Category — 1 of Many

By David Boulay September 2nd, 2010

From www.aol.com today: Top 10 Most Common Typos in America Today
10. Subject-verb disagreement: Lemons sure is tasty.
9. That place where you go to eat: Restaraunt, restauraunt
8. The double-letter fumble: They’re shiping dinning room furniture.
7. The A-for-E sabotage: America loves its independance.
6. The confusion of tasty treats and arid sands: Try our homemade deserts.
5. The misplaced apostrophe: womens’ secret society.
4. The wrong “your” or “you’re”: Your the best at you’re job.
3. The wrong “its” or “it’s”: Its in a class of it’s own.
2. The missing apostrophe: mens fashions
1. The unnecessary apostrophe: We sell hundreds of car’s!

Pasion Roles!

FPRA 2010 Annual Conference: General Session,  Joe Hice, APR, CPRC

Joe Hice, APR, CPRC recently completed his first 100 days in a new job as Chief Communications Officer at NC State University in Raleigh, North Carolina. During that time, Joe learned a little about the complexities and challenges of making the switch. Prior to joining the “Wolfpack,” he was the architect of The Gator Nation campaign at the University of Florida (UF).

The focus of his presentation was his transition to a new university and the “golden rules” he followed during his first 100 days in a senior public relations job.
To start, Hice explained that the first 100 Days are critical because many managers fail in the first 18 months on a new job. To help ensure success, managers must remember that the first 100 days on the job is:

• A transition period
• Shorter than you think
• A period where you are temporarily incompetent in your job
• A window of opportunity for change
• A period where your Management expects change
• A period where the Organization you have taken charge of, expects change

As a result, Hice says, you must take advantage of this and be committed to the following tasks during this time period to succeed:

• You MUST communicate
• You need a good plan
• You must select your Management Team
• You must communicate strategic themes
• You must produce results [Read more →]

You have got to love Randall Munroe’s sense of humor.  His comic illustration featured below had me chucking all day.  Was I chuckling because his cartoon hit so close to home, or because “we’d never do anything like that.”

I think it’s the later for us.  Our Web team is among the very best in the business and we track the habits of everyone who visits the homepage.  Sure you’ll find alumni in the news and research facts and figures, but know what, people actually like that stuff. Survey says kind of thing.

I think Munroe’s most important point is about clutter.  We all tend to try to hard with our marketing efforts, not just our web pages.  How many universities out there have a dozen or more key messages?  How many universities out there try to jam all 12 of those key messages into a single print ad or onto a :30 second television commercial.

Have we  reached a point where more is actually less?  I think so and Munroe’s cartoon points that out beautifully.

Read more: http://blogs.newsobserver.com/campusnotes/home#ixzz0vjO4sShG

Passion Rules!

An Academic Rip Van Winkle
By David Hiscoe

http://chronicle.com/article/An-Academic-Rip-Van-Winkle/123707/

Without much fanfare, I cashed out my stock options 18 months ago and quietly returned to the academy, after more than 20 years in devoted service to corporate interests.
The time I spent in the hollows of cutthroat capitalism (profitably plying, believe it or not, the skills I learned while earning degrees in medieval poetry) was, on the whole, surprisingly rewarding. But at age 60, I felt ready again to follow those wild, drunkenly idealistic impulses that had made the academic life seem so worthy and honorable when I was 20.
With some luck, good timing, and recommendations from friends around the university, I found myself back employed by one of my alma maters, as a director of communications. If all goes well, I plan to spend the latter years of my working life at one of those most successful embodiments of practical, sturdy idealism, an American land-grant university.
For the past few months, I’ve felt a strong pull to report on what university life looks like to one who has found his way back after strange travels outside the village walls. As much as I initially fought the analogy, every time I start to frame my story, I keep finding myself identifying with Rip Van Winkle. [Read more →]

Those of you that know me also know I like to be first.  First up in the morning, first in line at the race track, first to try something new and different, especially where marketing and public relations are concerned.  Differentiating one’s institution or business in this world that’s full of fray is not easy.  It’s impossible if you don’t stand out and being first is one of the best ways I know of to stand out.

Back in junior high my track coach taught me a valuable lesson.  “Joe,” he said,  “the first one there is usually the winner.”  Thank you coach Patsy.

In marketing and communications, innovation is what takes a good campaign and makes it great. What takes a great sales promotion and makes it fantastic.  What takes a stale, old brand, and gives it new life.  First gains attention. First creates buzz. I know I’m over simplifying things here, but first is first!

When the guru’s from Forrester Research told the PRSA magazine, Public Relations Tactics,  that marketers shouldn’t use Foursquare as a promotion tool because the research shows it’s too new — no, too small –  I almost fell on the floor.

I’ll agree that you’ve got to get things right before you get things first, but it boggles the mind when an analyst from a well known and generally well respected research firm says don’t be creative.  They are basically recommending that we all play it safe. Let the other guy or girl try the new technology.  Let the other college or institution try the unproven research techniques.  Play it safe indeed.

I am the Mayor of Winslow Hall.  Story follows.  http://miniurl.com/48025

Passion Rules! [Read more →]

A new study in Editor & Publisher reports that newspapers continue to be seen as less important at their primary job — being sources of information.  The report was compiled by the University of Southern California and was prepared as part of the nine-year-old Digital Future Project from the USC Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism.  Read about it here. http://miniurl.com/47752

As a former newspaper and magazine editor this comes as no surprise, but is disappointing.  I still begin everyday with the local paper and a cup of coffee then move on to the Web and cable news shows.  My generation, eh.

I grew up when most major cities had two newspapers.  In Tampa, where I worked, we had the Tampa Tribune and Tampa Times and just across the bay was the St. Petersburg Times and Evening Independent.  The Clearwater Sun was nearby and Florida Trend Magazine and Tampa Bay Business Journal set the trend for business publications throughout the nation.  It was quite an area for journalism and many lifelong relationships were created there.

The USC study found that just 56%  of Internet users ranked newspapers as  important or very important sources of information for them, down from 60% in 2008 –  and below the Internet (78%) and television (68%).  You’ll have to check out the study to find out more.

Passion Rules!

David Goldberg from KG Partners reports that Twitter is now almost as well known as Facebook.  Given all the publicity around celebrity and corporate tweets, and “gotcha” columns and news stories about Twitter, that comes as no surprise to me.  And if you buy into my mantra that “it’s all about building a network,” the popularity of Twitter makes even more sense.

Here’s Goldberg’s post from the Digital Buzz Blog.  It’s official: The awareness of Twitter in the United States has risen within one percent of the awareness of Facebook, according to a survey of 100 million unique users. See the numbers for yourself at the Digital Buzz Blog.

What does this mean for your business?

For starters, statistics like these confirm that the social media revolution is only getting stronger. Through social media, marketers are able to reach their audience in the exact places where they “hang out” with their friends online. Twitter, in particular, assists marketers in taking their products’ voice and messages directly to where the crowd is — online inside their homes and on their hand-held mobile devices.

Most importantly, it’s never been more essential to keep creating interactive content. Stand out and make your content relevant, conversational and more colorful, not hidden from the masses. [Read more →]

The communications group from BYU is obviously plugged into pop culture.  How else could they come out with such a well executed spoof of the Old Spice television commercials so quickly.

http://www.youtube.com/user/oldspice?v=uLTIowBF0kE&feature=pyv&ad=5066092457&kw=funny&gclid=CNWt8fa18KICFYxU2godFRE8lg

Use the Library is the message, Old Spice Man-type guy is the messenger.  Great work.  Reminds me that a number of universities have used humor and pop culture to enhance their brands.  Some of my favorites follow.  I’m more familiar with some than others:-)

BYU New Spice Study Like a Scholar:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ArIj236UHs

I’m a Gator.  I’m a Buckeye: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5VyVLXKNdo

Hot, Hot, Hot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVENWl8uBeg

The Rivalry Guys who produced the “I’m a Gator” spots were so popular that students ran several off the spoofs during the Gator Growl pep rally in Gainesville.  The university also worked with the Rivalry Guys to create a new campus tour.  You wanna have some fun in university communications, give creativity a whirl.  You might like the results. [Read more →]