Adventures in Candyland

Today I visited a wildlife rescue center. In addition to seeing countless exocitic animals that had been illegally kept in captivity and learning fun stats (Know what the third most popular pet in the US is? You might think its a goldfish or a hamster, but no, its an iguana! Unfortunately, most people buy them when they’re babies and don’t realize how big they will get…), I was also reminded of a brand I’ve been meaning to post about for a few days.

World Wildlife Fund has gotten a lot of exposure this past month - ranging from the results of a study entitled Deeper Luxury that looks at the effects of the luxury market on the environment, to their great holiday gifts ideas like adopting a symbolic penguin. From the trendwatching newsletters I subscribe to, to my local Yahoo! group, I’ve read about WWF several times this month. After my outing today, I decided to finally check out the WWF site and see what they’re all about. Here’s what the World Wildlife Fund in the US is currently up to:

Current campaigns:
Push for an Ocean Protection Treaty
U.S. Activists: Stop Imports of Illegal Wood
Give Thanks to Kansas for Bold Climate Change Action
Take Action to Stop Drilling in Bristol Bay
Help Lions, Snow Leopards and More
Choose Good Wood and Save Our Forests
Say YES to Sustainable Seafood

Visit their site for more info.

I probably shouldn’t - because its horrible to give this any further attention - but I just have to say…are you kidding about Jamie Lynn Spears?!

You already know how we feel about this country’s current celeb-obsessed culture (we’ve made it pretty clear in the posts below), in fact we’re so sick to death of it that we’ve taken a months-long sabbatical from celeb gossip. But news of Brittney’s 16 year-old sister being a mama-to-be has even driven Lauren back to PerezHilton.com for some insider info and humorous commentary. I mean this is truly like watching a train wreck.

Poor Jamie Lynn…she was the good one (well at least when compared to her psycho older sister)! And with a fanbase of 8-12 year girls, you would think her handlers would keep her in check. Oh wait - her “handler” is none other than her very own mother, whom Jamie Lynn says is a role model for having raised three wonderful kids. In fact, Jamie Lynn plans to model her own mothering skills after those of Lynn. Uh - need we say more?

I’ve always felt like cube farms sucked the life from you. I know I’m not the only one. For years, many companies, mostly European or creative, have been experimenting with better ways for their employees to work. I once worked for a Scandinavian company who had us sitting in pods of four, which I originally thought were cool, but then realized were just as confining as cubes, but looked better. Thankfully, change is afoot. With the advent of Starbucks, wireless and the next generation workforce (the millenials), organizations are learning they need to create freer, more open environments for collaboration and concentration. These millenials won’t stand for bordom, repetion and Office Spaceness (my made up word, but you get it). They’ll just go find a more fun job where they won’t have to whither away in a cube for 9 hours.

In today’s PSKF, they made mention of a NYT article talking about this new way to work.

And yes, we work in one room with our back to one other, but we understand the importance of white space. In fact, Danielle blogged about this very idea a couple months ago. Her blog mentioned creating physical and mental white space - and I think offices who embrace this new way to work will be on their way to helping to create more of both and a lot more positive productivity for everyone.

I’ve been in the PR world for about ten years now, so I’ve learned and I think most people know it can be a tricky industry. For ages, agencies have charged their clients monthly retainers whether or not they pulled publicity that month. And many times, it’s not for lack of trying, often the story just doesn’t resonate with any writers. So there’s always this wierd struggle between clients and agencies. A client pays the agency to get publicity. The agency chooses an account person or team to work to get the publicity. The account person spends time researching, writing, pitching and then nothing happens. But, the client is still expected to pay the monthly retainer. And the agency still has to pay the account person. It’s definitely a dilemma. But, there does seem to be a shift occuring and frankly, I’m not sure what my opinion is on the topic — well, maybe I am.

Today’s WSJ featured a piece called, “Paying for PR — But Only When it Works.” It’s all about this semi-new trend of pay-per-placement PR, particularly in the small business arena. So, instead of hiring a agency or even consultant on retainer, a client would provide a story angle to a pr consultant or an agency who only focuses on pay-per-placement pitching and they would only get paid if the story got covered. In theory, it forces pr people to work extra hard and more strategically to get the placement. But, as much as I understand it, I think the business model is short-sighted (for the business being pitched) and unfortunately, a bit unfair(for the person doing the pitching).

Now, I completely understand and empathize with business owners who put a significant monthly retainer towards public relations and then barely have anything to show for it. There’s no doubt that this kind of agreement has the propensity to leave a bad taste in someone’s mouth as well as give public relations and it’s practioners a bad name (what doesn’t these days). And for agencies, yah, you might have made $60,000, but you’re usually left with a fractured relationship and bad word of mouth.

So, is there a middle ground? I think there is. Here at Sweet Talk, we always begin a business relationship by focusing on the overarching marketing goals of the business by developing a comprehensive marketing strategy plan. And strategy doesn’t exist on PR alone. And PR doesn’t exist on media alone. Today all the marketing rules have changed which is why marketing should start at the 10,000 foot level and then move downward. Many small businesses don’t see this or if they do, they don’t have the time or staff to do it- they might believe one piece of good PR is going to create an deluge of sales. But, readership and viewship is increasingly fragmented these days, so even if you do get one nice piece in your local newspaper you aren’t going to get the flood that being on Oprah would bring you (and yes that is every businesses dream and unfortunately it’s reality for a very lucky few).

The point here is that pay-per-placement agencies don’t really focus on strategy. They just focus on one piece of the pie. So, if as a business and you’ve created a cohesive marketing strategy and you want to farm out the media portion by providing the person with pitches that fit in the overall strategy that’s great! But, if it’s just a one off thing, you’re probably not going to get the response you hope for.

And I’m also not saying the answer is to choose a big agencies with more comprehensive services and overhead.

I think it’s more about finding a company that will work with you and your budget to build something a little more long-lasting, that just like trust, grows over time.

How many of you have imbibed with the obligitory watermelon loaded with vodka? I sure have and though not the classiest way to get inebriated, it was always a little more fun then the plain old swallowing of alcohol (yes, this took place in college).

As I get older, it’s a goal to bring a little bit more class and sophistication into my life, hence the edible martini. If you couldn’t tell from this blog, we’re fans of innovation and creativity. This is just another case of taking the common and twisting it into something unique and beautiful. And I want one of those vacuum things!

Is what someone would typically hear when I call them accidentally on my phone. It actually happened to me yesterday. I almost always lock my phone - but, sometimes I forget and sometimes the silly thing refuses to lock (an aside: does technology advance us or debilitate us?? I mean, really?). At that point am I supposed to turn it off? OF COURSE NOT. So…there is the possibility of me accidentally calling the last person dialed, texted OR the first person on my contact list. So, sorry if you hear me belting out my favorite song of the week (this week it’s Mal Poli by Yelle). We all know I’m not the only one in this predicament. Undoubtedly, someone besides the phone company is taking advantage of this situation monetarily. Thankfully, it’s to help others.

The ingenious, A Blind Call, was developed by this Belgian ad agency, Duval Guillaume, and asks people to add its phone number to your phone list. So everytime you accidentally call “A Blind Call,” a cut of the proceeds go to the League for the Blind Fund. A call never costs more than €.75. Sadly, not in America. But what an innovative and unique idea - to take an annoying everyday occurance and twist it to raise funds for something worthy. Nonprofit creativity is so cool!