In the Mix...Contigo Travel Mug Scores on National TV

Holiday gift guides are very competitive, especially at the national broadcast level, which is why LCWA was thrilled to gain coverage for the new Contigo AUTOSEAL West Loop with Easy Clean Lid travel mug in a round-up on "The Dr. Oz Show" last week!  The show featured Contigo’s top travel mug in a holiday gift segment titled “Health Gifts That Won’t Be Returned.” The placement reached more than 1.8 million viewers and featured a Dr. Oz guest who gushes about her love of the Contigo mug for its ability to keep coffee hot.  Dr. Oz himself even got excited about the mug, demonstrating the key features of the product to his audience and showing viewers how the AUTOSEAL button keeps coffee both hot and safely contained. LCWA was thrilled to raise the profile of this very gift-able item during the holiday shopping season!

In the Mix…First Alert Secures National Coverage for Innovative Alarm

The First Alert Safety POD (Protection on Demand) is ready to go wherever you go and is generating a ton of media attention, thanks to seasonal outreach conducted by LCWA.

The Austin-American Statesman and Chattanooga Free Press featured the First Alert Safety POD in holiday fitness gift guides – highlighting the alarm as a great present for friends and family members who take their running from the treadmill to the pavement. With the easy-to-find panic alarm and built-in bright LED light, runners can feel more secure when jogging alone or at night.

In addition, newspapers from coast-to-coast – from the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Houston Chronicle – have touted the compact device as ideal for helping consumers guard against loss and personal injury when traveling, exercising outdoors, in a college dorm or at home.

LCWA is excited to continue to work with media to generate coverage for a great product – the First Alert Safety POD – that provides on-the-go security and peace of mind. 

Favorite Finds

The air is full of holiday cheer – and tons of news from the social media world. Below please find a list of my top picks for the week:

• Facebook Changes – Facebook is always evolving – and this week is no exception. New calls to action – including book now, watch video and contact us – were introduced for brand pages, and the conversation continues about going beyond the “like” button to capture the range of sentiments that users get from posts.
• Sony Email Leak – Sony is finding itself in the midst of a PR crisis following the massive leak of company information – including salaries and internal emails.  
• Instagram Boom – Instagram announced it has surpassed 300 million users – meaning it now has more monthly active users than Twitter.
• Top 10 YouTube Videos – The end of the year is approaching, meaning recaps are all the rage – including the top 10 videos on YouTube for 2014 and a reminder that the most popular paper of the year was the Facebook study that manipulated your news feed to measure users’ emotional states.
• Twitter Flak – The week’s biggest social media gaffe: Best Buy landed in hot water after a tweet about the wildly popular podcast “Serial” – prompting an apology.

Favorite Finds

The Twitterverse is in full giving-season mode! From giving us great deals on Cyber Monday and a day this week completely devoted to charity donations (Giving Tuesday) to many Tweeps doling out great advice, we saw a generous amount of Twitter conversation this week. Here are the highlights:

• Online Cookies! Not to be confused with browser cookies, the real-deal sweet treats from the Girl Scouts of America will now be available for order online. Troops around the country will now have a digital option for selling Girl Scout Cookies – and based on the Twitter excitement we saw – they’ll do quite well.
• Holiday Hoopla. With Thanksgiving in the rear-view mirror and a host of December observations ahead, many brands are jumping on the holiday train and playing to consumers’ love of the season. Here are a few ways to join the festivities.
• Say This. Many working Americans will go through an annual review process in December, so we found it timely to review a list of 15 “magic” things great leaders say not only during reviews, but every day. Let’s learn from this.  
• The Gender Game. We see a lot of females in the PR industry, so it was surprising to read this perspective from the UK, which says that media is still a gentleman’s club. Do you agree?       

Spin Doctor Warnings and Key Learnings from November’s PRSA Chicago Event

Last month I attended the last PRSA Chicago program of 2014 – “Spin Sucks: Creating Compelling Content for Google and Humans in 2015” presented by Gini Dietrich. Many of us PR pros look to Gini for her humorous and on-point insights on Twitter and her blog – Spin Sucks – but it was nice to get an in-person perspective from her November presentation.

Basically, Gini wants us to know that no matter what “other people” are doing in the PR industry, it’s important to stay strong with our counsel and remember ethics. She touched on three different areas where it could be easy to jump in the name of results: 

• Whisper Campaigns. This is the “anonymous” practice of starting a rumor with malice in mind. One way to stay straight? If it’s not true, don’t say it. 
• Astroturfing. Otherwise known as pure fakery, there have been instances of companies creating fake accounts to “review” issues and products and even fake letters to the editor. Not only is this unethical, it’s illegal.
• Media Manipulation. Gini shared that PR pros now outnumber journalists 4:1 – so we have an obligation to help the media as much as we can. Reporters often are in the race of “get to it first” so it’s our job to give them the truest facts up front so there’s no confusion or backlash that can come from it.

I very much appreciated Gini sticking up for us do-gooders and issuing a plea to fellow PR practitioners to keep doing the right thing. It was nice to be reminded that PR strategy is a marathon – and that despite the viral videos and seeming overnight successes we see on social media, there is no one magic bullet that will ever equal long-term success.