Semester's end

The semester is done, and this blog is on hiatus. But here's one last shot of the PR 191 crew, taken on the last day of class.

OK, I had to do it.

As seen on thesuperficial.com, Paris Hilton has been spotted walking around town carrying a copy of "The Holy Bible" and "The Power of Now" as an effort to clean up her image a bit. (In case you've forgotten, she faces 23 days of jail time for driving with a suspended license. She got her sentence cut in half for good behavior. i.e. showing up to her court date on time.) Does her publicist really think that shoving religion and a New York Times bestseller into her hands will make the public forget all about the Paris we used to know?

I guess it's a cheap way to try to change your image, but...you definitely get what you pay for. If anything, this stunt will get the TV newsmagazines and tabloids talking about how unbelievable it is that Paris is a) religious and b) literate.

Who Will be the Next American Idol?

Tonight the votes are tallied and this season's American Idol will be crowned. American Idol is in its sixth season and ratings continue to reflect the shows phenomenal success. According to Nielsen, Idol is at the top of the prime time ratings for yet another season. The shows unparalleled success has drawn in hundreds of advertisers and sponsors, including Coke and Ford. The show has also created a PR buzz.

All of the shows contestants do hundreds of interviews and some do advertisements. They are promoting the show, products, and most importantly themselves. Media coverage of this show is constant and so a smart contestant who knows anything about PR knows that they need to idolize (no pun intended) their time in the spotlight to promote their image.

Successful Idol contestants include Carrie Underwood, Kellie Pickler, Taylor Hicks, Fantasia Barrino, Ruben Studdard, and Kelly Clarkson. These contestants marketed themselves well and have continued on to have very successful singing careers.

Ocean's 13 Cast Raises Money for Darfur

Ocean's 13, a second sequel to the rat pack classic, Ocean's 11 made its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival last week, but that is not why its cast is getting so much publicity. The Ocean's 13 cast, which includes George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, and Don Cheadle are working towards raising money and awareness for the humanitarian crisis in Darfur.

Cheadle recently co-authored the book Not on Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond. Cheadle admits that getting media coverage of the crisis in Darfur is an uphill battle. The use of the upcoming Ocean's 13 release has been a way to gain publicity on the issue. Cheadle has gained the support of his co-stars and with this powerhouse team of actors behind the Darfur project progress is being made.

Over 9 million dollars have been raised already, with a $1 million contribution from Stephen Spielberg. The charity effort is proving to have benefits for everyone. The Darfur crisis is finally getting some of the attention it deserves and the movie's stars are getting good publicity because media coverage is showing their campaigning efforts to help with this worthy case. The Ocean's 13 cast is making good use of their time in the spotlight.

What do PR and Accounting Have in Common?

What do PR and Accounting share in common? This may seem like one of those riddles that doesn't seem to have an answer. Although public relations and accounting may seem to be on completely different ends of the career spectrum they offer one common benefit to college graduates who go into these fields. They both allow you to work in a field that you may be passionate about. For example, if you played football in college, you can find a job working with any of the hundred professional teams that all have communications, public relations, of media relations departments. Accountants can do the same, but their jobs just don't seem as interesting (maybe I'm a little bias).

This freedom to find a job with a team, company, person, or organization that you are passionate about is almost exclusive to PR graduates. PR professionals are needed in all kinds of businesses. A person with a passion for animals could work with the SPCA. A person who is concerned about the environment could work for a non-profit environmental group. The possibilities are endless.

So when entering the work force, search for a position that allows you to incorporate the things you know and care about. It will make work much more enjoyable.

Jerry Seinfeld Makes a Buzz

At this year's Cannes Film Festival Jerry Seinfeld answered questions about what he has been doing since his "Seinfeld" days and created some big "buzz" in the process. Jerry has returned to the scene to promote his latest project, a movie titled, "Bee Movie." This is a DreamWorks film thought up by Seinfeld and directed by Stephen Spielberg. With such a successful animation production team, legendary director, and hilarious comedian behind the film you wouldn't think outlandish publicity stunts would be necessary to create buzz, but Jerry wasn't taking any chances.

On the morning of May 17, Jerry Seinfeld suited up in a giant bee costume and was attached to a guy wire. He then proceeded to fly hundreds of yards from the top of the Carlton Hotel onto the pier. Below, Co-star Chris Rock was doing play by play commentary. The two comedians engaged in comedic banter before Jerry made his final landing.

Jerry landed unharmed and apparently unembarrassed. He claimed, "No desperation here, just good advertising." He also said, [If there's] anything I hate its publicity that smacks of any kind of desperation." Apparently Jerry doesn't view his flying bee stunt as desperate, just clever. I agree. At a film festival, reporters are forced to choose between event and films and many of them passed up other events to watch Jerry fly in a bright yellow and black bumblebee suit.

The film is scheduled to premiere on November 2. Guest appearances include Oprah Winfrey, Larry King, Chris Rock, and Ray Liotta.

To read more about this film and Jerry's publicity stunt go to time.com.

It's all starting to make sense now.

Over the semester, the blog assignment was very hard for me. It was always something i forgot about and ended up skipping a few. But it was good to learn how to write 'real' blogs rather than the fake ones on Myspace. It is good to show just how much the PR industry is changing and how soon-to-be PR professionals need to adapt to these changes. It has also been great to read the various types of blogs. The ones that focused on celebrity gossip as well as the ones that gave us great tips for blogging in the future.

Overall, it was a great way to learn from one another as well as create self-learning skills. I've learned how technological the world is getting from the other side of the spectrum. Actually creating virtual news is a lot harder than just reaping the benefits from it.

PR 191...

This class blog has been an interesting look into what interests my fellow classmates. Some blogged about politics, some celebrity gossip (ok, more than some. and sometimes even I.), and some stuck just to public relations topics. Most posts were well written and all exhibited each students personal writing style.
I think this blog is a good exercise for public relations students because the face of public relations is changing. It is keeping up with technological advances and requires its practitioners to do the same. Blogs are becoming more and more common and people in the pr field must realize that they play a part in shaping public opinion...which can be both good and bad.
Hell, people in pr even have to keep up with that pesky little wikipedia site. The times they are a'changing.

Paging Karl Rove...

This Salon article asks the questions that are on many Americans' minds. Regardless of how you feel about the Bush presidency, I posit that Karl Rove, senior political advisor to the president is a public relations genius. Rove's ruthless PR tactics enabled the administration to stay afloat for six years, albeit by a narrow majority. I appreciate how this article highlights those tactics, both as a citizen and as a future public relations practitoner.

Final thoughts on PR 191

PR 191 opened my eyes on new topic. I did not pay attention to blog from before. Following a blog during the semester was challenging and made me realize that this is the new trend in business. Blogging is becoming more important than ever, even businesses use it to polish their company’s image like in “Sun” case.

But, the problem resides in who is behind the blog? Who is writing the blog?
We saw in Walmart case that Walmart hired secretly people to start blogging in its favor. Blogging can confront unethical problem.

Overall PR 191 was a challenging class, looking back, I feel that I learnt a lot of valuable information whether in doing position paper, annual report, a direct mail package or blogging.