tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33742983218744426942012-01-27T15:42:04.346-06:00Lockstep on PRNotes from the trenches and the sidelines on how PR does (and doesn't) work.Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.comBlogger1511100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-28686409185763823922012-01-27T15:39:00.000-06:002012-01-27T15:42:04.355-06:00Tim's re-names its coffee cup sizes: PR or not PR?I love Tim Hortons coffee, and since there's a Tim's here at The Roblin Centre, I buy at least 5 cups a week.
Until last week, the cups I bought were usually "large;" now, the very same cup is "medium." To make room for a new 24 oz size (bigger than what was formerly called "extra large"), the company has re-named all its existing coffee cup sizes and added a new "extra small."
Source: Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-36829601667276885612012-01-04T16:29:00.002-06:002012-01-04T21:47:31.786-06:00What constitutes a PR problem?
A tweet this afternoon led me to a story on the O'Dwyer's PR site entitled "Google, Starbucks Take First PR Blows of 2012."
The O'Dwyer's article linked to a piece in the New York Times, which quoted a retired NYPD bomb squad member on how Starbucks' Frappuccino bottle makes a suitable container for a Molotov cocktail, after an arsonist used the bottles in a series of firebomb attacks in Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-34981630435949208232011-12-01T12:43:00.001-06:002011-12-01T15:15:29.115-06:00Misspelling... on purpose
Graphic from Carey's presentation
This morning, Carey Gatz, Online Marketing Supervisor at online pharmacy CanadaDrugs.com, gave first-year Creative Communications students a valuable primer in search engine optimization ("SEO").
As an online pharmacy, CanadaDrugs.com's business success relies heavily on its customers' ability to find it on the web -- so Carey Gatz and his team always Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-71415659262623989072011-11-22T10:20:00.001-06:002011-11-22T12:52:31.499-06:00The PR value of being niceI had to call a company this morning whose employees almost invariably treat me like I'm an idiot.
It's not that there's one cranky employee, or that I happened to catch one normally friendly employee on an off day: every single interaction I have with the (multiple) staff in this business is unpleasant -- and has been over the course of a few years. And it's not just me: friends have reported Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-6215319651944870552011-10-27T14:07:00.000-05:002011-10-27T14:07:51.258-05:00ApologiesThe Winnipeg Free Press has been reporting this week on a "ground-breaking" event that happened today in Halifax, at the third of seven national Truth and Reconciliation Commission events: University of Manitoba President David Barnard apologized for his university's role in educating perpetrators of the abuse aboriginal children, families and communities suffered under the Indian Residential Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-82527421425540025582011-10-19T16:15:00.000-05:002011-10-19T16:18:32.021-05:00RIM: how long should a response wait?There have been plenty of articles and blog posts blasting Research in Motion (RIM)'s decision to wait before talking to its customers (and investors, and the watching world) about the major outage its BlackBerry service experienced last week. An October 12th article in PR News summed up what many were saying with a quote from Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair's former head of communications:
"Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-60781018998438164922011-09-28T11:57:00.000-05:002011-09-28T11:57:49.856-05:00Why get accredited in PR?This year, I've taken on the role of Accreditation Director for the Manitoba chapter of the Canadian Public Relations Society ("CPRS"), after having been grading APR work samples and exams for the better part of a decade.
Here's how CPRS describes its accreditation on its website:
Accreditation CPRS Accreditation (APR) is a respected measure of professional experience in the field of public Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-88932318060942394842011-09-21T22:35:00.000-05:002011-09-21T22:35:42.801-05:00Alton Brown's "Fanifesto"
Photo from
http://www.foodnetwork.com/good-eats/index.html
This week, ahead of a planned publicity tour promoting a new book, Food Network star Alton Brown issued "My Fanifesto" on his website: a list of rules of comportment when meeting him in person.
Before you decide whether this is a bad idea from a PR perspective, give it a read.
Reaction I've seen online so far has been mixed; notably,Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-79092813997678010112011-09-13T16:23:00.000-05:002011-09-13T16:23:34.927-05:00Using Twitter... professionallyThere's a fair bit of conversation online around how to grow one's Twitter "followers" number. One answer: become a college instructor, and assign your students to join Twitter and follow you!
By the end of this week, Red River College's first-year Creative Communications students will all be on Twitter. Interestingly, for the first time this year (in my classes at least), more first-year Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-55864863285996196542011-09-11T11:00:00.000-05:002011-09-11T11:00:50.250-05:00Of mountains and molehills in election campaignsIn my first-year PR classes this week, we've been introducing the whole concept of PR, and specifically, the fundamental importance of understanding your audiences.
As is normal in my classes, we began on Tuesday with a few minutes of "PR in the news," in which we look at a story that's getting attention in the mainstream media and discuss what it might mean for the parties involved. The topic Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-89569163875138868282011-08-26T11:39:00.000-05:002011-08-26T11:39:26.850-05:00PR cover letter advice part 2: describing your experienceA Creative Communications grad recently asked me to look over a cover letter he'd written to apply for a job in PR, and it raised a topic I hadn't thought to include in my previous post on writing a good cover letter: how to position work you did as a volunteer or as a student.
When you're applying for a job, you want to put your best foot forward. You want the potential employer to know about Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-21299931423341530462011-08-17T20:34:00.000-05:002011-08-17T20:34:02.146-05:00When should a charity refuse a donation?One of my students in this fall’s PR Major tweeted me last week with a suggestion for a blog topic.
Her link led me to Lindor Reynolds’ column in last Wednesday’s Winnipeg Free Press, “Hooters, cancer drive a bad business combo.”
In a nutshell (this is my summary, but click the link for the full story), Reynolds feels the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation shouldn’t accept donations from HootersMelanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-18294668920656220082011-07-29T14:32:00.001-05:002011-07-30T03:51:42.023-05:00With social media, companies should go all-inI recently caught up with a communicator friend I hadn’t seen in a long time, and as will inevitably happen, we started talking about PR.
Specifically, we were talking about how important it is for businesses whose audiences are using social media to participate in social media – and the challenge that remains, especially in larger corporations, in persuading upper management that engaging with Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-19521060628144413062011-07-19T12:02:00.002-05:002011-07-19T21:22:13.476-05:00A great opportunity!In PR, you'll get lots of great opportunities for great opportunities.
Our skills are "soft" -- most of the value of what we sell comes from inside our brains. We sell ideas and approaches, words and images. They're not hard goods with a wholesale cost and a mark-up.
We do things others value, but to which others don't always assign a dollar value.
If you ran a candy shop, people would likely Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-87524397446956596692011-07-12T15:55:00.000-05:002011-07-12T15:55:36.551-05:00Tire-kicking on Google+Late last week, I succumbed to the temptation and joined Google+, the latest shiny new thing social media has to offer.
A word of warning before I begin: I am a beginner on this platform. I haven't spent more than a few hours on Google+, and so am no expert. If I get anything wrong in this post, please do me and my readers the favour of correcting me in the comments, below - thanks!
Mashable.com Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-47628982272981453812011-06-28T23:31:00.000-05:002011-06-28T23:31:50.025-05:00But for the apostrophe, it was a perfect lunchAny student in the Creative Communications program at Red River College, where I teach PR, will tell you we're a little bit nuts about accuracy and grammar in writing. Whether you're majoring in journalism, advertising or public relations, it's pretty tough to build a successful career if you can't write properly.
Misspell a proper name in our program and your assignment gets an "F," no matter Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-48344106276813678932011-06-21T17:17:00.000-05:002011-06-21T17:17:01.522-05:00Are PR and marketing the same thing?I've been hearing some debate on Twitter about what PR is and isn't.
A few years ago, The Canadian Public Relations Society (CPRS) brought some of its leaders together to produce a definition of PR. Here's what they said:
Public relations is the strategic management of relationships between an organization and its diverse publics, through the use of communication, to achieve mutual Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-47587579919348639742011-06-03T13:51:00.000-05:002011-06-03T13:51:02.360-05:00Choosing which hairs to splitI was honoured to receive a teaching award from my PR students at their convocation this week - and as it turned out, the award provided a "teachable moment."
Red River College's College Relations department interviewed me for a short bio in the convocation program, which said that I had joined the faculty in 2008, "after serving 10 years at MTS Allstream, where she was Director of Corporate Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-36273710092073993772011-05-12T11:09:00.000-05:002011-05-13T15:38:38.580-05:00On Burson-Marsteller, Facebook, and ethics in PRNews broke this week about global PR giant Burson-Marsteller pitching untrue stories about how Google's Gmail Social Circle feature breaks FTC rules on users' privacy.
According to various reports, two Burson-Marsteller account executives, one a former CNBC reporter and the other a former political columnist, attempted to persuade influential bloggers and mainstream media to report on (Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-69566832951816573872011-05-06T12:01:00.003-05:002011-05-06T12:04:46.101-05:00GolinHarris gives CreComm a warm welcome and great adviceThis morning, 35 CreComm students (and two instructors!) were welcomed at the global headquarters of PRWEEK's 2010 Large PR Agency of the Year, GolinHarris.
Alyssa and Alexandra:
"There's no such thing as a typical day in PR."
Assistant Account Executives Alyssa Bronikowski and Alexandra Kassel gave us a quick tour of GolinHarris' Chicago headquarters at the corner of The Magnificant Mile andMelanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-12410474280030539452011-04-14T16:43:00.001-05:002011-04-15T00:01:53.754-05:00How to take PR adviceThis week, I've been having an interesting discussion with a fellow professional communicator about the value of a blog post (written by yet another professional communicator) we both read on corporate use of Twitter.
In a nutshell, I felt it contained valuable information; she disagreed, for a range of reasons, one of which being that it could lead readers to make decisions about using Twitter Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-33013517187160484332011-04-04T18:23:00.000-05:002011-04-04T18:23:40.184-05:00From the archive: Writing an effective cover letter for PRI wrote this post just about a year ago, for my graduating students. Having received kind words from a number of them about its usefulness, I'm re-posting it this year for our 2011 grads.
___________________
If you’re applying for a job in PR, your prospective employer may be evaluating your cover letter and résumé in more ways than you realize.
There are many different approaches to résumé Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-62177155013021382232011-03-31T23:57:00.002-05:002011-04-01T00:02:20.167-05:00"We are excited" to bring you this news release
Credit: Design Thinking Blog
PR pros write news releases respecting a number of conventions which make them easier for journalists to use.
We write them in Canadian Press style (American Press in the U.S.), so journalists can use our content without having to do too much copy-editing.
We give them straight-forward titles that explain the news - not expecting busy journalists to take Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-35029180414728253252011-03-21T21:00:00.001-05:002011-03-21T21:04:24.459-05:00Internal communications case study at schoolOver the last couple of weeks, first-year students in Red River College's Creative Communications program have been looking at internal communications: principles, tactics and tools.
As it happens, they also got an insider's look at a case study on internal communications in the age of social media, when they learned (via Twitter, for many) that beloved Journalism instructor Steve Vogelsang willMelanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-50838029677611256612011-03-05T10:57:00.000-06:002011-03-05T10:57:16.028-06:00Exploiting CharlieOver the last week or two, you'd have to have been living under a rock not to have witnessed at least part of the circus that is Charlie Sheen's public life.
If you're just crawling out now, here's a selection of his recent statements.
At first, Sheen's behaviour seemed to indicate a huge ego and, possibly, a huge quantity of drugs/alcohol. People followed along as he lashed out, entertained Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-65136117627715886752011-02-19T16:33:00.001-06:002011-02-19T16:37:10.996-06:00Gaga over MariaThis week, media (mainstream and new, Winnipeg and international) fell in love with 10-year-old Winnipegger Maria Aragon.
This video was first posted to YouTube on February 16th, and as CBC News reports, went from 3,100 hits to over 2 million within 24 hours, after Lady Gaga herself tweeted how much she loved it.
Shortly after the viral video came mainstream media coverage, from the WinnipegMelanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-72501370833455882342011-02-12T22:17:00.003-06:002011-02-12T22:29:00.098-06:00PR's new career path starts in school, not the newsroomIn the next week, 70 or so first-year Creative Communications students at Red River College will declare their "major" area of study for their second year: Advertising, Journalism, Public Relations, or Media Production (formerly "Broadcasting").
Many already know what they want to do when they leave college, but some are still on the fence, weighing their options and trying to figure out which Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-10822100413318510882011-01-31T22:05:00.001-06:002011-01-31T22:25:00.144-06:00Super Bowl + French Impressionism = publicity
If you're looking to earn publicity, always be on the alert for ways to tie your client to a topic in the news.
That doesn't mean you have to watch for stories that are closely related to your client's business. In fact, the less obvious the tie to your client's usual image, the stronger your story idea may be: if you can provide an unexpected twist on a story everyone's talking about anyway, Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-47494958554265580902011-01-27T20:06:00.003-06:002011-01-27T20:11:18.369-06:00Having the right Board members can help with your PRThis week, Karen Press and I launched a new course in the Red River College Creative Communications program on communications for non-profits. One of our topics for our introductory class was the role -- and the strategic composition -- of a non-profit Board of Directors.
Non-profit Boards come in as many styles and sizes as the organizations themselves. Depending on the mandate (and work) of Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-37323747731514958942011-01-17T18:24:00.001-06:002011-01-18T00:19:50.560-06:00Sarah Palin's words hurt her againOne of last week's biggest political pile-ons was the controversy over Sarah Palin's use of the term "blood libel" in defending herself against accusations that her inflammatory political rhetoric (and gun-sight imagery) had contributed to the shootings in Tucson.
Here's the statement she posted online, linked to her Facebook page (the controversial language in question comes at around the 3:26 Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-54826174918284180582011-01-02T23:34:00.002-06:002011-01-02T23:39:44.789-06:00Canada Post and CUPW: when internal communications go external
photo from canadapost.ca
A story in today's Winnipeg Free Press about how "[t]housands of Christmas packages sat undelivered in the former downtown post office as late as New Year's Eve," according to a union official (were all or most of those packages mailed before the Christmas delivery deadline? We don't know...), appears to be the latest shot in the Canadian Union of Postal Workers' (CUPW)Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-79114294498409205462010-11-26T12:19:00.000-06:002010-11-26T12:19:56.982-06:00When a newsman sounds like a PR guyI caught a great interview marketing 2.0 expert Brian Solis did with Dan Farber, Editor-in-Chief of CBSNews.com, about how news organizations have to evolve their approach to their business given the rise of social media.
Here it is, from Solis' (R)evolution series which, in Solis' own words, "connects you to the people, trends, and ideas defining the future of business, marketing, and media."
Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-8163096177214415872010-11-17T14:03:00.000-06:002010-11-17T14:03:53.793-06:00Deadlines matterHere's the headline on a story in today's Winnipeg Free Press:
Really.
The story says that, under a new provincial policy effective February 1, 2011, [high school, I assume] teachers in Manitoba "will be allowed to dock students marks for late or missing work."
Congratulations (better late than never!)
In the Creative Communications program here at Red River College, where I teach PR, many Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-81723937422783553792010-11-05T14:15:00.000-05:002010-11-05T14:15:19.363-05:00Maybe Twitter's "favorite" function needs a new nameSarah Palin has been taking some heat this week for an offensive tweet which she appeared to have marked as a "favorite" on her Twitter account.
On Twitter, you have the option to mark a tweet in your timeline as a "favorite," making it easier to find again later -- much like a bookmark would for a website.
Here's Twitter's explanation, from its online "Help Center":
"Favoriting" a tweet can Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-66559851743412799492010-10-26T16:58:00.001-05:002010-10-26T16:58:15.034-05:00On Twitter, building it won't make them comeI've had a few conversations with communicators lately about communication strategies they've built or are building (around specific issues, to publicize events, to attract attention for an announcement), and in which they're identifying Twitter as a tactic.
When I ask how they're planning to use Twitter, they often say something like "Well, we'll set up a Twitter account, and then we'll send Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-13395471701510893002010-10-15T14:58:00.000-05:002010-10-15T14:58:23.590-05:00In which I predict the futureThis week, we read in the Winnipeg Free Press about a telecom company error that had reportedly caused automatic calls made by the re-election campaign of Winnipeg's incumbent Mayor, Sam Katz, to show up on Call Display as having come from the home of an everyday Winnipegger.
Embarrassing mix-up, sure. (And to the former telco spokesperson in me, particularly interesting, since the reporter Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-78276283793041078282010-10-05T15:23:00.000-05:002010-10-05T15:23:50.807-05:00Why would a PR guy love teaching so much?I love my job(s).
By day (during the academic year), I teach Public Relations to 100 or so bright, enthusiastic, committed students at Red River College. By night (during the academic year) and during the summer, I do freelance communications consulting. Before coming to Red River, and launching my consulting business, and having my daughter, I worked in corporate PR for more than a decade - andMelanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-84209361284966043612010-09-22T23:53:00.002-05:002010-09-23T10:11:52.585-05:00Netflix both teaches and learns a lessonIn my first-year classes this week, we've been discussing professionalism and ethics in PR, and how fundamental they are to any kind of long-term credibility (and, therefore, success).
In PR, we're in the business of building and nurturing relationships with a wide range of internal and external audiences. As is the case in our personal relationships, if the "other" doesn't have reason to feel Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-13157911230461718632010-09-17T12:35:00.000-05:002010-09-17T12:35:11.027-05:00Actually, it IS about what you know.Oh never mind, I'll just go to the next mixer.
I read a good piece on the CPRS Calgary blog this morning about the value of having a strong professional network in public relations.
The writer, recent University of Calgary Communications Studies grad Tammy Schwass, is absolutely right: any PR pro (and especially one just starting out) deciding not to take advantage of professional networking Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-9835591939234003332010-09-09T15:45:00.002-05:002010-09-09T18:55:47.527-05:00What Twitter isn'tBy now, just about anyone who's likely to be reading a PR blog is aware of what Twitter is, and (in general terms, at least) how it's used.
In a nutshell: it's an online platform that enables the sharing of short thoughts, information and links among people around the world. On Twitter, you "follow" people to receive the messages they send out (called "tweets"), and your "followers" opt in to Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-28329787816918001082010-09-03T09:30:00.010-05:002010-09-07T11:20:30.211-05:00Persuasion, apps and PR: part 2Note: If you missed part 1, you can read it here. Before we look at a second kind of apps, let’s remind ourselves why PR exists: to create and nurture two-way relationships with an organization’s audiences. Why? Well, because it's the nice thing to do, of course; but also because people are more likely to do business with organizations that know them, care about them, and work to respond to theirMelanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-12786115763526478852010-09-01T14:58:00.007-05:002010-09-01T15:50:57.452-05:00Persuasion, apps and PR: part 1In first-year PR, we spend a lot of time discussing the principles of persuasion – because persuasion is, in many ways, fundamental to the practice. We work to persuade customers to buy our clients’ products, we work to persuade journalists to tell our clients’ stories, we work to persuade employees to do their best at their jobs every day, we work to persuade audiences to see issues from our Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-90569093107931639442010-08-27T10:18:00.002-05:002010-08-27T10:23:42.768-05:00Why I don't endorse students on LinkedInOver the last couple of years, I've had a number of former students send requests for my endorsement on their LinkedIn profiles.I'm one of the instructors who's advised them to join the site, and to be active on it and other social media platforms -- which makes it seem odd when I decline their requests. (I must point out off the top that all the students with whom I've had this conversation to Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-1406110085773646652010-08-09T10:10:00.014-05:002010-08-10T13:43:50.328-05:00Tennis Canada's new website: it's love.(And I mean that in a good way.)It's a generally-accepted truth in PR that new organizational websites don't automatically become news anymore. By "anymore," I mean new websites were news back in the days when websites were a big deal... but nowadays they're table stakes for any large-scale organization seeking any public credibility.As a result, unless the launch has a strong, audience-focused Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-50574527255625094682010-08-03T13:38:00.014-05:002010-08-03T18:47:42.575-05:00PR, kitsch, and big bananas I noticed an exciting piece of news on CBC’s Manitoba site this morning: the southern Manitoba town of Melita will be unveiling its new roadside attraction this Saturday.(Image from CBC, courtesy of the Melita and Area Tourism Committee) “On Aug. 7, the community will unveil a nine-metre-tall banana holding a blue jay in its hand and wearing a championship wrestling-style belt.The giant yellow Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-21122128235342615412010-07-21T15:56:00.006-05:002010-07-21T17:04:56.759-05:00Doctored photo "crisis": BP just can't catch a breakWe've been reading in the last couple of days about a new front that's opened up in BP's oil spill PR crisis: an altered photo of its crisis command centre.Photos from msnbc.comThe original photo was altered so as to show images from actual BP cameras on all the crisis centre screens, rather than having two of them blank (I read somewhere that the blanks were feeds from equipment that was Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-91811648615143418362010-07-19T12:53:00.012-05:002010-07-19T16:07:00.492-05:00You can't hide from your own typos in cyberspace......so proofread well.Note: this is a post about typos and Twitter, not what should or shouldn't be built at Ground Zero.Mediaite ran a piece yesterday about a message Sarah Palin had tweeted earlier in the day.The story says it appears someone inside Palin's camp recognized the vocabulary error (i.e., that "refudiate" is not a word), and the tweet was quickly replaced on Palin's Twitter account Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-35188891478789255062010-07-13T16:13:00.016-05:002010-07-14T00:23:46.991-05:00How PR can return Mel Gibson to his former gloryThat's a trick title. It can't*.*Even in the seemingly unlikely event that the latest Mel Gibson violent tirade recording doesn't turn out to be authentic.[Photo from smartdogs.wordpress.com] A recently-released recording, purported to be of movie star Mel Gibson spewing hateful, violent, racist vitriol at an ex-girlfriend over the phone earlier this year, has renewed interest in the Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-62321701139497449132010-07-07T23:49:00.006-05:002010-07-08T10:47:51.446-05:00"The iPad changes everything."This is my Mum, and that is her iPad. Photo credit: Dad's iPhoneMum will be delighted, I'm sure, to have me tell you she just celebrated a big birthday. And for her birthday, Dad got her an iPad.Now, Dad has always been an early adopter when it comes to technology. Mum: not so much. She has never used a PC, doesn't have a cell phone, and took a while to warm up to automatic teller machines, if I Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-13314079696458563112010-06-30T21:11:00.007-05:002010-07-02T10:46:11.837-05:00Air Canada shows impact of customer-facing employees on PRThis isn't another I-hate-Air-Canada blog post - there are many of those already (don't believe me? Google it). This is a blog post about how a company's customer-facing employees are just as important to its PR as its PR people (if not more). The back story (OK, a bit of a rant) On Sunday evening, my family and I had the misfortune of having to fly home to Winnipeg from Ottawa. (For the record, Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-90975566737900367492010-06-22T10:20:00.003-05:002010-06-22T11:08:53.289-05:00Arizona state senator learns: no such thing as a small potatoes interviewA YouTube video of high school student Keith Wagner's recent interview with Arizona state senator John Huppenthal about cuts to education funding reveals a politician who likely believed a student journalist interview to be low-stakes, not worthy of much preparation.I'll bet he sees it differently now.The three versions of this video I found on YouTube (one longer, one shorter) have attracted, soMelanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-38010269672219154002010-06-14T23:44:00.009-05:002010-06-16T00:31:15.137-05:00"You don't need social media."Don't be this guy.Image from Fellowship of the MindsI'm in Regina at the national conference of the Canadian Public Relations Society (CPRS), an event which I attend every few years, and which always leaves me with a renewed passion for our profession. This year it's even more exciting for me, as I pick up information and resources that'll be helpful to my students, as well.In addition to all Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-83002525599492242322010-06-08T11:29:00.002-05:002010-06-08T23:35:40.297-05:00Guest post: “This must have been a communications problem”Written by Manitoba communicator Greg BurchI think every professional communicator has been on the receiving end of this kind of feedback at one time or another. If you have not, let me assure you it is just a matter of time. It comes with the territory. When I saw this article, I felt strongly for the poor communications folks at public health agencies across Canada who must have put in a major Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-28164772068606655382010-06-01T13:42:00.013-05:002010-06-01T16:20:28.701-05:00Want credibility? Credit your sources!At Red River College, where I teach public relations and freelance business management, we have strict rules around academic integrity and honesty. We're in the business of training future professionals here, and professional integrity is at the core of success in any field -- especially PR.Presenting someone else's ideas as your own is plagiarism, and it's not treated lightly in academia. Here Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-15589181084820623032010-05-26T15:10:00.005-05:002010-05-26T16:24:44.083-05:00Ann Curry: How to recover from a public gaffeI caught a Yahoo! News story today about NBC news' Ann Curry having given a commencement speech at Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts last Saturday, in which she created a bit of a PR problem for herself. Oops. As a respected journalist, Ann Curry's reputation takes a bigger hit over this kind of error than someone else's might; she's expected to do her research, and to get the facts rightMelanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-53149502448175492952010-05-20T14:39:00.017-05:002010-05-21T17:31:37.365-05:00How do you choose a social media consultant?The Beast.In my office at Red River College, we have one of those amazing do-everything-but-make-coffee photocopiers, which also act as scanners and fax machines. These days, I'd wager the fax is just "might as well throw it in" functionality, since the machine already has a printer, a scanner, and broadband access for emailing the documents we scan. The fax is rarely used; the only action it Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-29952198090769661792010-05-13T09:57:00.005-05:002010-05-13T11:22:39.390-05:00Manners 2.0A tweet I saw a couple of days ago from Toronto PR pro Judy Gombita got me thinking about manners.This followed a couple of situations lately that underlined, for me, anyway, how Web 2.0 and mobile communications technologies are eroding our manners:At lunch with someone who checks the BlackBerry multiple times over the course of our conversation, every time we meet. During an awards dinner, as IMelanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-9192762179939256722010-05-11T13:57:00.008-05:002010-05-11T15:33:21.263-05:00Insights from Ketchum ChicagoKetchum Chicago's Kyle Rosenbaum shares insights with CreComm students.Image courtesy Kenton Larsen.Last week, Ketchum's Chicago office hosted 20 visiting Red River College Creative Communications students (and my colleague Kenton Larsen and me), and gave us a two-hour glimpse at life inside a major international PR agency.Ketchum's Kyle Rosenbaum kicked off the session with a great overview of Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-42028459029415034782010-05-03T22:49:00.004-05:002010-05-03T23:38:56.924-05:00"Please provide your salary expectations."First-time PR job applicants are often stymied when prospective employers ask: "what are your salary expectations?"To the applicant, it seems like a cruel test: unless they know someone "on the inside" at the organization, how could they possibly know?Advantage: psychics?No. (Well, on second thought, it couldn't hurt!) When employers ask this question, they aren't expecting you to correctly guessMelanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-69000662532308991842010-04-28T10:56:00.006-05:002011-04-04T18:21:06.761-05:00Looking for a job in PR? Your cover letter is your first test.If you’re applying for a job in PR, your prospective employer may be evaluating your cover letter and résumé in more ways than you realize.
There are many different approaches to résumé writing; two of the most popular are the “chronological” approach, which is self-explanatory, and the “functional” approach, which organizes experience according to the skills or accomplishments it demonstrates.
Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-50063502345623902162010-04-22T16:53:00.003-05:002010-04-22T16:57:55.588-05:00It's AGM season!In the corporate world, PR and IR (Investor Relations) departments work around a schedule of required legal filings and meetings aimed at ensuring investors have timely information on which to base their investment decisions. One of the key elements of this schedule is the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, or AGM.In Canada, the AGM for a publicly-traded corporation has to be held within sixMelanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-40216202077788802282010-04-21T17:02:00.002-05:002010-04-21T17:04:39.531-05:00NEW Chicago trip itinerary (CreComm)Here's the updated itinerary for the PR & Ad majors' trip to Chicago. Can't wait! If you have any suggestions on things to do/see in the Windy City, please let us know in the comments. Thanks!chicagotrip10(2) Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-86270628303134519572010-04-07T21:03:00.005-05:002010-04-07T22:21:52.332-05:00Nike: move on.Today, on the eve of Tiger Woods' long-anticipated return to professional golf at the Augusta Masters, Nike released a television commercial.The ad, called "Earl and Tiger," uses the recorded voice of Woods' late father questioning his son's judgment, over an image of Tiger looking ashamed. In "On Par," The New York Times' golf blog, Richard Sandomir reports the ad first ran this evening at 6 p.mMelanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-8860472949707315112010-04-07T14:52:00.006-05:002010-04-07T16:11:04.774-05:00Generation gap?My three-year-old looks for her "Elmo's Monster Maker" app.If you want to feel old and soon-to-be-obsolete, watch a three-year-old use an iPhone or navigate YouTube.Kids are sponges for information. We don't have to show them how to fasten a button or choose the right puzzle piece. And that's by necessity: because just about everything in their world is new, they are masters of "figure it out." Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-44001206762823435122010-03-31T16:56:00.005-05:002010-03-31T23:09:02.434-05:00The Lo Pub: how small businesses can use Facebook in crisis managementA widely-reported brawl broke out on a downtown Winnipeg street outside The Lo Pub late Monday night. At least one of the participants reportedly had been in the bar earlier in the evening, but the altercation itself took place outside The Lo Pub's property.Winnipeg media on Tuesday were all over the story, each time identifying the brawl with The Lo Pub.For any of my readers unfamiliar with Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-74110402029361977402010-03-31T04:02:00.006-05:002010-03-31T04:23:25.150-05:00Student networking opportunity!This afternoon, CPRS Manitoba is putting on a new event aimed at connecting communications students with industry professionals for some networking. The free event, running from 5-7 p.m. today at the University of Winnipeg's Division of Continuing Education on the 18th floor of 275 Portage Avenue, is organized like speed-dating -- except that it's speed networking. Participating students will Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-50836894811480842112010-03-23T20:42:00.004-05:002010-03-23T21:35:38.302-05:00Emotionally attached to your writing? Maybe PR isn't for you.President Obama shares his hand-written edits on a speech about health care reform Photo by Pete Souza, courtesy of the White House via Flickr In PR, we do a lot of writing – for a wide range of audiences, and many different objectives. We are skilled wordsmiths, who understand how to cast a message in a multitude of ways to make it persuasive to a multitude of audiences.We’re experts, and our Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-43678993616252338672010-03-19T15:09:00.007-05:002010-03-19T15:48:33.824-05:00How long is the media's memory?For an embarrassing story: long.This afternoon, the Winnipeg Free Press is running a story about a long-time Conservative provincial politician, Marcel Laurendeau, deciding to run for the Liberals in his old constituency of St. Norbert.Laurendeau served as a Conservative member of Manitoba's Legislative Assembly for 13 years, ending in 2003. During that time, he played a number of roles, Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-34197038174053955292010-03-16T14:49:00.004-05:002010-03-16T15:15:22.228-05:00CPRS Manitoba 2010 Social Media ConferenceOn Wednesday, March 24th, CPRS Manitoba will be hosting a half-day conference at Winnipeg's Hotel Fort Garry on "integrating social media into public relations and communications strategies." The program promises a great line-up of speakers who'll share their own experience and perspectives, with panels on how social media is changing local news and how to leverage your social networks.Speakers Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-19256144391107468562010-03-10T22:39:00.004-06:002010-03-11T20:44:21.558-06:00Red River College students making snoowsThis week, graduating students in the program in which I teach, Red River College's Creative Communications, are presenting their year-long independent projects to a packed house in south Winnipeg's Park Theatre. These presentations are an annual tradition in Creative Communications; but this year, there's a new twist: they're being live-tweeted by a quintet of first-year students using the Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-80105598365370054382010-03-05T15:52:00.006-06:002010-03-06T00:09:17.982-06:00John Daly: victim or volunteer? The Florida Times-Union ran a story this week about golf reporters asking the PGA to suspend larger-than-life pro John Daly. Daly drew the reporters’ ire when he tweeted the cellphone number of a Times-Union journalist who had written an embarrassing story about him, suggesting his fans call the reporter with their feedback. (The tweet has since been deleted, but you can see it here, on Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-72149772966743523912010-03-02T14:52:00.012-06:002010-03-02T21:53:13.551-06:00To The Winnipeg School Division: the correct answer is "thank you."Last week, when news broke about two judgmentally-impaired Winnipeg high school teachers apparently simulating a lap dance and fellatio at a pep rally, the story roared through both the social and mainstream media. It began with a short video posted to YouTube by a student who recorded it on a cellphone, and quickly garnered international media attention including coverage on Fox News.In case youMelanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-59036722817504881272010-02-26T12:06:00.004-06:002010-02-26T12:18:49.159-06:00Sarah Palin: going rogue again?On his CNN Politics blog this week, Peter Hamby reported that Sarah Palin has decided not to immediately replace her media spokesperson, Meg Stapleton, who has resigned effective the end of this month to spend more time with her family.As a professional communicator who left a challenging (OK, not quite that challenging!) corporate position so as to be able to spend more time with my own young Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-17674961310091602952010-02-12T11:56:00.005-06:002010-02-12T12:25:49.349-06:00[yellow tail]: No good deed goes unpunishedPR Daily this morning alerted me to an issue brewing for Australia’s [yellow tail] wine company, which reportedly accounts for "almost half the Australian wine purchased in the U.S."Last week, the company announced a $100,000 donation to The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), in a campaign called “[tails] for tails”. According to [yellow tail]’s news release, “[yellow tail] will make useMelanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-19661278932493473192010-02-09T21:06:00.002-06:002010-02-09T21:09:24.040-06:00Beaker takes on social mediaWhen we first met the Muppets, Statler and Waldorf were their only critics. Now, thanks to social media, everyone's a critic!Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-36335479817236040492010-02-05T11:06:00.005-06:002010-02-05T11:27:11.939-06:00Facebook is making us the gatekeepersIn PR, we have traditionally referred to the mainstream media as "gatekeepers;" since they controlled the most credible mass media, they decided which information was communicated to mass audiences, and in what way. Now, Brand Republic is reporting this week, Facebook may be turning the tables. Research by Hitwise suggests that Facebook has become the fourth-largest distributor of online news Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-19925415139016525922010-01-28T15:25:00.012-06:002010-01-28T17:29:04.488-06:00Audi: volunteering for a black eyeA story running the rounds on Twitter last night drew my attention:The link led me to a blog by Danny Brown, which outlined the PR nightmare Audi may be about to enter with its Super Bowl ad campaign.Audi is reportedly using its Super Bowl airtime to advertise its "A3 TDI diesel, which gets 42 mpg highway," and is priming the pump for the ad with a series of YouTube videos like this one, Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-14931458181357523942010-01-19T10:27:00.004-06:002010-01-19T10:43:53.817-06:00Think mainstream media is dead?Think again.Yesterday morning, many Winnipeggers (myself included) started the day with a bit of a challenge: how to get ready for work/school/whatever with low (and in some cases, no) water pressure. According to this morning’s Winnipeg Free Press, at around 7:30 a.m. a power outage affected three of the city’s water pumping stations, which caused the problem.In my house, our first instinct was Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-41518613782423613992010-01-14T16:21:00.004-06:002010-01-14T16:35:05.490-06:00Domino’s Pizza goes negative on itselfThere’s an interesting story running in Slate this week about a new Domino’s Pizza campaign, in which Domino’s repeats its own customers’ negative feedback in ads about its new and improved recipe.At the centre of the campaign is a four-minute documentary-style piece on YouTube, from which 30-second commercials have been made. It opens with negative tweets about Domino’s Pizza from real Twitter Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-71351926539931776392010-01-13T12:29:00.014-06:002010-01-13T13:42:46.917-06:00Carnival Cruise Lines: Advertising that improves your PR stunt's imageMedia Credit: Oliva Garrity. Source: www.thetriangle.orgI came across a video showing a Carnival Cruise Lines publicity stunt gone awry (sort of) as my first-year PR students were researching pseudo-events this past week.As this article in The Daily Pennsylvanian describes, Carnival staged a major publicity stunt in Philadelphia in November 2008, in which it built – and invited the public to comeMelanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-16230085830203569212010-01-07T16:40:00.004-06:002010-01-07T20:46:32.801-06:00Good publicity stunts are good businessWhen you tell people you work in PR, some people hear C.J. Cregg, the brilliant, principled White House spokeswoman from The West Wing, and others hear Samantha Jones, the flashy and promiscuous publicist from Sex and the City.The fact is, PR is home to each of those – and more, both between the two and further along the spectrum on each side. There are people calling themselves PR people who do Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-7300641912419480582010-01-04T12:45:00.004-06:002010-01-04T13:28:45.815-06:00My blogroll's new year's dietThere's lots of talk of new year's resolutions these days. I have a number of them; one of them is to blog more in 2010.I've also decided to put my blogroll on a diet: I'm removing links that haven't been updated in the last, let's say, quarter; I've also created a new online space to play host to all of Red River College's Creative Communications student blogs, rather than linking to each of Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-36321176693257302522009-12-16T14:59:00.005-06:002009-12-16T15:34:39.797-06:00I'm sorryI ran across a couple of stories online this week that got me thinking about apologies. Not the kind of apologies we share with one another every day, for accidentally bumping into someone or forgetting to return a call, but the kind that are called for when we’ve really messed up.I’ve blogged before about how important it is for people/companies who’ve done wrong to come out right away and admitMelanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-69372873749313512852009-12-10T10:25:00.005-06:002009-12-10T11:35:12.373-06:00They're not going to run out of angles...I've been good about restraining myself on the whole Tiger Woods debacle; frankly, over the last couple of weeks, you could have been blogging day and night on the PR aspects alone, as new allegation followed new revelation over and over again.There have been thousands of voices by now, I'm sure, singing the same tune: Tiger Woods should have just admitted to whatever he had to admit to, so Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-87704748053388574622009-12-02T10:48:00.003-06:002009-12-02T11:02:25.844-06:00"Media training? Nah, I'll just wing it."As most PR people, most broadcast journalists, and all our students in Creative Communications know, it takes hard work to look natural in front of a camera (for most people, at least).On camera, every little tic appears exaggerated. Every hesitation or stumble seems amplified. A frustrated or embarrassed facial expression can overtake any message you're imparting verbally.And yet... PR people Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-4469998467249165412009-11-29T23:22:00.004-06:002009-11-30T07:34:54.604-06:00Tiger?Mainstream media and the blogosphere alike have been ablaze over the American Thanksgiving long weekend about Tiger Woods' early Friday morning car accident -- and Woods' stubborn refusal to talk about what happened.As the media stories go, Woods crashed his vehicle into a fire hydrant 50 feet from his own driveway around 2:30 Friday morning. Depending on which story you read, either he received Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-48951555956830989522009-11-23T15:23:00.009-06:002009-11-23T17:44:54.283-06:00Get tweeting!PR people should use Twitter.That's not to say that all PR people should be using Twitter on their clients' behalf: like any other communication tool, it only makes sense to use Twitter for PR purposes if your client's audiences are using Twitter (or are influenced by others who do).With that said, you have to understand a communication tool to be able to determine whether or how it can help you Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-40383112033216006822009-11-20T21:44:00.003-06:002009-11-20T21:49:41.242-06:00The road to mayhem is paved with good intentionsMessage to Scott Niedermayer: it was a valiant attempt at a nice gesture.He gets full PR points, even if someone had to go home with a black eye.Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-80852756693313084772009-11-16T14:36:00.008-06:002009-11-17T15:49:29.883-06:00Say please!One of the many things I love about PR is the way it can undergo sea-changes on the surface, without ever changing the fundamentals at its heart.Public relations is about making connections with audiences, and building actual relationships. That doesn't mean finding the best soapbox from which to deliver loud speeches about your own qualities; it's about listening as well as talking, finding outMelanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-11274399298066145932009-11-10T08:49:00.001-06:002009-11-10T08:51:08.993-06:00"P" is for Public RelationsIn honour of a brilliant television program whose very first episode aired 40 years ago today, here are five things I learned about PR from Sesame Street. 1- Know your audience. Season after season, Sesame Street produces bits that entertain kids AND their parents.2- It's important to ask the right questions.3- Cooperating and pooling resources can create wonderful results.4- There is no such Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-80046776735182710682009-11-08T23:04:00.005-06:002009-11-09T07:21:10.379-06:00Taking the high road vs. giving inAs America gets ready to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the first airing of Sesame Street on Tuesday, a PR "issue" has erupted around a two-year-old episode of the show, a repeat of which was aired two weeks ago.In the episode, which my three-year-old has given me occasion to enjoy many times, Oscar the Grouch is the anchor of GNN (Grouch News Network), in a parody of CNN. Anderson Cooper Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-55391284098559444182009-11-06T12:55:00.007-06:002009-11-06T15:42:48.385-06:00MTV's event planners learn why the little details countLast night in Berlin, U2 performed a 30-minute set at the Brandenburg Gate, to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall; the performance was set up by MTV, as part of its MTV European Music Awards broadcast.A reported 10,000 fans attended the short performance, which took place in a public outdoor space bordered by buildings on three sides, and a "temporary security fence" on the Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-10707679444860297782009-11-03T23:02:00.004-06:002009-11-03T23:46:18.786-06:00Axe hoax: a strike against mainstream media, a PR victory for UnileverEarlier this week, reports were circulating about an Indian man who was suing Unilever, the maker of Axe body spray (reportedly sold under the name "Lynx" in some markets), because despite his faithful use of the product over seven years, he hadn't been able to secure a date.In an article in Scotland's Daily Record, the complainant, Vaibhav Bedi, was reported to have based his case on the fact Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-75542171852331497112009-10-27T12:08:00.003-05:002009-10-27T12:56:15.817-05:00Hasbro shows us how it's doneIn PR, we use creative thinking to get people talking about our clients and their products. We employ a wide range of strategies, tools and tactics to try to make this happen – but we understand that nothing is more effective in getting people's attention than offering something of value to them. It's called the "identification principle" of persuasion, and it has helped to sell everything from Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-68053772435627954802009-10-23T13:50:00.000-05:002009-10-23T13:51:02.822-05:00Those pesky ethics keep holding me back.Flying under the radar (har har) of the balloon boy hoax of last week was a media hoax of a far different kind: the Yes Men's successful effort to dupe major U.S. media into relaying their messages on climate change.The Yes Men are activists whose business, according to their website, is "Impersonating big-time criminals in order to publicly humiliate them. Targets are leaders and big Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-88821014465295499522009-10-20T20:12:00.005-05:002009-10-20T21:51:46.557-05:00A head-scratcherI followed a Twitter link this evening to the Ragan Communications website, where I found what Ragan billed as "The Worst Example of Media Relations EVER."While I don't know that to be true, the report, which the Ragan site says was filed in 2002 by reporter Elliot Davis for KTVI television in St. Louis, Missouri, certainly raises a few questions. 1) Could a "County Executive" really think this Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-7255249879001121952009-10-15T10:49:00.003-05:002009-10-15T11:36:19.923-05:00Imperial Tobacco’s smokescreenA Canadian Medical Association Journal article published yesterday by Dr. David Hammond and a team of researchers at The University of Waterloo has unleashed a bad PR story that’s been decades in the making: Imperial Tobacco Canada’s alleged destruction of millions of pages of scientific studies, conducted between 1967 and 1984, which concluded that smoking is detrimental to our health. AccordingMelanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-4171919657594710652009-10-11T00:43:00.006-05:002009-10-11T01:08:04.661-05:00Exclusive!Wendy's founder Dave Thomas (photo: Wendy's International)Earlier this week, Wendy’s International and its PR firm, Ketchum Inc., reportedly gave The Wall Street Journal (“WSJ”) “the exclusive” on the fast-food chain’s new marketing campaign.The WSJ’s story with all the details appeared on Thursday, a day ahead of Wendy’s official campaign launch on Friday; as PR Daily pointed out, however, The Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-35470342289863775072009-10-02T09:31:00.006-05:002009-10-03T18:20:45.248-05:00Damage Control 101 - with your instructor, David LettermanDavid Letterman “gets it”.On his show last night, David Letterman admitted to having been unfaithful to his spouse with a woman who had worked for him.Newsworthy? Likely for some. But the way he handled it turned the story on its head – and proved why it’s good PR to get out in front of a negative story.As Letterman alleges in the video below, he was being blackmailed by someone who demanded $2 Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374298321874442694.post-70120793603029239162009-09-30T13:20:00.004-05:002009-09-30T14:31:31.021-05:00PR battle in Greenwich VillageThere's a great story on the The New York Times' City Room blog today about a PR battle being waged between The Jane Hotel, on Greenwich Village's Jane Street, and its residential neighbours.Residents of the street are irritated by the loud music and the rowdy behaviour of the hotel's night club patrons well into the night, and they're using PR to instigate change. According to the Times story, Melanie Lee Lockharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601366118515410834noreply@blogger.com0