more thing: "Why did Microsoft disable ratings and adding comments on HostingYourParty?"

Is this something you'd do if you were hoping for a video marketing triumph?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 9:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (20)

March 28, 2009

NYC Public Relations Firms: Give PR Jobs to CCNY Students

If top NYC public relations firms are smart, they'll give PR jobs or paid internships to The City College of New York (CCNY) students that I met last week. Why? Because most of these kids know something that most of us don't and it is crucial to our survival as an industry.

Let me explain.

I played reverse hooky last Wednesday afternoon. I attended school when I didn't have to.

Professor Philip Ryan invited me to visit his Introduction to Public Relations class at CCNY. He was covering Chapter 13 of Public Relations Strategies and Tactics, (9th Edition) by Dennis L. Wilcox of San Jose State University and Glen T. Cameron of University of Missouri. Published by Allyn & Bacon in February 2008, Chapter 13 is entitled, "New Technologies in Public Relations."

But, as one of the students in Professor Ryan's class pointed out, "There's nothing in our textbook about SEO PR."

So, I asked for a show of hands. "How many of you use Facebook?" Virturally everyone did. "How many of you use YouTube?" Nearly everyone did. "How many of you use Twitter?" Almost everyone did.

So, I observed, "Well, SEO-PR was founded 2003, Facebook in 2004, YouTube in 2005, and Twitter in 2006. So, just because these new technologies aren't covered in your textbook doesn't mean they aren't fundamentally changing public relations as we know it. I'm speaking at Search Engine Strategies New York this week and these new technologies are all on the agenda along with social media and blogging."

Another student observed, "When I Googled the term 'SEO' you weren't ranked #1."

I replied, "Well, that's not one of my target terms. Now, if you Google the term 'SEO PR', you'll see my firm is ranked #1."

The student countered, "But that's the name of your company."

And I responded, "The term 'SEO PR' gets about 320 searches a month. Not bad for a keyword that didn't exist in 2003. But, if you Google 'blog outreach', you'll also see my firm is currently ranked #1. How many of you think blog outreach is an important part of media relations services, especially with 900,000 blog posts every day?"

Then, I added, "Besides, what I really want you to do is conduct a query at Google News for the term 'Online Marketing Summit' and find the optimized press release that we distributed yesterday for ClickZ."

I think that's when they started cutting me a little slack.

Then, Professor Ryan asked, "How is contextual marketing changing public relations as we know it?"

I explained, "Contextual advertising is targeted to a Web page based on the page's content. This means there is the opportunity to create editorial content targeted at the contextual advertising that you want to attract to your news blog or YouTube channel."

Yes, these were tough questions from sophisticated students and their professor.

Which means these CCNY students are exactly the kind of people that NYC public relations firms need to hire if they are going to survive short-term or thrive long-term.

Yes, they are still acquiring the skill of writing a press release. But they already understand that an optimized press release can get a high ranking in news search engines.

Yes, they are still becoming acquainted with the fundamentals of persuasion and communications theory. But they have already mastered how to make friends on Facebook.

Yes, they are still beginning to recognize how PR relates to other fields of marketing. But they're already familiar with how to upload YouTube videos.

Yes, they are still learning the key ethical issues affecting the practice of PR. But they've developed an appreciation for the acceptable use ofand unacceptable abuse of Twitter.

Unfortunately, most NYC public relations firms won't give PR jobs or even paid internships to these CCNY students?

Why? Short term, the recession is the primary excuse. But even if there is an opening, most of the job descriptions in the public relations industry were written back in the 20th Century. So, these square pegs won't fit into the round holes.

For example, is your HR department trying to hire an entry level public relations specialist? Does the job description read: "Prepares and disseminates information regarding an organization through newspapers, periodicals, television and radio and other forms of media. May require a bachelor's degree in a related area and 0-2 years of experience in the field or in a related area. Has knowledge of commonly-used concepts, practices, and procedures within a particular field. Relies on instructions and pre-established guidelines to perform the functions of the job. Primary job functions do not typically require exercising independent judgment. Works under immediate supervision; typically reports to a supervisor or manager."

So, don't blame your HR department if they aren't looking for someone who can prepare and optimize information regarding an organization through news search engines, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

And who is at fault if someone who doesn't have a bachelor's degree gets filtered out during the screening process even through they could have brought knowledge of new concepts, practices and procedures to the table?

And ask yourself, honestly, do you want someone who relies on instructions and pre-established guidelines to perform the ever-changing fuctions of the job? Or do you really need someone who doesn't typically exercise independent judgment in an emerging field that didn't exist when you went to college?

In other words, are you giving PR jobs to the people you will need in 2009 and the decade after this? Or, is your HR department rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic?

Now, if I were you, I'd find a way to play reverse hooky at CCNY.

Other "guests" to Professor Ryan's class have included Garrett Glaser, a corporate communications consultant and former reporter for CNBC, and Rena L. Lewis, the Director of Brand Management, Industries & Marketing, at KPMG, and will include David Grant, President of LVM Group.

And television journalism icon Dan Rather will deliver the Spring 2009 Samuel Rudin Distinguished Visiting Scholars Lecture at The City College of New York on Thursday, April 2. Mr. Rather, who was anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News from 1981 to 2005, will speak about "Democracy and the 24-Hour News Cycle."

This kind of "higher education" doesn't fit on the normal resume.

That's why it's time to overhaul the job screening process at most NYC public relations firms to ensure that you're giving PR jobs to CCNY students and others like them who are crucial to the survival of the public relations industry.

But, hey, what do I know? I'm not even mentioned in the college textbooks.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 12:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

April 3, 2007

E-consultancy publishes online PR briefing

E-consultancy has just published an Online PR Briefing. You can download the 12-page report for free. It includes a summary of a recent roundtable discussion on this topic, plus other information about market trends, search statistics and useful resources.

Katy Howell of immediate future, who spoke at Search Engine Strategies in London back in February, provides a useful overview of where Online PR is in 2007. There is also a debate about the similarities and differences between Online PR and Search Engine Optimization. If you are interested in the crossover between these marketing disciplines, you should also read the blog post by Ken McGaffin of Wordtracker.com.

It is clear from the roundtable discussion that there are still plenty of organizations struggling to grasp how Online PR fits into the bigger picture. One of the reasons for this is that is hard to know which department or agency should own it. Is it part of online marketing or is it something which traditional PR agencies should be doing as part of their job? Part of the issue seems to be that Online PR covers a range of areas from "defensive" reputation monitoring to proactive attempts to drive website traffic which can deliver a clear ROI.

There is plenty more about this in the briefing, including some new statistics about corporate blogs. According to the E-Consultancy Customer Engagement Report, published in November 2006, 35% of companies are planning to use corporate blogs in the next 12 months, and 17% are using them already.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 8:36 AM | Permalink

February 7, 2007

Will Splinter Communities Work?

Web publishers are scrambling to provide their own outlets for user-generated content.

This could be interesting to search marketers, especially if we're able to reach bloggers or amateur video makers within more defined and splintered communities.

So far, larger branders have taken the plunge. MTV invested in a company called TagWorld. Now it can produce social networking sites a la My Space, complete with audio/video sharing and chatting too.

You know the world is changing when even the Gray Lady says she'll start accepting user-generated video because it's cheaper that way. NY Times executive Nicholas Ascheim said there would be an announcement in March, as reported in Red Herring.

Whether well-known brands or not, online publishers always seek other reasons to grow their destination traffic. Sites where there's plenty of dynamic content and sharing should do best with new user-generated sources.

If sites already attract visitors for specific purposes, like passions or repetitive tasks, then there's an even better chance these visitors might stay a while longer and use other features too.

We don't think splintered communities are a sure thing, but might present an efficient buying opportunity if they do survive.

Posted by at 1:48 AM | Permalink

January 29, 2007

Stephen Colbert to launch IntegrityJustice.com blog

Okay, I admit that I'm posting this one for my kids: David Silverberg of Digital Journal reports that "Stephen Colbert, the tycoon of 'truthiness,' is once again embracing the popularity of citizen journalism by launching a blog featuring rumoured stories and bogus news tips."

The blog, IntegrityJustice.com, will be based on what everyday people submit, whether it be half-truths, outright lies or entertaining info. No, the site isn't live yet -- or I'd include a link. All that you'll find is a form that lets you email the webmaster expressing "your interest in submitting your materials to The Colbert Report (the “Series”)."

And, yes, I expect search engine spammers to be among the first to attempt to create a funnier form of link bait. Hopefully, it will be very funny. If not, then I expect IntegrityJustice.com will follow Wikipedia by adding NOFOLLOW attribute to outbound links.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 11:39 AM | Permalink

January 5, 2007

Time.com to launch new design and blog

Richard Stengel, Time magazine's managing editor, has posted a letter to readers entitled "A Changing Time." It marks the first time that Time magazine has gone on sale on a Friday in more than 50 years.

Time moved its publication schedule "because the news environment has shifted," writes Stengel. No kidding!

At the same time, Time magazine's Web site will unveil a new design on Monday, January 8, as well as a news aggregation blog, The Ag. Stengel says The Ag "smartly aggregates and summarizes the most important stories from daily newspapers and blogs around the world."

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 11:00 AM | Permalink

January 2, 2007

Ad Age Digital's Media Morph looks at blog tags

Abbey Klaassen of Ad Age Digital's Media Morph takes a look today at blog tags.

While it has been called a "game for a virtual cocktail party" by blogger Jeff Pulver, Abby says she's learned something from blog tagging. "We now know Danny Sullivan's blog about the Ichthyosaurs has two subscribers (him and someone else), that Jeff Jarvis was once named one of San Francisco's most eligible bachelors and that Ad Age Digital columnist Steve Rubel placed ninth in the New York City Rubik's Cube contest in 1982," she writes.

Hey, I didn't make this stuff up.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 4:49 PM | Permalink

December 21, 2006

Wall Street Journal getting comfortable with blogs

Mark Glaser, who writes the PBS MediaShift column, says "the Journal has found subjects that work as blogs, and they've figured out a method for doing quick editorial oversight."

Glaser interveiwed Bill Grueskin, the managing editor of WSJ.com, who told him, “We've all come around to seeing how powerful blogs can be and how they generate their own momentum.”

The Journal also plans to move to more analysis in print and breaking news online. There are even moves underway to change the way reporters at the Dow Jones newswire, the print Journal and online Journal do their jobs! Glaser writes, "Instead of all three reporters covering the same news conferences and earnings reports, the basic bare-bones stories will be left to the wire reporters, leaving the others to add to the stories as they develop."

With the Wall Street Journal finally one of the news sources aggregated by Google News, this could have significant impact in the coming year.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 10:32 AM | Permalink

December 19, 2006

Flogs: fake blogs that pose as a consumer creation

Search marketers know all about splogs -- spam blogs. Well, there's a new term to add to our growing glossary of terms.

Stuart Elliott of The New York Times tipped his cap yesterday to Tom Siebert, a reporter for MediaPost, for coining the word “flog.” A flog is "a fake blog that poses as a consumer creation but is actually produced by professionals to sell products."

Another flog was exposed last week, when bloggers discovered that a video blog that praised the Sony PSP was created by Zipatoni, an agency. The video blog pretended to be the work of Charlie, an amateur hip-hop artist.

Other notorious flogs include the ones created earlier this year by Edelman on behalf of Wal-Mart. One flog posed as the travel diary of a couple, but didn't disclose that they were being paid for their positive posts. The deception earned a rebuke from the Word of Mouth Marketing Association for violating its code of ethics.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 2:53 PM | Permalink

April 7, 2005

MSN Officially Launches "Spaces" Blogging Service

A brief article from Reuters announces the fact that Microsoft has taken their Spaces weblog publishing service out of beta and is claiming more than 4.5 million users during the test phase. The Spaces home page also is sporting a new look. More about blogging tools from the major search companies in this December post from Danny and his recent post about Yahoo's new 360 service.

Also, on a somewhat related note, MS released a new version of their MSN Messenger yesterday. Here's an InternetNews.com story with details. Of interest to the search community:

MSN Messenger 7.0 will also introduce the concept of shared search on the IM client. Using integrated MSN Search capability, users will be able to search and share results of search queries while having an IM conversation.

Yahoo Messenger also allows searches to be run and shared during an IM conversation.

Posted by Gary Price at 11:15 AM | Permalink

More Bad Press for Google's Blogger Service

In his Media Hack column this time around, Adam Penenberg discusses what we've blogged about before (and where I share a few comments), about problems with the Blogger service in the article: Bloggers Pitch Fits Over Glitches.

Posted by Gary Price at 11:06 AM | Permalink

January 18, 2005

Yahoo Doesn't Need Six Apart Or Blog Ownership For Ad Purposes

It's kind of obvious that Yahoo will gain some type of blogging solution in the future. It's the only major portal not to offer this, as I've written before: MSN's Third Portal To Gain Blogs; Where's The Blog Search?

David Jackson has a write-up in Yahoo to acquire Six Apart? on why he thinks Yahoo will gain blogging capabilities by acquiring the makers of the popular Movable Type platform.

MovableType's great -- we use it ourselves -- and so would be of interest to anyone who wants to own blogging technology. But the idea Jackson has that Yahoo needs blogs to fuel its pay-per-click growth? Nah.

Google bought Blogger because it was cheap and it figured it could make money but putting its contextual ads out on many of the Blogger sites. But Google later pulled those ads and make them optional. That's wise, because you aren't going to make friends by forcing anyone to carry your ads. So much for needing to own the platform to build ad revenue.

In addition, blogs can be hard to target with ads, given that they often have different types of content mixed onto the same page. MediaPost just had an article looking at this: Blog Ads Hit Rough Patches.

Google's real success with AdSense hasn't been in owning the blogging platform. First, it has signed partnerships with major publishers. Second, it offers an easy-to-use self-serve system that anyone can tap into. Google rolled that out last year, and now you all but stumble over its AdSense placements.

If Yahoo really wanted to turn the web into its billboards, in the way Google does, it would make more sense to have a similar type of paid listings program that any publisher could use.

The downside is that in doing so, advertisers have less control over the targeting of their ads. Kraft wasn't happy to find itself showing up on a pro-white web site recently: Kraft Supports Pro-White Groups? Lack Of Search Ad Targeting Makes It So. Open the flood-gates of self-serve, and problems like this for Google could hit Yahoo as well.

Cory Kleinschmidt over at Traffick takes another swing at the targeting problem in his recent AdSense Faces Extinction -- Unless Google Shakes Things Up post. In it, he points out how uneven targeting is an issue that threatens AdSense. He also notes there are other programs out there to tempt bloggers and other publishers -- which means again, owning the platform doesn't guarantee you the billboard space.

There are good reasons for Yahoo to own a blogging platform, and maybe it will be Six Apart. But the assumption that paid ad placement as a key reason to do so isn't a major factor, from where I sit.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 10:45 AM | Permalink

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