Elizabeth’s Blog

There are so many choices when it comes to buying a cell phone. Do you want a camera on your phone? Would you like internet and e-mail? Do you want the latest breaking news or games and puzzles? Now a days the options are endless.  Cell phone carriers are now competing for the newest and most extreme.  From iPhones to the new G1, technology seems to have no end.

On Sept. 23, 2008, Google, HTC Designs and T-mobile teamed up for the announcement of the newest and hottest cell phone on the market, the G1.  The G1 is the world’s first Android-powered mobile phone. The G1 merges full-screen functionality with a mobile web experience all on one cell phone.

G1 comes set for easy access to the Internet and with many extras including free Gmail, wireless syncing with Google’s calendar, Google Maps Street View, Google talk and support for YouTube.  But these are not the only things that will have customers coming back for more. The phone comes equipped with a 3MP camera with auto focus to capture moments where ever you are. It also comes with a 1GB music player, so you are never without your favorite tunes.

A photo I found on the T-Mobile website shows it resembles the popular US phone, the Sidekick, yet it is more versatile.  The phone comes available in black or white, yet no phone will be the same.  Users are able to customize their downloaded applications from the Android marketplace, leaving it up to the user to configure what best suits their needs.  

The G1 is small, yet sleek.  The G1 is a 4.6-by-2.1-by-0.6-inch handset with a large, bright and high resolution 3.2-inch touch screen similar to the iPhone, but the G1 responds to a finger not a stylus. The G1 also allows users to view documents in Microsoft Word, Excel documents as well as PDFs.  The Smartphone will also come with Wi-Fi allowing users to access the T-mobile 3G network.

The release of the G1 is set for Oct. 22, with a price starting at $179.99. The data plan for the phone will cost $25 per month on top of the calling service. At $179, the G1 is $20 less than the least expensive iPhone in the United States.

Consumers wonder what effects the G1 will have on the iPhone, “Give the G1 and the other Android-based phones some time,” says Gerry Purdy, chief mobile and wireless analyst for Frost & Sullivan, the international market research firm.

 ”It’s like the story of the tortoise and the hare,” he said. “We have the hare running like crazy in Apple. And a little bit of the tortoise in Google. They are careful but intentional. If they hit some home runs with device manufacturers or applications, that will help. But in five years, Android will be an important platform in mobile.”

 With Google now on top of the cell phone industry who knows what is next to come. Technology keeps becoming more and more advanced, next thing we know there will not be cell phones we will just call people through the internet from our computers we walk around with.

Attention all public relations majors.  There is a new way to get involved with hands on public relations. An Atlanta based corporation has come up with new and innovative ways to promote for an event. Their method consists of team work and motivation to get the work out.

 Shimon Presents is a corporation that is responsible for the promotion and publicity of several music festivals around the nation including Bear Creek, Langerado, Jam Cruise, Jam in the Dam, All Good and Camp Bisco.

The way this company does their promoting is different than any place I have seen and could be something useful for students majoring in public relations.  Their promotions for events are done through street teams.

Street teams are made up of volunteers from all over.  Each team is responsible for a certain geographic location. For example, one team would be in charge of the Auburn / Opelika area and another team in charge of the Birmingham area.  Team leaders are chosen by the company and once all the team leaders have been appointed the promotion period begins.

Team leaders are responsible for finding a team to help get the word out about the festival. Each team member is documented into a spread sheet and this is how you keep track of what is going on and what each team member has been doing.

Shimon Presents ships each team leader a promotional package. In the package are handouts, posters, buttons and other promotional items for that event. Team leaders are then required to disburse the promotional items to each team member. Team members and team leaders are then responsible for promotion around the town at local hot-spot venues.

Every member of the team earns points based on the efficiency of their work. They are evaluated on the job they preform. The evaluation is based on the distribution reports, photos of their work, how frequently they post on message boards and other things they do to show what is getting done.

I think this would be a great oppertunity for PR majors to get some hands on experience. It gives a student a unique opportunity to be in charge of a team or work with a team to help promote an event.  It is a great way to get experience in the public relations field and to see how the promotion aspect of an event works.

Being a team leader is a great amount of responsibility.  It requires time, organizational skills and other qualities that are important in a public relations specialist’s career.

Shimon Presents offers an exceptional experience for anyone who is willing to take the time and promote an event.  Becoming a team leader helped me see some of the exciting things I would be doing down the road.

I was walking through the food court at the local mall when I passed a young girl carrying a bag that caught my eye, “green is the NEW black.”  Hotels, restaurants, baseball stadiums and fashion realtors are just a few of the different companies across the nation that are “going green.”  But are these companies really “going green,” or is it all just a faux.

Forever 21, a teen fashion chain is one of the companies that has claimed to be “going green,” but has not followed its promise.   According to Fashionista, Forever 21 is the “number one offender.” The company is known for printing environmentally friendly sayings on t-shirts and hand bags, but in reality, it is using cheap chemical dyes that damage the environment.

Forever 21 is not the only company that does not practice what they preach.  Fiji water is another example of a company that does not live up to their word.  Fiji launched a green campaign, which promotes their carbon negative status, claiming to be good for the environment. 

Food & Water Watch, a nonprofit consumer rights organization, replied to the campaign by saying, “While we appreciate Fiji Water’s attempt to mitigate the negative environmental impacts of their water operation, the fact remains that the only truly sustainable water is the kind that requires no fancy packaging or clever marketing gimmicks: that’s tap water.”

Why is it that companies claim to be green? The green effect has impacted everyone’s lives, but has it had such a strong impact that companies are willing claim affiliation with the cause and not follow through with the proper steps to be environmentally conscious?

If it has come to that point, I believe the people in charge of these companies need to take a step back and look at why they are standing for something they really do not believe in.

The green movement has had such a strong impact on our lives. It was not until a few years ago when the environment became something more than just the environment, it became our environment, something we are responsible for.  The media had a green frenzy.

According to prweekus.com, “The number of media outlets covering green issues has more than tripled in the last 18 months. In the past, stories on environmental issues were targeted to a scientific audience or a tiny audience of “tree huggers.” Today, going green is popular in everyday life and we are seeing more coverage in general news and consumer interest media outlets.”

Ever since the media frenzy everything has turned green; green technology, green living, green parenting, green fashion, green architecture, green cars  and green fitness. 

“Going green” has become more than being environmentally friendly it has now become something to falsify.   Being green is more then wearing it on your clothes or printing facts on your water bottle, it is actually doing things differently to have a positive impact on the environment.  It is changing something that you or your company does to help create an environmentally friendly culture.

Stay informed about going green and get involved today!

Erica Iacono wrote an article titled, To move forward, PR industry needs to go back to the basics. In this article she discusses how media relations is or should be the core of public relations and I agree completely.

Media relations refers to the relationship that a company develops with journalists, while public relations extends that relationship beyond the media to the general public. If journalists and PR professionals do not work together it is more difficult to relay the message to the publics.

Media relations is a PR professionals main duty yet sometimes it can be forgotten. The responsibility of a PR professional is to communicate information about the organization and provide the media with the appropriate information. When doing this, journalists tend to think PR pros are trying to sell them a story, or calling because they are just another number on the call list.

That is why it’s our job to serve not sell. If a reporter and an editor believe they can trust an organization, they are more likely to report the information that the organization needs to make the publics aware. They are also more likely to give a fair chance and balanced reporting if something were to occur.

PR professionals like Iscono said, “do not need to neglect their roots. “ There are a few guidelines that all PR professionals should follow to deal with the media effectively. An organization should have one designated representative. By having only one representative it builds credibility. The representative should also be candid, honest and accurate. To have effective media relations a PR professional should also train and educate employees so that everyone is able to speak with one clear voice. Speaking coherently should be one of the main goals of a PR pro.

Effective media relations is what makes an organization able to stand on its own feet. To build effective media relations one should build face-to-face relationships with all of its publics. When you have face-to-face relationships it makes communication much easier. An organization should also make internal publics a top priority. If your internal public is not satisfied, they can not work on satisfying others.

PR pros need to fully research a topic before contacting a journalist. Doing this could eliminate the thought of PR pros as being useless and not needed. When journalists think of PR pros they need to think of someone that can help them out, not someone who is only out for themselves. Establishing a positive working relationship between a PR pro and a journalist is tough to do, but it has to be done for both parties to be fully satisfied.

More and more students are graduating with public relations degrees, so now it is our job as new public relations specialists to bridge the gap between journalists and PR pros. The only way to do this is by using effective media relations and sticking to our core values we know as PR pros. A positive working environment is best for both parties so why not make it happen.