Carbonetworks and US Department of Commerce promoted in article

Again on PR Newswire I found a good example of PR. There is an upcoming UN Climate Conference in which Carbonetworks, a " leading software company that provides performance management for energy, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and sustainability solutions," will be participating. The purpose of the conference is to, "reach political agreements on greenhouse-gas emissions control and to help developing countries adapt to climate change and new technologies available to control emissions."

Stephen Crawfor, Derector, United States Commercial Service, US Department of Commerce, seems pleased with Carbonetworks representing the US and said, ""Our aim in Copenhagen is to gather the world's leading companies and offer a forum to demonstrate their cutting-edge climate solutions. Bright Green emphasizes innovation and intelligent technologies as the solution to the global climate challenge, and Carbonetworks is a perfect representative of how technology will fuel the new green economy."

Michael Meehan, President and CEO of Carbonetworks said, "As an innovator of emissions management solutions, Carbonetworks understands first hand the impact that technology can have on climate change. We are pleased to be a part of this historic event, and hope that our participation demonstrates that innovative solutions are in place today to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but we must go farther. Our hope is that by participating in the event we will be able to bring insights back to our customers to help them better navigate the new landscape of climate action and business performance."

This article puts both the US Department of Commerce and Carbonetworks in a positive light.

Airline gives customer friendly solutions to severe winter weather

In an article on PR Newswire, Continental Airlines announces its solutions for severe weather this Wednesday. Flights are expected to be delayed or even cancelled. The subheading for the article states the following, "costomers traveling to impacted cities may reschedule without penalty; continental.com provides latest flight information and operations summary." Later in the article is the following statement, "customers scheduled on flights to, from or through affected airports Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2009, including Continental's New York hub at Newark Liberty International Airport, are permitted a one-time date or time change to the itinerary without penalty. If a flight has been canceled, a refund in the original form of payment may be requested. Complete details are available at continental.com." Then there is more information given on the fastest and most convenient way to change travel plans.
The PR Rep. for Continental is doing his job. This is the type of the thing that could be a nightmare for an airline, but becuase they are getting the word out through the media that they are working with customers and how they are solving the problem, they will maintain a good image in the eyes of the public.

itunes bashed and TunesPro complimented

An article on PR Newswire talked about Apple raising its price to purchase songs on itunes. Where they were $.99 they are now $1.29/song. The article cited an online behaviour trend survey conducted at University of Arizona and showed that the hike in price on itunes has lowerd 63% of teh faculty's desire to purchase music online. "The survey found that 78% of the students replied they are not committed to any specific music website, rather affordable prices is the overall dominating factor when shopping onlin." And according to this article there are still affordable online sites to buy music. The article cites a a student who buys his music from the newer music website called TunesPro.com which offers the exact same music as itunes for a fraction of the cost. A spokesperson for TunesPro said, "We currently charge 19c/song while offering an additional 10% discount when a full album is purchased. We believe the reduced prices will attract the students and younger users away from itunes, who charge almost 6 times more than we do."
TunesPro has some great publicity here. When people here that their songs are six times cheaper and just as good of quality, they are likely to win some customers.

Hampsters this years craze gift

Tickle Me Elmo and Cabbage Patch Kids have been past favorites for Christmas toys. This years favorite is the Zhu Zhu Pets' toy hamster. An article concerning this new craze is on the front page of Black Friday's edition of the Herald Journal. I personally had never heard of the Hampster toy until I read this article and I suspect it was the same for many others. A mother is cited in the article telling about her kids' obsession with the Zhu Zhu pets and their desire to have one. Unfortunately for them and probably many others, the Zhu Zhu pets have gone very fast and are now, "more scarce than the H1N1 vaccine." The toy's faults as well as it's selling main selling points are made known. The positive things about the toy are first, it's cheap retail price for $10. It also comes with accessories. The fact that its hard to obtain makes people want it more. Cepia Inc. the manufacturers of the toy, is a tiny company with 16 employees in the U.S. and 30 in China. They got the word out about Zhu Zhu pets with a, "savvy mix of local cable ads and parties thrown by "mommy blogggers." This is a good example of how the electronic media and internet can be effective in exposing a product and increasing awareness. They started with local ads and social median and now it's making newspapers throughout the country.

Nutrition program recognized in Herald Journal

The Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) had a positive write up in the Herald Journal on Friday, November 27. After 40 years of promoting healthy life diets, the organization, which provides free nutrition lessons to families and youth, has had a positive impact on people and this article is not modest in making it known. In 2008, 590,273 adults and youth were served through the program nationally- 13,800 of them in Utah. The results have been positive including, improved food safety practices, increased meal planning and shopping with a list. A graduate of EFNEP was cited in the article saying, "he learned to cook more nutritious meals, plan menus with his wife and save money and time when shopping for food." Paula Scott, Utah EFNEP Northern Region coordinator is quoted, "on average, more than 97 percent of all adult participants made at least one positive change in their eating habits when they completed the program. In 2008, the percentage of adults who exercised for at least 30 minutes a day increased from 48 to 81. Families reported saving 5 percent on groceries while also achieving a healthier lifestyle. Touching lives this way is one of the best rewards from working with EFNEP."
The outreach locations are given in the article as well as more information about the organization. I'm assuming this is a non-profit organization since there is no charge to participants. This is good PR, and is sure to improve opinions for and increase awareness of EFNEP.

Utah reports no swine flu deaths in the past week

An article in the Herald Journal on Nov. 13 focuses on the swine flu. The Utah Department of Health shares some information concerning number of deaths, number of people diagnosed with the flu and number of hospitalizations. This article is a good example of public affairs in action. The Department of Health, a branch of the government who's mission includes preventing the spread of infectious diseases, was probable happy to report that there were no deaths from the flu in the past week. The article does have some negative statistics however that the department can't be proud of. Since the flu season started on Aug. 30, there have been 14 flu related deaths. There have been 623 hospitalizations associated with the flu as of the week that ended Saturday. This is an increase of 103 over numbers reported the previous week.

Even though the Department of Health is a government program, they must feel pressure from the public who pay taxes to do their job of maintaining Utah health. They are probably happy to see that the headline of the article focuses on the positive.

Organization recognizes Gossner Co.

In the Friday the 13 issue of the Herald Journal there is an article about Gossner Foods Co. receiving an award from the MEP. Nine companies in Utah were recognized for applying innovative, competitive and cost-effective principles to managing businesses. Gossner Foods was specifically recognized for being the best company in rural development. The article points out the fact that Gossner Foods is a family owned company originally founded in 1966 by Edwin Gossner Sr. who had devoted his life to making fine swiss cheese.

Whether representatives from Gossner Foods influenced this article or not, I'm sure they must be happy with it and hopeful that it will strengthen their company's reputation. They have always advertised themselves as being a long time family owned company that is devoted to making quality foods. This article says exactly that from an unbiased source.

Lifeline column in USA Today

There are eight little articles in the lifeline column of USA Today in Wednesdays paper. A couple of them seem to have some PR influence. One of them is about a new TV series being aired on NBC. The series is about fitness and nutrition and has Jillian Michaels (from the Biggest Loser) in its cast. Information about the show is given and an internet address is provided for those who are interested in being on the show.

Another article announces the release of the Angels and Demons DVD. The date of release and price of the DVD are given as well as the stars in the movie.

Although these clippings are very short, they are effective in informing the public. The TV series will probably get more viewers, and more copies of the DVD will be sold because people read about it in the newspaper.

Regence Takes Community Approach to Provider 'Reviews'

Regence Health Insurer has a website, myRegence.com, which posts reviews from Regence members concerning doctors. The purpose of the wesite is to make it easy for anyone to find a doctor that suits them and that they will be pleased with. The press release discusses a Regence member, Adrianne Johnson who was looking for a personal phisician and went onto myRegence.com to get some feedback from patients about their doctors. Adrianne found a doctor that she was pleased and then wrote about her treatment and gave her feedback on the website. Adrianne said that she found the reviews on the website to be accurate.

In the press release there is a piece of information that makes me wonder a little, "member reviews are displayed on myRegence.com. After being screened by a Regence Moderator, they are published on the provider's profile page." What is the Regence Moderator? Does it screen out the negative reviews? The press release didn't say anything about negative feedback. I would like to know if negative feedback is also allowed to be posted.

The press release does a good job of informing the people of myRegence.com and the positive aspects of it. It could however, give more information concerning the type of feeback that's found on the website.

Carrie Ann Inaba Gears up for a new season of dancing with the stars

This article promotes Dancing with the stars through one of its judges, Carrie Ann Inaba. It begins by outlining her decorated career as a dancer and proves her worthiness as a dancing judge with the following statement, "With a dancing and performing career spanning two decades, and a a resume sprinkled with projects that include working with Madonna, Mike Myers and Keenen Ivory Wayans, Inaba has certainly earned the right to assert her strong but fair opinions as the sole female judge on Dancing With The Stars."

The article describes the new season of Dancing With the Stars as "more diverse and outrageous than ever before."

A question and answer section is then outlined between PR.com and Inaba. Inaba's answers reveal such aspects of the TV show as the exciting dancers that are recruited and the credibility of the judges.

After reading this article, I'm sure many people would be interested in watching Dancing With the Stars for its talented dancers and it's experienced female judge, I know I would.

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 Review

The author of this article, Joseph Marchelewski, gives an overall positive review for the movie staring Danzel Washington and John Travolta. The first paragraph of the article sais that there are many movies in the summer of 2009 that promise to give you your moneys worth, but The Taking of Pelham delivers on this promise. The movie's star actors are a big focus in the article because they are well known and admired and attract big crowds. Other positive things about the film are also said: it doesn't drag on, lots of action but not over the top and a thriller in the truest sense of the word.

There is some good PR in this article. It gives the reader a good opinion concerning the movie and does a good job of persauding the audience to see it without being biased.

Red Rock bill

Utah environmentalists have been trying for 20 years to pass a bill to protect Utah's wilderness. The SUWA (Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance), the alliance pushing for the bill to be passed, was cited in a Salt Lake Tribune article today.
The SUWA exectutive director, Scott Groene, said, "This is a historic moment in the long effort to protect Utah's magnificent wilderness landscapes throughout the state. Places like Cedar mesa, the San Rafael Swell, the Green River and the west desert are one step closer to achieving the lasting protection they need and deserve."
The SUWA recieved some other wanted publicity when Congressman Maurice Hinchey from New York is cited in the article, saying, "This part of our country is some of the most remarkably pristine and beautiful land in the world and this bill would ensure that it stays that way forever."
The Salt Lake Tribune is unbiased however, and gives the other side of the story saying, "But the SUWA's proposal has long irritated county officials and the state's Republicans, who say the bill grossly overestimates the land that should be protected and would restrict economic development for rural Utah." Utah Representative Rob Bishop is also quoted saying that the SUWA act is lousy and the his staff questions SUWA's inventory of lands worthy of wilderness designation.
As proven here, using a newspaper article is a good way to get you or your company's name and cause out there and represents a credible source of information to all who read it. You can't always expect it to be one-sided though. Newspapers must keep their credibility.

Croudsourcing

Croudsourcing has become a common new phrase in the business world. A company croudsources when they leave a task to an unpaid third party, often their own customers. Businusses such as Dell, Starbucks, IBM and ebay have taken advantage of social media and used it as a means to interact with customers and other publics. Through these interactions they get ideas and learn about potential business opportunities.

Starbucks, for expample, launched a website called "MyStarbucksIdea" which allows users to communicate, share, discuss and vote on ideas for business. Some of these ideas are even considered by top executives in Starbucks' company.

I think this is a great idea for a couple reasons. First, outsiders have insight into the common, everyday lifestyles and can therefore give input as to what business strategies would be successful. Second, customers don't want to engage with unfamiliar companies. They want relationships with the company. Richard Brewer-Hay, chief blogger at eBay, said, “Consumers are no longer buying from a faceless company. They’ve got a relationship with that brand. The companies that are most successful right now are selling a lifestyle, not a product.” (http://www.prnewsonline.com/features/Crowd-Control-Crowdsourcing-Puts-Brands-in-Consumers-Hands_13168.html)
Crowdsourcing/social media allows outsiders to take part in the companys' activities and build relationships. If the relationship between the company and the outsider is good, then the outsider will keep coming back and give them business.