BP’s oil spill crisis - How well will they handle it?

It’s a fresh news so no wonder newspapers and new media are beaming with articles about it – BP’s oil spill in Gulf of Mexico. I heard about it today in the news and then read an article in Evening Standard about the complications and costs of cleaning the mess BP will have to sponsor (it’s a lot of money I must say, 6 million pounds a day), about how people in local areas (especially fishermen) might lose their incomes because the sea-life is endangered.

The Newest New Consumer

A short history of new consumer generation

Every 20 or 30 years a new consumer appears. But who is he and who created him? Well… Lets have a look at history of modern consumer.

60’s and 70’s in the Western World were significant times not only for its major musical appearances (artists of Woodstock generation) but also because of historical breaks through, and changes in the way people lived.

Over 40 years ago the world went through so called ‘flower power experience’, with rebellious young adults rejecting consumerism their parents tried to bring them up in. This rejection resulted in a worldwide ‘human transformation movement’, which had a significant impact on creation of nonconformist new consumer. 

Whereabouts of PR in UK and PR in Poland

Comparing The Two

I looked at Consumer Public Relations in Britain and then searched through Polish websites about PR; and I came to a conclusion that the tern PR in Poland is still not very popular and often hidden under different names.

In the UK Public Relations industry is widely practiced and as many practitioners and specialists say it is a very competitive occupation. 

In Poland on the other hand, many people have never heard of public relations. 

Scary vs funny. Which one is more appealing?

I just came across a video that I couldn't place in any of UK public campaigns. I started digging a bit deeper and I found UAMK Road Safety campaign for Czech Republic government. 

My assumption is that this is something similar to UK government's campaign THINK! However, the viral videos of the two public campaigns are different. While UK's ads appeal for safe driving is presented in a dark and scary way, Czech Republic is reaching out to people using humour.

Is it because of cultural differences?

What do you think? Which one is more appealing? Does it depend on target audience?

But see for yourself:

Starbucks Twitter Campaign - When the enemy hijacks your social media campaign

It's exactly what happened to Starbucks in the summer of 2009. Activist, Robert Greenwald, who tried to raise awareness about Starbucks policies on employee unions, spotted a perfect moment to take over Starbucks Twitter campaign.

I came across this news when I was researching for my own social media campaign and it struck me when I read about this ‘hijacking’. Maybe it will sound naïve but I didn’t think people actually do such things. I thought maybe sabotaging the campaign, but not taking control over it.