• • Recruiting & PR
  • Crisis Preparation
  • The ever-changing life of Paris Hilton
  • Figuring Out My Job Direction
  • The Wonderful World of Celebrity Endorsements
  • Presidential Candidate PR
  • Social Networking & Blogging
  • The Importance of Press Releases
  • Celebrity Public Relations
  • Was Sarah Palin a good PR move?

• • Public Relations

• • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008

• • WordPress.com
  • WordPress.org

• • Log in
  • XHTML

Many people do not link recruiting to public relations, but they have so much in common with each other. Recruiting is the act of enrolling or seeking to enroll people in a certain school or profession.
There are so many organizations and businesses that recruit players or employees. One of the most known organizations that use recruiting is in the military. The Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard all go to different high schools and colleges to recruit eager men and women to sign up. They have a specialized “marketing message” they want to get out to the people. Joining the military is a big decision, so the recruiters definitely need to know what to say to persuade people to sign up. Offering men and women a paid way into college is definitely an appeal recruiters use. Another appeal is talking to people about the money they could make by joining the military. Whatever message they send out to the people, military recruiters have their work cut out for them.
Another category of recruiting is sports recruiting. Recruiting for a sport is a big responsibility. It is not hard to get people to want to join a sports team. The hardest part for sports recruiters, in my opinion, is who to choose from in the very long list of possible candidates. There are times though that recruiters, for a particular sports team, are competing for one, outstanding candidate. An example of this was when Tim Tebow was going through the recruiting process. Both Alabama and Florida wanted Tebow really bad. I remember what a big deal that was for both universities. As we all know, Florida ended up getting him. I know the recruiters for Florida were working overtime on that case. Think of the recruiters who wanted to get Michael Jordan to play for the Chicago Bulls, that was probably a tough one. Sports recruiters, just like military recruiters, have to use a specialized “marketing message” to appeal to certain sports stars.
For-profit organizations also use recruiting efforts. During a couple of my classes, a business recruiter came into the class and started talking about the different aspects of working for the company he was representing. The recruiter made the company sound so good. Even though, beforehand, I had no desire to work for this company, I started questioning if I would consider working for the company at any point in my life. The recruiter did a very good job at what he was trained to do.
Non-profit organizations are the last type I will talk about. I think non-profit organizations have it the hardest out of all the different types. Most non-profit recruiting efforts are for volunteers. A person has to have a strong, personal interest in an organization to volunteer to work for them.
Even though there are differences in recruiting and public relations, there are so many similarities. Both want to raise awareness for the product, service or organization they represent. Public relations and recruiting can definitely be classified as two related actions.

Crises can happen to anyone or any kind of organization. Whether you are working at agencies, big corporations, non-profit organizations or working with politics, there is always something that can go wrong. According to Murpheys Law, if something bad happens, everything can go wrong. Firms need to think and plan for the worst-case scenarios.
I was driving with my boyfriend when he started to talk about how bad work was getting. He stated that his boss was making threats about his job. I went into a whole spill about all the bad that could happen. “Well if you get fired then you are basically screwed. Your car is not working and if you get fired, no car dealership is going to finance you for a car. You will also not be able to find a job since you have no way to get there.” As soon as I stated my case he said, “Do you have to be so negative all the time.” I then went on to say, “Hey, I am a public relations major, we are trained to think the worst.” Even though this was kind of laughed off as a joke, it is so true.
Being a public relations practitioner, no matter what the situation you are in, you have to think about the worst possible thing that could happen. By thinking of the worst-case scenario, you can prepare for what could possibly be coming. So, it is not the fact the all public relations practitioners are negative, it is just that we like to be prepared.
There are so many examples, both good and bad, that have been major crises for companies. In 1982, the Tylenol crisis was huge. Several people died after taking Extra-Strength Tylenol medicine capsules which were laced with cyanide. Tylenol acted very smart by recalling their products. They eventually created stronger guidelines for the packaging of over the counter medicines. Even though this was a horrible crisis that Tylenol had to deal with, it ended very well. Today, not many people remember this crisis at all.
Another example of a crisis in an organization involves HealthSouth. Richard Scrushy, the CEO, was accused of directing his employees to falsely report on the earnings that were being made in order to meet stockholder expectations. Scrushy was fired and changes were made within the organization. The company was able to avoid a Chapter 11 bankruptcy and, it seems, is out of the danger zone.
In dealing with crises, you need to take responsibility if your company is at fault. You need to be honest. Also, it is important that you never say “no comment”. Many times when this is said, it makes you look guiltier, whether you are or not.
To be a successful organization, you need to have a crisis management plan ready to go. As a public relations practitioner, you need to prepare your company for the worst thing that could possibly happen. In doing this, you will be wasting no time if and when that crisis arrives.

A well known subject to talk about, in dealing with public relations, is Paris Hilton. I have blogged about her a little before but the way she is forever changing in the public eye amazes me.
Paris is the daughter of Richard and Kathy Hilton. She has been rich her entire life and started out as a model. She has guess-stared and stared in several films that include: Zoolander, The Cat in the Hat, House of Wax, Raising Helen and Wonderland.
The first time I started hearing about her was when she stared, with Nicole Richie, in The Simple Life. The Simple Life premiered on December 2, 2003. The show was a big success for both of them. The Simple Life had three seasons on Fox, but after a fight between Paris and Nicole, which was huge headline news at the time, the show was cancelled by Fox. Later a fourth and fifth season was aired by E!.
Paris tried to make it in the music business but that did not turn out to well. Probably her biggest song was titled, “Stars are Blind”. This was kind of a joke for a music video but I actually like the song.
Paris Hilton also wrote a couple of books titled Confessions of an Heiress: A Tounge-in-Chic Peek Behind the Pose and also another one called Your Heiress Diary: Confess It All to Me. I actually did not realize that she had written these books till I started doing some research.
Along with modeling, singing, acting, and writing, Paris has her own clothing line. She makes womens clothing, shoes, and perfumes.
Now Paris is staring in an MTV reality show called Paris Hilton’s My New BFF. I hate to admit that I have seen a few episodes of this show. Honestly, after a long night of studying, I want to watch something where no thinking is involved, it helps me mellow out. Anyways, in this show Paris is trying to find a new BFF. It is really sad to me that she is 27 years old but she is using slang that would be used by a middle school kid. In this show, after a potential “friend” gets eliminated, Paris says “TTYN”, which means talk to you never.
It is also humorous to me that even after all the stuff she has done; she is going to get her own reality show. Why does Paris need to go on national television to find a best friend? It is all about the publicity. This television show has nothing to do with her finding a best friend; it is only to keep her name in the public eye. What better way to do that than to get your own reality show on MTV.
I remember a lot of the press saying that Paris Hilton will be a changed woman after she gets out of jail. Even Paris herself said that she was going to change and be a better person, but has anyone seen that change happen?
It is really sad that I devoted a full blog to Paris Hilton, but she is probably the greatest example of celebrity public relations in the media today.

Public relations has so many different job opportunities that you can choose to do. If you are interested in finance, you can choose a path in investor relations. If you are interested in working on a variety of different public relations activities, you can choose a path in working for an agency. There are so many other paths that you can take: event planning, non-profit, celebrity publicist, working for one certain business, etc.

This year, I have finally decided what I want to try and get a job in. I want to work for the county where I am originally from. The opportunities that I get with the job are perfect. I have lived in this place my whole life, aside from my last two years of college, I know a lot of people in this place, I know how to get anywhere I need to go, this is eventually the county I want to raise my own kids in, and I want to further the growth of the county.

Working for a county has so many perks. In promoting events, there will always be something different to do every week because there is always something different going on. You would not be doing the same drab thing everyday. But with a county, it is not as crazy as it would be working for a big agency. I do not want to do that many different things when I am working, but I want a little variety in my day-to-day working life.

Being a public relations practitioner for a county means building relationships with the community. Since I know about the community, I could address the problems and goals that the citizens of the county have. I will be in their position, so I can relate well to them.

I know in working for my county, I will be involved with many of the media releases that go out. Writing these releases is a big part of promoting events within a community. Also, I will be working with the local media to get stories out in the paper and I will be keeping the county Web site up to date.

Another thing I will be doing is keeping up with the communication between the community and local government members. I will be keeping the public informed also on laws and policies that are passed by leaders.

The county where I am from, Shelby County, Alabama, is one of the fastest growing counties in the state. It is by no means a huge county but it is not small either. It is a perfect size actually. There will be enough to keep me busy but I do not think I will be pulling my hair out everyday I go into work.

Never before had I ever considered working for my county, but after balancing the pros and cons, this job seems to fit me like a glove. As nerve-racking as it may be in starting this job, I know I will not regret the decision I made in pursuing this.

Media is full of Celebrity Endorsements. Celebrity endorsements have been happening in the media for a very long time. Hiring a celebrity to promote your product is a very healthy thing to do for your company and a very good public relations move.
So many stars have done celebrity endorsements. We all know about the George Foreman Grill, it is supposed to be top of the line. Carrie Underwood has done endorsements for Sketchers. Recently P Diddy has been doing commercials for Burger King. There are multiple celebrity endorsers for Pepsi including: Jeff Gordon, Brittney Spears, Ray Charles, Pink, Beyonce, Jennifer Lopez and Jackie Chan just to name a few. Even our own celebrities, the Auburn Football Team, are promoting the famous sports clothing, Under Armour.
Probably, one of the most famous brands using celebrities today is the acne skin care system, Proactive. Proactive has gotten tons of celebrities to promote their product. Jessica Simpson, Kelly Clarkson, P Diddy, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Venessa Williams, Ryan Sheckler, Serena Williams, Lindsay Lohan and there are still many others. This is a very interesting campaign in using celebrity endorsements. Proactive gets so many A-list stars to promote their product; it is not like Proactive is getting the lowest celebrities on the totem pole. I think this is one of the reasons that Proactive has been so successful. It seems like every month there is another A-list star that has joined the Proactive bandwagon.
I think one of the reasons that this campaign has interested me so much is because I bought into the whole celebrity endorsement thing. I first tried Proactive when my mom bought it for me for Christmas. It did not seem to work for me after using it for a couple of months, so I quit using it. Later, seeing all of the celebrity endorsement for the product, I wanted to give it another try. I thought to myself, “I guess I used it wrong, if Jessica Simpson is promoting it then surely it must work.” So I bought it for a second time and again I was dissatisfied with it.
It just makes me wonder sometimes if these celebrities are telling us the truth when they are trying to promote a product. I am not saying that Proactive does not work for anyone; my sister uses Proactive and swears by it. I just sometimes wonder how much money plays a factor in getting an A-list star to promote a product. Even if the product actually worked for Jessica Simpson, would she be willing to promote this product for nothing because she believes in it that much?
Even though celebrity endorsements tend to help in promoting a product, companies need to be careful. A celebrity endorsement might get a person to buy a product, but it is not going to keep that person buying the product if they are not satisfied. Companies also need to be careful about who they choose as their celebrity endorser. If that celebrity does not have a good image or reputation, then the company could actually suffer.

As the presidential election draws closer, more and more negative things about the candidates are arising. John McCain and Sarah Palin just bashed Obama for having ties with William Ayer. Obama got personal with McCain and said he was showing “erratic” behavior.
Well, in the latest issue of “Men’s Health”, Obama talks about his smoking habit. He said that quitting is a very hard thing to do, especially with it being in the middle of a presidential election.
“There have been a couple of times during the campaign when I fell off the wagon and bummed one, and I had to kick it again,” said Obama. “But I figure, seeing as I’m running for president, I need to cut myself a little slack.” Obama then goes on to give advice for those trying to quit smoking.
I am not trying to be an Obama basher; I just want to point out the good public relations techniques that are being used here. Most everyone knows, or has at least heard, of Obama’s smoking problem. The cast of Saturday Night Live made fun of it in one of their skits; people say they have seen him smoking before a speech; and people who have known him have said he smokes, so it’s not a big secret for anyone out there.
Knowing the people know about his smoking, Obama decides to fess up. Instead of just admitting that he has this problem, he also goes on to give people who do smoke, pointers about how to quit. He says, “Eliminate certain key connections – that first cigarette in the morning, or after a meal, or with a drink.”
Whether you are voting for Obama or not, this was a pretty good public relations move. He can’t cover up his smoking so he decides to use it to the best of his abilities. There really was not much he could say to this issue, so he took a bad situation and tried to make it better.
Obama has made sure that there are no pictures in the media of him smoking. If the American public actually saw a picture of him smoking, I think it would be very bad for him. Since he has admitted to cocaine and marijuana use in his past, the media would be all over it if they caught a picture of him smoking. They would question whether he was still doing drugs or not. There are places that are actually offering reward money for anyone who can catch a picture of him smoking.
I am not going to judge Obama on the fact that he does smoke; there are way too many other issues that I would judge him on before I judged him on smoking. I do think it is a good thing that he has admitted to this himself, before letting the media run wild with it. I do think he should continue to keep his smoking to a minimum because the press would have a field day if they get a picture of him smoking.

I have never been a huge fan of blogging, social networking sites or anything like that in general. I do not like to put all of my business out on the Internet for everyone to see. I just got a Myspace page this year and have yet to get a Facebook. I am a very outgoing person but when it comes to anything personal in my life, I have never been the type of person to announce it to the world. I guess I like to have a kind of mystery about myself and by opening up on the Internet, I feel like I loose that.
When I realized how many social networking and blogging Web sites I was going to have to sign up for, for my Style and Design in Public Relations class, I was a little weary. I really did not know what to expect. I did not want a bunch of crazy people watching and reading the things that I wrote.
Now that I am almost mid-semester in this class, my feelings toward this issue have changed. I work really hard, writing stories and blogs each week and videoing people for my stories. I feel proud that my work is on display for anyone who has the Internet.
Blogging and social networking are very important in the world of public relations. Getting a job is so much easier knowing people who are in the same field as you are. I have met some really interesting people on the Web sites that I had to sign up for. Not only can these people give you the possible hook-up for certain jobs, but they can also give you very good advice about public relations as a whole.
For my style and design class, I am uploading videos and writing stories for The Loveliest Village. Each week I have to think of story ideas and shoot video of different people about things going on in the Auburn community. As much work as this is to have to do every week, I know this will benefit me in the future. I cannot wait to go into my first interview and be able to show them the work I put into The Loveliest Village.
Showing possible employers that you can work with video and write stories and that you do not mind social networking and blogging, can really help you out in looking for a job. In today’s ever-changing and electronic world, showing your interviewer that you have these skills will really put your name on top.
Even though style and design in public relations is probably the most challenging and time consuming class I have ever taken, I know this will be the class that I get the most out of. On top of writing stories, blogging and shooting video, I am also learning Photoshop, InDesign and, later on during the semester, I will be making my own online digital portfolio.
Public Relations is an ever-changing field. Knowing that I am learning the skills that will be relevant to my profession make me feel better about my success as a public relations practitioner.

Press releases are very important in the world of public relations. I honestly had never even heard of a press release until I started taking public relations classes. Now that I know what they are, I see them everywhere.
Almost every company uses press releases. I see a lot of press releases on city and county Web sites. I want to get into a job with a city or county so it is very important for me to know how to use a press release the right way.
Cities and counties use press releases, for the most part, to highlight events that will be taking place in the area. They are usually posted to the city/county Web site and are easily viewable from the Web site.
A press release is a “pseudo-news story, written in third person, that seeks to demonstrate to an editor or reporter the newsworthiness of a particular person, event, service or product.” Press releases can be either written/typed, on audio or can be in the form of a video.
Video news releases are very interesting to me. Now that I know what a press release is, I see these all the time. Interviews with celebrities on entertainment shows, such as Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood, would be considered a video news release. The celebrity comes on the show and does all he/she can to promote the movie, even if it involves talking about their personal life.
There are different types of news releases. The announcement release just lets the audience know of changes in an organization. Reaction releases are used to respond to something that might have happened and gives the organization a chance to defend or give a stand about what happened. Spot announcements are useful when something outside of an organization has an effect on the company. A bad news release is just to give the audience the truth in a bad situation. A hometown release talks about things going on in the local area. Feature releases focuses on the human-interest side of a news story.
Press releases are probably the number one tool for a public relations practitioner. The press releases are usually sent to the media and then printed for distribution. Anyone writing a press release needs to be careful of AP style. AP style is the writing guide for both journalist and public relations practitioners. It is important that we, as PR practitioners, use AP so that when we hand our press releases over to journalist, they do not have to change it into AP style. So getting this step done for journalist will better ensure that the press release will end up in print.
There are certain guidelines and rules to follow when writing a press release. There are always some differences but overall it’s the exact same thing. Press releases include having a headline, dateline, introduction, body, close and contact information.
Even for those who have no idea what a press release is, everyone comes in contact with a form of a press release almost everyday. It is important for public relations practitioners to know how to write a press release so they can relate information better to the public.

Celebrity public relations! There are so many things that celebrities have to do to help keep up with their image. In many cases it’s very easy to see how the celebrities public relations agents are helping with how the public views them.

Lets start our discussion by talking about Paris Hilton, and how the public views her. She has been a major story in the tabloids for so many years. Her first biggest public relations disaster was when she filmed the infamous movie, “A Night in Paris”. It took a lot for her public relations agent to help get her through that one. I have to admit that I had forgotten about that for a while.

Her next big disaster was when she was sentence to go to jail. She got through that disaster too. The main public relations move I remember out of that situation was when Paris Hilton started carrying around a Christian Bible. I also remember her saying that it was her favorite book. All through Paris Hilton’s career, her public relations agent has been working hard to help her with her image.

The next person I want to focus on is Britney Spears. Another big tabloid star, Britney Spears has been through so many public relations disasters. During her past, she has been married and divorced within a short 55 hours; she has been married again to Kevin Kederline, who the media was never impressed with; she has shaved her head, to the shock of everyone; she went through rough patches in getting custody of her children; and she has gone to several rehabilitation centers.

Now, since this years MTV Video Music Awards, the press is saying, “Britney is back”. She even walked away with a few of the awards. Her public relations agent had to have been working overtime to get her back on top.

Lastly I want to talk about Lindsay Lohan, the third and final tabloid star of this blog. We have all seen Lindsay Lohan grow up. From a sweet twin in the “Parent Trap” to a stripper in “I Know Who Killed Me”. Unlike the previous two stars, not much has been done to improve her image lately. Her last movie, “I Know Who Killed Me”, plummeted at the box office. If the public does not like a certain star, then their careers, money wise, seem to dwindle. When Lindsay Lohan was in trouble for drug abuse, she was checked into a rehabilitation center. This helped her image out for maybe two seconds until she was busted for the same thing again. Lindsay has not done too much, career wise, within the last couple of months; but do not think that her public relations agent is doing nothing to enhance her image. I would not be surprised if in a couple of months, the public is singing their praises for Lindsay again.

We can learn a lot from the previous stories. No matter how bad things get for a celebrity, there is no job big enough that a public relations agent cannot do to make it better.

There have been several controversies surrounding Sarah Palin as John McCain’s running mate. Over the past couple of weeks we have heard stories about Sarah Palin’s stand against abortion, her baby with Down’s syndrome, her daughters teenage pregnancy, her beauty pageant days, her soccer mom standing, the fact that she is not qualified enough for the job, and even her fashion sense.
The point of this blog is not to say if she is the best person for the job; the point is actually to say how this was a good public relations move for John McCain.
Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton were going head to head during the presidential primaries. It looked like, for a while, that Clinton was going to beat Obama. Because Clinton was a woman, she had many female voters rooting for her. The battle between Obama and Clinton was long and filled with many unnecessary remarks. This caused tension between Obama voters and Clinton voters.
We all know that Clinton lost to Obama, leaving her voters up in the air about whom they wanted to vote for. McCain held no special place for them but they did not want to vote for Obama, who ruined a woman’s chances of being president.
Both Obama and Clinton tried to get the democratic vote up at the Democratic National Convention. After months and months of name-calling and debates, both put on good public relations faces and said great things about the other. The first thing Obama said during his speech, at the convention, was about how great Hillary Clinton was.
No one could have guessed that a week later McCain would announce that the Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, would be his vice presidential running mate.
At first no one knew much of anything about her. Then the facts started pouring in about beauty pageants, teen pregnancy and her own baby.
I remember right after Palin was announced to be McCain’s running mate, a friend of mine went on and on about what a stupid move this was for McCain and how Palin has no experience, etc. I thought about what he said and could not help but think how wrong he was about it being a stupid move.
McCain will now get many of the votes that Hillary would have gotten. There are plenty of female voters out there who do not care if a democrat or republican is so high up in the White House, they just want a women to be there. Also, since Sarah Palin is seen as the “soccer mom”, this will appeal to many females as well. America now sees Sarah Palin as a down to earth woman who works hard to keep food in her families mouth. This is something that almost anyone can relate to. I also think that some men will vote for her just on the looks basis.
The fact the Sarah Palin, is not as experienced as some people in politics really does not hurt her image. I think this actually strengthens it. When it comes down to it, John McCain did a very smart public relations move by choosing Palin as his running mate.

• WP Themes

  • Activate
  • Blindigo
  • Blue Zinfandel
  • Eye Candy
  • Detour
  • Frequency
  • Gladiola
  • Radiance
  • Vertigo
  • Vertigo Squared
  • Wonderland