Tip 'n Go

Shoe designs thought to be outdated and old are suddenly roaring to the forefront. A crime laden subway system is reborn again without the graffiti and without the high level of crime.



One small change has been made. The right group of people are suddenly wearing the shoe. The Broken Windows theory is obselete, and there are no longer places of disorder.



The epidemic has tipped.



In Malcolm Gladwell's book, The Tipping Point, he refers to an actual 'tipping point' as the moment when something changes within an epidemic that, in turn, makes it 'tip' and spread like wild fire. Acting as helpers to these points are three rules of epidemics: the Law of the Few, the Stickiness Factor and the Power of Context. Each of these rules should play a vital part in our athletics campaign, "One Team, One Spirit."



The Law of the Few represents making contact with the right people and having them accept your idea. As a part of our campaign, our team has designed "Fan Frenzy," a spirit contest centered around our registered student organizations. Each student within our class participates in at least one extra-curricular activity on campus, and if each of us stood before our organization and announced information about the contest, our fellow members would listen. Now, imagine, if we did that and our friends did that at organizations that they are involved in, and maybe, we visited the remaining RSO's on campus to spread the word. Well, we might just be able to start an epidemic of our own simply through word-of-mouth. Gladwell put a lot of faith into the concept of word-of-mouth, and it proves to be one of the most effective and cheapest ways to get a result.

Recently, in my Consumer Behavior class, we were discussing how to market an effective ad. We basically wanted to know how to make something "stick." Gladwell's concept, the Stickiness Factor, will be one of our biggest challenges within our campaign; however, if we follow the rules I learned from my other class that day, we might find it a little easier. Taken from a movie involving a foreign political candidate, his political advisors developed three easy steps to make his message stick. First, the message needs to be simple. Secondly, the message has to resonate, and finally, the message has to be repeated. For the most part, I think we are actually already off to a good start with accomplishing these steps with our publicity efforts; however, we need to find a way to make our campaign have more of an impact.

Within Gladwell's Power of Context rule, it is noted that people, in general, are a lot more sensitive to their surroundings than they may actually appear. We are sensitive to our immediate context as well as the personalities that surround us. Just as personalities can be altered and changed, so can our surroundings. As a team, we are slowly changing the surroundings on Georgia College's campus. Take our lovely Thunder cut outs for instance, it may appear to be only a small change since they are only in four locations, but we've received some amazing feedback on them after only one event. What will happen when they are out more often for the basketball games? Also, why don't we dress them up for each of our events in order to make him stand out a little more, and possible help our message stick? Yet again, the use of word-of-mouth techniques can come in handy. Sitting in class before a lecture starts, you and your friend might talk about the upcoming basketball game, and the person two rows over hears you and it sparks their interest. In a way, you have altered their surroundings. In order to make the most of this, we need to use the three types of people discussed by Gladwell: Connectors, Mavens and Salesmen.

Thinking about which of these three personality categories I fall under was not the easiest task. None of them explained who I am to a tee, but I did find qualities in one category. Most like a Maven, I tend to be the quiet one in a room, who lets the information around her sink in. I'm extremely observant, probably a lot more than I need to be, and while I may not always ask questions, I'm still thinking them. I just tend to find answers my own way. Through my experiences and personal research, I have picked up some random pieces of knowledge; however, I'm always more than happy to share that knowledge if an opportunity presents itself.

In regards to opportunities, our class has fully immersed ourselves into the world of social media. Using blogs, Twitter, LinkedIn and later, Flickr, we are tackling one of the most recent phenomenons in the PR world. While none of these have personally tipped for me yet, I know they will in good time. I can see Twitter tipping first, because I use it most often. Sometimes, I feel as if I had more time to devote to exploring social media than perhaps, they would have already tipped. Although, until they do, I will have plenty of other smaller movements within our campaign that will hopefully, help it to tip in the near future.

PR Open Mic

Originally, I viewed this blog post and challenge, as simply something else to do on what I feel like is a never ending to do list; however, once I spent a little time looking around the site, I realize PR Open Mic will actually become a useful tool in my PR life.

I think the most beneficial tool are the many listings under the Forum section. The categories cover most anything you could want to know about or share opinions on concerning the PR world, and sometimes even branching into the marketing world. Whether it's a question about how to execute a campaign or how to plan an event, we can post a topic under one of the headings and then watch as other PR professionals and students weigh in on what to do. While we may not have face to face action with these people, or may not even know them, we've all learned that as many views and as many questions can be asked will only help for a more efficient and successful PR endeavor. I'm excited to include this site in my places to form research and gain more knowledge about public relations, and I can't wait to explore it's contents more!

A Little Piece of the Magic

After reading my fellow classmate's blog about Disney Theme Parks, I decided to share another piece of the Disney magic.

Last May, I began an internship with the Walt Disney World Resort through the Disney College Program. Through this experience, I was able to gain insight to all things Disney, especially their PR.

While I was living and working in Orlando, Florida, the Disney Company announced they were going to extend the Year of a Million Dreams for an extra year. The decision to expand the contest came from its immense success. The Year of a Million Dreams was created in an effort to make the dreams of Disney park guests come true each and every day. Selected at random, guests had the chance to win opportunities to be Grand Marshall of the parades at each Disney theme park around the world, or even the chance to win a night's stay in Cinderella's Castle in the Magic Kingdom of Walt Disney World. While the contest was a great PR strategy for increasing ticket sales, it also helped create more brand awareness for a global company and its products.

In conjunction with the Year of a Million Dreams, the Disneyland Resort and the Walt Disney World Resort debuted new attractions and entertainment, thus creating new experiences for their guests. With the coupling of once in a lifetime prize giveaways, and a chance to participate in new attractions and entertainment, the Year of a Million Dreams made guests, young and old, interact with a brand synonymous with believing in your dreams.

The public relations techniques used by the Walt Disney Company, were used to reach multiple demographics and target audiences, and for years, Disney has been a leader in creative public relations and marketing approaches. After conducting timeless campaigns that promote where the world of fantasy meets reality, guests of all ages hope to experience the place where dreams really do come true.

Shameless Plug? Maybe, but I think not.

While watching the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards this past Sunday, I couldn't help but notice when Tina Fey plugged viewing information for her comedy, 30 Rock, during her acceptance speech for their Outstanding Comedy Series win. Typically, acceptance speeches are filled with thank you's to the cast, the staff, loved ones, etc.; however, maybe since Tina Fey had already won a pair of other awards that evening she didn't feel the need to say all of that yet again. The question is though, was her shameless plug for her show simply good PR or was it tactless? I'm going with option 1.

Preliminary estimates of viewers by Nielsen Research Media for Sunday's show were approximated to be around 12.24 million viewers; although, these results were posted by the Associated Press in an article on Yahoo!TV. In my opinion, Tina Fey's plug was therefore smart. What better way to reach out to a large audience, some of whom may have not watched the show, 30 Rock, before, and may now be more inclined to do so after the show's win for Outstanding Comedy Series. The acceptance speech was just another way to highlight the good use of free PR. What do you think? Do you agree with Fey's actions, or do you think it should have been omitted completely?

The "Unsinkable" Resurfaces

Friday, August 22 marked the debut of a new exhibit at the Georgia Aquarium. On that morning, the ship that was thought to be unsinkable resurfaced, or rather relics from the ship resurfaced. The exhibit, Titanic Aquatic, was established in an effort to help raise attendance at the aquarium.

I think this was a very wise PR tactic. The story of the RMS Titanic fascinates many people. While there was an exhibit similar to this a few years ago in Atlanta, the fact that it's coupled with an aquarium makes it all the more interesting. What do you think about the location of this exhibit? Would it make you more inclined to attend?

In 2006, a similar collection was brought to Atlanta; however, the new exhibit at the aquarium surpasses the old collection, featuring recovered items that have never been seen by the public. Early this August, the Atlanta Journal Consitution published an article helping promote the Titanic exhibit.

What I want to know, is do you think this was a wise move to help generate more attendance or do you think they could have done something better? I've only visited the aquarium once since it's opening; however, I might have to consider taking another trip now.

Photo taken from:

http://voyage.pierwisconsin.org/Titanic/

Text Messages Might Not Be The Answer

In response to school emergencies in recent years, Georgia College & State University has created a program called Connect-Ed in an effort to keep students more informed. Students are urged to register for the program so that they can be alerted of campus emergencies, severe weather, or campus closings; however, students predominately receive these alerts through text messages. In fact, they have to be able to text message in order to sign up.

Unlike most people my age, I don't have access to text messages on my phone so that leaves me out of the loop for this information. While, the alert messages are also sent via email as well as posted on the school's home page, the information still may not reach students. Honestly, how often do we, as students, actually check our school's website or even our email sometimes?

How do we help students without the ability to text message find this crucial information and can we really rely that students will find out the information in time if they don't have access to these options? I'm not so sure.

In my previous post, I discussed how other forms of social media help spread information to the public, but most students don't use items like Twitter. On the other hand, I think that social media could still be used, it just has to be tweaked for a collegiate audience. In what ways do you think we could alter social media so that it has a more direct effect on college students?

Gustav Leads To A New Learning Experience

Over the past weekend, the news was filled with updates on Hurricane Gustav. Projected paths were updated, evacuations were discussed, and centers were set up to help evacuees. I wondered though, how do we, as PR practitioners, help get the word out?

Well, I found my answer while searching on Google. We get the word out through social media.

I came across another blog (http://thejstandard.wordpress.com/) that recently published a post about social media and the lessons learned from using it during the recent natural disaster. By using Twitter and other methods of social media, other PR practitioners were able to help with up-to-date information on everything concerning Gustav.


I don't know that I would have thought to use social media like Twitter to help disseminate information, but maybe it's because I haven't gotten used to using it yet. However, it does appear that the new methods of reaching out to fellow PR enthusiasts and clients will be made easier by accessing tools like Twitter and other social media.