Stress is contagious, but so is good mood. So take your time and Relax

Viral Campaign - Slow Down For a Moment

This campaign is just a theory. It is one of my New Media assignments. I’ve decided to prepare stress awareness campaign for the government where the target audience are working people aged 24 to 35. Below is the executive summary and rationale for the campaign as well as the viral video I prepared for it.

Executive Summary

The government has planned a social media campaign addressing stress issues caused by modern life. The campaign is using such new media tools as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and viral videos presenting moments worth slowing down for.

How Not To Manage a Crisis

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Case study: Crisis Management of Cadbury and Odwalla 

"There are two kinds of companies: those that have had crisis, and those that will.” 

(PR Week 1999)

In this post I’m going to focus on two particular case studies of crisis management, the Cadbury’s Salmonella Scare in UK and Odwalla E.Coli outbreak in USA. These cases aren’t new anymore but they give opportunity to compare two similar situations which were approached in two very different ways. Below is a video presentation on these two cases.

But first, a little bit of basic background on crisis management (mostly for those who don’t know anything about it).

Political PR, did it ruin the trust in politicians and is threatening democratic system?

The answer to this question isn’t easy (as to any of the questions people in my PR course had to face in debate battles). There are people who blame PR for government propaganda, for manipulating information and spinning it, for trying to control the media. People I’ve met who think PR is responsible for lack of trust in politicians are, however, a minority. Most individuals rarely think about PR as a cause of mistrust towards the government or politicians, because PR is rarely visible to them (unless they investigate on articles or study on PR issues for example).

While researching the reasons behind public distrust towards politicians and government, I came across a few statistics that showed that nearly 70% of UK population doesn’t believe public institutions. In his blog post "Trouble With Trust", Mark Thompson (director of BBC) explained that the media are responsible for the lack of this trust in public officials. Media always portray politicians in a negative way and even if they say the truth there always will be suspicion that he/she might be not telling things as they are. “Hardly ever a politician who does a good job hits headlines in the press or TV“, wrote one of the commentators of Thompson’s blogs.

Social Media Means of Life

People describe new media as modern revolution. Is it true?

Social networking is the biggest shift since industrial revolution, claim new media experts. In only four years it took over developed countries beating up traditional media such as TV, radio and newspapers. It is now number one online activity leaving behind porn and web surfing. 

It is gradually overtaking the way we shop, socialize, work and do business, learn and fall in love. Statistics show that 1 in 8 married couples in America today met via social media. Though it might not sound new to us, as there were internet chat rooms long before social media existed and people tended to meet with someone they have never seen any way, social platforms offer different things that online chats don't have.

Does ethical PR exists only in NGOs?

Since we started our Contemporary Theory in PR class I often catch myself thinking about ethics in public relations profession. The more I read about PR work for corporations and governments the more I thought that probably only NGOs and public relations for charities can be ethical.

But recently my thinking diverted from that preliminary thought. I still don’t actually have a simple yes or no answer to the question whether only NGOs or voluntary sector can practice ethical PR (answers to questions about ethics and morality are hardly ever black or white), but I have a broader idea of what methods NGOs use to influence people. And they not always are fair play.

Cover Letter YouTube style

In my previous post I wrote on how twitter and other social platforms can cost you a job. But now I want to show you, how such content sharing sites as YouTube for example can get you a job if you do it in a creative and smart way.

This is exactly how Alec Bedrzycki (woohoo, he has Polish roots :), fresh marketing graduate, used social media to find an entry level position in marketing industry.

Here is his cover letter that actually got him a job:

Watch what you’re Tweeting!

How social media can cost you a job

As social media is now a significant part of many careers out there (such as public relations for example), knowing how to use social platforms for professional purposes can be a big advantage. Being active on facebook and twitter seem to be ‘a must’ nowadays and there aren’t many people left who don’t actually have an account on one or two networking sites.

Popular among individual people at first, social media now are now also necessity for many companies and corporations (just have a look around facebook for instance; there are facebook groups with Starbucks, Ford Motor, Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream, and many more). As Howard Bragman PR professional and writer said, social media is the future for brands and if none of them wants to fall behind, they have to be active on social platforms. This however makes it difficult for individuals to take part in this online part of life, mainly because of limit forced upon their freedom to express themselves.

See here, how...

Why women might never run PR?

 And why they will…

For weeks now one of my PR modules have been hosting debates about contemporary issues in public relations. Today debate concerned female input into the industry.

Statistics show that today there are more women in PR than men. They outnumber male professionals significantly becoming 2/3 of the employees in the industry. However, dig these numbers deeper and you will find that though females outnumber males 60 to 40%, there are still more men who run the business. Why?

This topic isn’t new. Most people who had contact with public relations at some point of their life had probably noticed that there are mostly women who deal with most errands in the offices, who work on presentations and who organise things. Even in my PR course there are mostly women (we have only four guys).

New Media Overload – Google has it all

I wanted to share with you something I came across while I researched social media for my class. There is so much talking about social media and as if there wasn’t enough of networking sites, there constantly seem to appear new ones (Bebo, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Hi5, Nasza Klasa, Google Buzz, etc. It’s unending competition among them, and honestly some of them are so similar it might seem like a waste of time to even consider joining them).

What I wanted to share with you is this cartoon, which I’m sure reflects confusion of many people out there who perhaps struggle with grasping all new media products appearing nowadays.  Watch it here: