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.