The Wax Blog

IMCI'm always amazed at the ability of PR people to accomplish things in about a third of the time it would take the rest of us. But I think it's a necessity. News moves practically at the speed of light these days. Trying to stay ahead of that cycle (which is what public relations professionals have to do) takes a giant amount of energy, alacrity and mojo. I was incredibly honored to be asked to speak at the PRSA International Conference yesterday. True to form, the staff asked me to present an overview of Integrated Marketing Communications, or IMC. In an hour. I did a webinar version of this talk in August, and the general consensus after that session was they wanted less "what and why" and more "how to." Makes sense right? There's very little time to look at the pretty train and enjoy the comfortable seats. No my friends. The train has left the station and PR people are leaping on the roof, dashing into the cars and at times hanging onto the caboose with their fingertips.  I love that energy! I'm not entirely sure I delivered what they needed yesterday. Technology was not on my side and I probably tried to present way too much information. (Here it is on Slideshare if you're interested) It's hard to say. Here's what I'm really hoping they took away from all my mumbo jumbo:

NewspaperMolly Borchers, Senior Communications Strategist at (W)right On Communications, recently published a pull-no-punches post on The HuffPo Blog about the love/hate relationship between journalists and public relations professionals, and why the hate part of the equation is pretty darn unfair. We've all seen the disparaging tweets and snide blogs that journalists casually let fly about PR pros, and sometimes that scorn is earned. There are definitely people in public relations who are clumsy, clueless and waste the media's time. But that's not the majority of us, so we shouldn't all be painted with the same brush. All you have to do is search Google for "bad press release" and you'll find plentiful examples of PR gone wrong. What journalists need to remember is for every irrelevant or poorly-written pitch they receive, there are many others that are on-target (even if the timing doesn't always fit into their editorial schedule) and handled professionally. PR continues to exist because it works, and journalists would have to do a lot more work themselves to find sources and stories without the help of public relations.

downloadThe power of marketing has really been proven by the amount of awareness, funding and treatment advancements in breast cancer since this whole pink ribbon thing started. All the #pink during Breast Cancer Awareness Month may seem a bit tiresome, at least it was to me until I reaped the benefits this past summer. And it brought home to me the fact that marketing is a GOOD thing. That marketing drives the conversation and helps promote not only sales (which is good for the economy) but awareness and funds to help save lives. In May of this year I went in for a routine mammogram at the University of Minnesota Breast Center. Although I hadn't had one since a false positive several years earlier, my mom was being treated for lung cancer and I felt it was time. Also, I had a weird burning sensation in my left breast. One diagnostic mammogram and subsequent biopsy revealed I had high grade DCIS, which some call Stage 0 breast cancer and others precancer.

Death is often temporary and perplexing in the world of search and Google, a fact only further proved when John Mueller of Google Webmaster Tools announced that Google would no longer support rel=author markup. Consequently, SEO professionals who preached authorship as the future of content ownership and recognition are losing trust from online marketers and authors who dutifully followed suit to maximize their content marketing strategies. But the loss of trust is premature; when you separate Google authorship from Author Rank, a path for managing your digital content becomes clearer and just as impactful.

Why Should I Still Care?

As Search Engine Land describes, Author Rank is derived from Google's 2007 agent rank patent and its relevance was renewed after CEO Eric Schmidt's comment in his 2013 book. "Within search results, information tied to verified online profiles will be ranked higher than content without such verification, which will result in most users naturally clicking on the top [verified] results. The true cost of remaining anonymous, then, might be irrelevance." We now know that authorship markup and Google+ will not be a catalyst in identifying content ownership.

[gallery ids="5939,5940,5941,5942,5943"] By Jocelyn Cunanan Jocelyn is a Creative and Quality Improvement Manager at Display Creatives. She loves keeping up with all the newest technology innovations as well as attending as many tech shows and events as she can. She strongly feels incorporating technology into any business is essential for productivity, marketing and customer service-plus its fun! Building displays for trade shows here at Display Creatives for years has taught us one important thing - truly impressive displays are what draw traffic and generate buzz. A well-designed display can dramatically increase the ROI that a company receives from attending a tradeshow. Whether through word of mouth, social media, or simply visual beauty, innovative displays can gain attention that a normal display would not. So there’s little surprise that companies are continually finding innovative ways to design displays. They want to impress attendees and competitors that are attending the tradeshows. Futuristic trade show displays have been particularly impressive at trade shows, raising the bar regarding what can be accomplished within the specific parameters.  Here are five futuristic trade show displays that have really raised the bar: One: WorldSpace Display Based in Silver Spring, Maryland WorldSpace was a satellite radio network that had most of its subscribers from Asia. Their trade show display had an innovative design that utilized a combination of materials such as metal and wood. The futuristic shapes added to the innovative presentation. Other features of the display included a conference room, and a dynamic setup that showcased the brand values and story of the company in an immersive environment. Two: TLC Tradeshow Display TLC (The Library Corporation) is a company that services libraries with technological products. Based in Inwood, West Virginia they built an innovative trade show display with a lit arch structure that was composed out of ethereal, lightweight materials. At the front was a curved and streamlined receptionist desk and sleek stools. The display also featured a backlit wall and demo stations. The TLC tradeshow display sought to present themselves as technologically advanced and elegant. The lightweight materials along with the excellent lighting created a calming environment with an elegance suited to a company that services libraries.  Three: NASA Display

Urban Outfitters' Kent State FiascoLast week we talked about DiGiorno's careless Twitter mistake. This week in faux pas news was Urban Outfitters, who sold a "vintage Kent State sweatshirt" dyed with what appeared to be patterns of blood splatters and bullet holes. (I doubt anybody a reminder why this displayed incredibly poor taste, but just in case, the reason millions took offense was the 1970 Kent State massacre.) Of course, Urban Outfitters said the resemblance to blood and bullet holes was due to the unique dyeing process and natural wear of the fabric, but backlash was swift and severe nonetheless. Pictures of the garment and angry comments poured across social media and the story made headlines just about everywhere. You know the saying "there's no such thing as bad publicity"? It's a lie. In the world of new media, publicity isn't about how many people are talking about you, it's about how people feel about you. And people aren't feeling warm fuzzies about Urban Outfitters right now.

By Dina Ely Pizza and Crisis ManagementOh, DiGiorno. What a week you've had. In the wake of the Ray Rice video and ensuing controversy, the Twitterverse showed some true vulnerability and profound emotion with a trending topic #WhyIStayed. Domestic violence survivors used the hashtag to tweet incredibly honest and visceral stories about their experiences. The hashtag has been used more than 92,000 times, according to The Huffington Post. And then there was DiGiorno. DiGiorno's reputation on Twitter has always been fairly good. They usually have their fingers on the pulse of Twitter trends and frequently play off hashtags and memes with great speed and clever wit. However, they made a massive mistake at the height of the #WhyIStayed trend. Not bothering to read any of the tweets actually associated with the hashtag, they simply tweeted, "#WhyIStayed You had pizza."