Two things right off the bat in the spirit of full disclosure. I was part of the group that tried to get the ballpark in the Bottom and keep the Braves in town. I’m a sap for good, fun old-time promotions done well. And the folks with the Richmond Flying Squirrels are doing the second thing so well, it is making me slightly forget my disappointment over the first thing. The latest case in point, the unveiling of the new mascot “Nutzy” and the new uniforms…
Read MoreSo is your head swimming yet? Mine is (and I’m not even talking about the snow). First, Facebook fiddled with our homepages to make them more “user-friendly,” changing the streams, making search easier and making emails and notifications more prominent. Then yesterday the announcement of Google Buzz, the next great attempt from Google to bring all your social networking to one place (theirs) by melding GMail, Google Maps, video, pictures, IMing, etc. all into one spot. The great race is on. It is the race to become…
Read MoreSo the question facing many CMO’s today is, what happens when 106 million people see your Super Bowl ad….and it sucked? Is it worth the millions of dollars that you spent on it just to get the exposure? In the discussions I’ve had around the THP water cooler today and with others in Richmond’s heralded ad community, the general consensus is that with a few exceptions (Google, Hyundai, CarMax…and yes in the spirit of full disclosure we have friends at CarMax) there were few advertisers that really…
Read MoreIt’s an overnight success story, five years in the making. Anyone who has tried their hands in pitching a story knows there are many factors that lead to a yes or a no from a journalist or editor. The bottom line is sometimes a story is just not newsworthy but it is your duty as a PR or media relations professional to give it your best shot. That is not the case however with one of THP’s long-time clients, Commonwealth ChalleNGe, a great program funded by the…
Read MoreI’ve written on this subject a couple of times over the last year or so and I keep on changing my opinion. My latest: The classic media tour is not dead. As a PR professional, you just have to try a little harder and get a little more creative. As a firm, we at THP have (or are in the process of scheduling) scheduled three media tours for different clients over the last couple of months. For the most part the targets have been in…
Read MoreOkay, I’ll admit it, I get intrigued easily when a couple of people mention a new restaurant or store and tell me how great it is. It makes me want to check it out so I can see what all the excitement is about. That’s why I’m very intrigued by the possible business uses (especially small business uses) that have and can emerge by the GPS-powered APPs like Foursquare, Yelp and Gowalla. For those not familiar, these are APPs that you can download on your phone…
Read MoreDear Aaron, First let me thank you for keeping an open mind on Twitter and other social media platforms. Others would have simply ignored the folks who jeered them at a social media club meeting but you decided to use the opportunity to reexamine Twitter and its benefits to your and other businesses. I will preface my comments by saying that social media isn’t for everyone and far be it from me, or anyone else for that matter, to try to convince folks who see no…
Read MoreSocial media is an amazing thing. One minute you’re looking up prices for Super Bowl tickets, the next minute you’re raising money to help people in Haiti. So here’s what happened to me last night. I’m on StubHub looking up Super Bowl ticket prices on the off chance my beloved Jets get in the Super Bowl and the equally off chance that my wife and my business partner let me take the trip to Miami. So I tweet something like this: “Just checked Super Bowl ticket prices…
Read MoreOnly in the world of blogging can you give a link to a blog that provides a link to another article. But the people involved and the subject matter are important and timely. He’s a link to my pal Shonali Burke’s blog, to Geoff Livingston’s article for Mashable.com on the five social media lessons to be learned from the Haiti relief effort. Both Shonali and Geoff are leaders and passionate about social media and non-profits. Shonali is the president of IABC/Washington, a social media measurement freak (in a good…
Read MoreFor those of you who are regular readers of this space or who know me well, you know last year my dad lost his fight against a number of illnesses and passed away in August. That obviously leaves a massive hole in the lives of those left behind. As I have posted, Mel was a business mentor having run a very successful local furniture store in Jersey City, New Jersey from a very early age until his 60’s when he retired, then splitting his time between…
Read MoreIt’s been fun the watch and the rating have jumped but with Jay cast as the bully, Conan the martyr, Dave the jokster and who really cares about the Jimmy’s and Craig, who is the real winner in the Late Night Wars. Please vote and give your opinion…thanks. [polldaddy poll=2542893]
Read MoreGrowing up in New York as a Mets fan, there were two songs you needed to know if you were a National League baseball. First was the Rhinegold beer theme song as it was the cornerstone of the ad campaign of the team’s main beer sponsor.[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vipOMZw7MIw&feature=related] The second of course was “Meet the Mets.” A right of passage as a young fan was your ability to sing the song for friends or more importantly before the game as long-time organist Jane Jarvis played the song. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VN5FKaECFKs] Perhaps,…
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