Pierce Mattie Public Relations New York & Los Angeles

As a Blogger, I see Microsoft’s gifting of their Acer Ferrari laptop complete with Windows Vista to select Bloggers just another day in the world of “Review me” and word of mouth advertising in the blogosphere. Many don’t feel the same way, stating that it is outright bribery. The laptops received came during the height of the Holiday season and many Bloggers feel that these “gifts” are unethical. As I’m sure you know from my previous posts on this topic, I completely disagree.

As, LongZheng, one of the Blogger’s on the receiving end noted, “Windows Vista is launching in 30 days.” My question is, why wouldn’t Microsoft want to create a buzz about a brand new product and operating system soon to launch among tech Bloggers? I understand why Microsoft did it, as I received Max Factor’s Volume Couture Mascara a few weeks ago. It is a product that is only available come January. My job was to test it out and write a review. Obviously the company that sent it was hoping for a good review and to help generate the buzz about it prior to launch. The difference in the price tag of a bottle of mascara and a laptop is quite large, but it still doesn’t take away from the fact that companies want to find new ways of creating product buzz prior to and after a product is out on the market. By sending the laptop to only a select few Bloggers, generates even more buzz and you get the various views on how the system works from real people, not advertisers, using the product. Is it because this product to review had a high-end price tag? If Microsoft sent a $20 product, would those tech Bloggers still feel it was a case of bribery?

Why dedicate time to in-house ads when it could be sold to actual advertisers for big bucks? I’m thinking that must have been the question on the minds of the string-pullers at NBC when thinking about the promotional strategy for the Jamie Foxx Unpredictable special that aired last week. Instead of airing promotional, some crafty individual sent out a mass email encouraging all African Americans to neglect American Idol for a night and tune in. In this email, said mastermind divulged that “NBC is not doing any marketing & publicity on Jamie's Music Special on NBC because he stood his ground and wouldn't have any white guest as they requested.” As an African-American, I know that there’s no better way to mobilize my community than to say someone has wronged another member for “standing by his own.” And if this email is true, a few people have some serious ‘splaining to do. However, as a publicist, I also realize that emotion is one of the strongest promotional tools and that propaganda comes in all forms. Therefore, if this email was a publicist’s ploy, I applaud him or her for using the growing medium of Viral Marketing to combat Idol Fever.

As a beauty publicist in New York I have been to some of the best salons in the country and seen how salons properly pamper their patrons and make their experience a relaxing and enjoyable one – thus allowing for sometimes obscene prices. Recently I went to pick up my mom after she got her hair done – a cut, color and highlights. My step-dad always complains that she spends too much money on her hair, but I always justified it with the fact that 1) she had a great cut 2) the salon in one of the best in their area 3) she deserves to be pampered a little bit and 4) he’s just way too frugal.

As someone who is now, from LA, I drive everywhere. Thus, I pay attention to the price of gas because I find myself at the pump at least once a week filling up my gas tank. This past Monday, driving home from Palm Springs I saw the price of gas change in front of my eyes, literally. It was an electronic sign and it went from $2.99 per gallon to $3.05 in the time it took me to drive past at 60 mph. Yes, it was a bit humorous but more frightening than funny.

Later that evening I was watching the evening news and my guy Brian Williams on NBC’s Nightly News reported a little tid-bit of information, Lee Raymond, Exxon’s former CEO would be taking home $69.7 million in compensation and a $98 million dollar good-bye, thanks for all your help, retirement package.

Wouldn’t you hate to wake up one morning and rub your face trying to recall what you did yesterday? Your head pounds and all you can think about is the cup of Joe and aspirin you desperately need. You roll over and lying next to you is a pair of jeans, and a receipt that says that $300 was credited from your account for three t-shirts…scary? you bet…

If you make your way through West Hollywood, or if you’re a local, you may want to keep this place in mind on your next trip; Lisa Kline, a trendy, urban Los Angeles clothing store popular with such celebs like Britney Spears and Denise Richards is bringing the class of wine and spirits to your daily shopping routine. While you hunt for a new pair of jeans, or a new shirt, you can enjoy an ice cold corona, an exotic cocktail or a glass of wine, whatever suits your passion. I visited Lisa Kline Men located at 123 S. Roberston Blvd. across the street from the popular women's Lisa Kline and down the street from the uber cool Kitson and ever-popular The Ivy Restaurant.

This double edged sword brings the benefit of feeling like an elite client; a great feeling that any customer would enjoy while they shop. On the other hand, even a small amount of alcohol can impair our judgment. That polo you were contemplating will surely become a quick dash (or stumble) to the cashier.

This represents a new form of marketing. By altering the perception of your customers, their altered judgment could lead to higher sales.However, it can also lead to dissatisfaction and many returns after customers realize their purchase may not have been worth the money. For those who love to shop and have the wallet to fit those big eyes, go for it. If you spend your money wisely and you enjoy the most bang-explosion for your buck while dressing eloquent and in style, try more reasonable urban stores.

Starbucks. You see one on every corner of the city. And oh how do New Yorkers love their Starbucks! But if you’re tense or stressed out, that giant jolt of caffeine from your grande caramel frappuccino is not going to help. If you’re pressed for time, taking the day off to get a relaxing massage to calm the nerves is probably not an option either. But imagine if you could get a massage at a mini station during your lunch break! San Francisco has the right idea with Zubio.

Watch out for Zubio, it might be coming to a street near you! Until then, New Yorkers will settle with our Starbucks.

In the Big Apple, it seems that everyone is in a rush to do something or be somewhere 24 hours a day. For instance, ever notice when crossing the street, New Yorkers are already halfway to the other side before that light turns green? With all this rushing around, who knew that New Yorkers would have time to be polite? According to Reader's Digest, New York is the "Most Courteous" city in the world!

Reader's Digest recently conducted an admittedly unscientific survey of 35 major cities around the world to measure courtesy. Through a series of three tests given to 2,000 participants, reporters from Reader's Digest walked into buildings to see if people held the door open, bought items from stores to see if salespeople would say "thank you," and dropped a folder full of papers in busy locations to see if anyone would help pick them up. Four out of five New Yorkers passed the courtesy tests scoring the highest on politeness beating out Zurich, Toronto and Berlin.

In a city where millions of people persistently push through the throngs in the streets each day, at least New Yorkers are doing it civilly with a smile. Gotta love NYC!

Google has everything! It’s not just a search engine, but it offers services anyone would need on a daily basis - from e-mail, instant messaging, to news, maps and now shopping! Today, Google launches Google Checkout, a technology platform designed to streamline online shopping for both retailers and Web users. But is it safe?

Through the new shopping service, participating retailers can choose to place a Google Checkout logo on the shopping sections of their Web sites, and then turn over all transactional processing, including credit card billing, to Google. For us online shoppers, we can register with Google Checkout and avoid having to fill out shipping and billing information each time we shop on the participating sites. Sounding a bit like eBay’s PayPal? Google Checkout is a little different since it will not offer person to person money transfer like PayPal does.

Google is charging a flat fee for merchants to use the new service while advertisers get the service for free. Google will also display a Google Checkout link just below advertisers' text ads.

This is all great for Google’s advertisers, but what about us consumers? It seems like a great idea – less hassle for the stores and quicker shopping for us. But with identity theft as an issue, will our personal information be stolen? With Google’s secure servers, it’s unlikely, but you never know! When shopping online, look out for security logos like Verisign to ensure your information is kept secure. Happy shopping everyone!

Whether it’s to touch up my roots or try a brand new color or highlights, I make the trip every so often to my salon to get my hair dyed. I thought I was safe until I heard about a new European study that suggests that using hair dye may increase the risk of lymphoma, a type of cancer. Could it be that my fun trips to the salon is putting my health at risk?

"Our data suggest that personal use of hair coloring is associated with a small increase in lymphoma risk, particularly among women who started using hair coloring products before 1980," Dr. Silvia de Sanjose of the Catalan Institute of Oncology in Barcelona and colleagues write in the July 1 issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.

The results from the study showed that those who dyed 12 or more times a year faced a 26 percent increased risk. Since I’ve been coloring my hair since I was 15 and over the past three years have been doing so very regularly, according to this study, I’m definitely at risk. Should I be worried?

Last year, there were almost 64,000 diagnosed cases of lymphoma. Of those cases, only two were related to use of hair dye. Phew! From 1978 to 1982, the ingredients of some types of dyes were reformulated to eliminate some that were potentially cancer-causing. Experts say that it's still not known whether the newer types of hair dyes are free of risk and more research needs to be done. Good thing I know there are already some safe dyes out there like ISO’s i.color which has Vitamin C, proteins, and antioxidants in its formula – at least those ingredients are definitely healthy for you!

Until more research is done and there’s harder evidence that proves hair dye is cancer-causing, I think it’s safe to say I’m going to keep coloring my hair!

Many clients come to Pierce Mattie PR unprepared for PR. They know they want PR. They know they need PR. But they don’t know what they need in order to get PR. Here are 3 of most common items new clients are missing or not ready for when they start a PR campaign.

1. Product samples – Seems simple enough, you can’t get press without full-size live product samples, not sample size. Fashion editors need clothing samples to dress models for photo shoots. Consumer goods editors want to try the product out and see if it works. Clothing samples you can get back, but don’t plan on getting the consumer goods products (i.e. a skin cream, shampoo or laundry detergent) back unless it is a high ticket item (i.e. a luxury razor set, television or limited edition packaged product).

2. Case studies and/or clinical trials – Editors need to know a product works. They want to see information on the success end users have had using a product, especially if it makes significant claims like weight loss, a cure for a physical or mental ailment, a new cosmetic procedure or will have any dramatic effect on consumers’ quality of life.

3. Brand spokesperson – Many clients think that they hire their PR agency to be their spokesperson for on-camera appearances and meetings with editors. While the PR agency representative may at times be quoted in the news or on-camera speaking about their client’s brand, the person visible to consumers through media outlets should be on the client’s own spokesperson. Clients should have a company employee be the corporate spokesperson to the media whether it is the CEO, Director of Marketing or Director of Education. The agency manages the message and helps the spokesperson when things get “hot.” The spokesperson should be media trained and prepared before each interview by the agency with briefing materials on the reporter, bulleted key message points and an exit strategy should the interview become hostile.

If you’re shopping for a PR agency, make sure you have everything they will need before you start working with them. You don’t have to have absolutely everything; most agencies with talent and creativity can start a campaign with just the essentials and lay the groundwork for additional programs that will be added later. Ask the agency in your first meeting what is critical to the campaign to begin and don’t sign a contract for services until you have everything that is “required.” Otherwise, you’re just paying the agency to spin their wheels and not get you the press your brand deserves.

Cosmoprof North America, an international professional beauty industry show, took place this weekend in Las Vegas, Nevada. Over 20,000 industry professionals, including distributors, salon owners, spa professionals, importers, and retail buyers, visited Cosmoprof North America.

Cosmoprof North America is also attended by 700 exhibiting companies from 30 different countries. Some of the international organizations that attended the event included Italian Association of Cosmetic Industries, Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade, and Brazilian Association of the Cosmetics, Toiletry and Fragrance Directory. There are 4 main pavilions which highlight the following sectors: Cosmetics & Personal Care, Packaging, Contract Manufacturing & Private Labels, Wellness & Spa, and Professional Hair, Nail & Tools.

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Last week I read a story in The Wall Street Journal about Stihl, maker of chain saws and yard tools, advertising that they are not sold at Lowe’s or The Home Depot as a way of demonstrating they are a premium brand not sold through mass retailers.

While I understand the goal of the ads, I can’t help but be struck by the negativity the ad creates. By saying where the product is not sold, the consumer is left wondering if the product is not good enough to be sold at either of those mass retailers. After all, consumer perceptions are that you can get great products at great prices at Lowe’s and Home Depot as they are trusted retailers and brands unto themselves. There are more questions raised by the ad in a consumer’s mind than answered.

I understand that Stihl wants to tell consumers that their brand is premium, but I’m not convinced this tactic does that. It tells consumers that maybe the product is not a bargain or a mass retailed product, but not that it is premium. To properly convey premium, the product must be associated with other products, things, services or people that consumers identify as premium, luxury or high end. After all, you don’t see other premium brands out there saying “Not sold at Wal-Mart, K-Mart or Payless.”

Dear Beauty & Fashion Bloggers,

Pierce Mattie PR has worked hard over the last five years to develop unique expertise in beauty, fashion and jewelry communications. We have long recognized the importance and potential of new media, and in 2002 we were one of the first PR firms in our media beat category to launch a blog and begin blogging. We have the highest respect for bloggers and their work, and we treat bloggers with the same attention and respect we have for editors from top print publications.

Last night, Jackie Danicki posted on her blog, Jack & Hill, a piece about Pierce Mattie PR “spamming” other blogs. Please be assured that it is not the policy of Pierce Mattie PR to “spam” blogs (or spam anyone else, for that matter). However, although we were taken aback by Jackie’s ill-informed post, we want to acknowledge some recent missteps on our part that may have led to a misunderstanding about the matter.

A bit of history first. From 2002 to 2004, only two people at Pierce Mattie PR – Pierce and I – were permitted to post on the Pierce Mattie PR blog. By 2005, however, we took note of the increasing importance of blogging to the public relations industry and began encouraging all of our brand advocates to submit blog posts. This eventually turned into a requirement that each brand advocate submit at least one blog entry per week. The project has been unequivocally successful: brand advocates are pushed to think creatively and they take pride in their submissions, and our increased profile has been great for the firm and our clients. Although our firm’s policy requires blog entries to be approved before they are posted, we encourage our brand advocates to push the envelope with their posts and we give them a large degree of freedom and license.

Marketers of designer goods, technology, online vendors and well anything else that can possibly be sold to consumers – pay attention! You should now be targeting me…or at least people in my demographic.

Asian Americans are now the most affluent consumer group in the U.S., according to a new report from Packaged Facts. The researchers over at Packaged Facts studied the attitudes and behavior of 13 million Asian Americans and found that they have more buying power (an excess of $400 billion!) than any other multicultural population segment.

"What we're seeing is a high-growth, high-income market that is willing to spend, yet very conscious about purchasing decisions," said Don Montuori, publisher of Packaged Facts, in a statement. "Asian Americans love to shop and will shop for the best deal. They're big on family, designer goods, technology, Internet shopping and healthy living, and are very open to all modes of promotion, making them an excellent target market." Isn’t that the truth?

Despite their “affluence,” Asian Americans have never been in the forefront of marketers of consumer products and services. When was the last time you saw an Asian American in an ad in a magazine? Maybe in a Benetton ad, or Asian magazines like Jade or iStyle, but nothing else that I can really think of. It would be nice to see more multicultural marketing and advertising in the future.

Last week I was having dinner with a friend and we were discussing advertising and pr. He has previously worked at a pr firm and has recently moved into the marketing/advertising side of it. He insists pr has lost its value. He argues that this is due to advertising dollars plummeting—meaning, companies are no longer interested in spending their money for ads—he says that publishers are beginning to negotiate and not only allot them ad space, but will promise so many editorial placements a year. I have been told time and time again that the editor is swayed at times to feature an advertiser—sort of a “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine.” Now while I’d like to think this is not true I am constantly reminded of paid sponsorship and deliberate placements that were definitely paid for. I remember a time when I would watch a movie and the brand name would be changed to some “generic” name or would simply be flashed or not shown at all. Now-watching a movie is almost as bad as thumbing through the September issue of a fashion book with ads galore. I was watching “The Island” last week—I know, I know, it was on Cinemax or something, okay! I remember noticing several deliberate placements—from Puma shoes to several food brands. I have written before about the deliberate and I must say annoying interference of product placement on my favorite show Project Runway. Now Best Week Ever, another fave of mine is working with Old Navy and it is ALL OVER THE PLACE.

I mean seriously, can we make it any harder for us to do our jobs. What about the days when an editor actually featured a product because they liked it or because it was actually a great product. Or what about when we could flip through the television without being bombarded with shameless paid sponsorships? Let’s leave product placements to the professionals—the pr professionals—not advertising professionals who charge rediculous amounts of $$$.

The New York Times printed an article titled "Would You Like a Gas Guzzler With That?" about McDonald's featuring toy Hummers in their Happy Meals and environmental groups going crazy. Heck, there's even a Hummer/McDonald's online game for kids to play at www.happymeal.com. In the wake of rising gas prices that just seem to get higher and higher, environmental groups are becoming more and more outspoken. While I agree with the environmental groups that Hummers are in fact gas guzzlers, these toy Hummers that McDonald's has are just that, TOYS! I had a toy race car when I was a kid and a semi-truck and a tractor, some probably from a McDonald's Happy Meal, but I didn't become a race car driver, a trucker or a construction worker. They were just toys I played with.

Just weeks after Star Jones was fired from her popular daytime talk show, The View, the man with the million dollar smile, Tom Cruise, has been dropped from his 14-year production deal with Paramount Pictures.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Viacom Inc. Chairman Sumner Redstone said: "As much as we like him personally, we thought it was wrong to renew his deal," adding that, “"His recent conduct has not been acceptable to Paramount."

When asked for comment, Paula Wagner, Cruises business partner in his production company, Cruise/Wagner Productions, stated that Redstone's comments were "offensive" and "undignified.”

Cruises films up to 2004 have grossed more than $2.5 billion dollars in domestic box office receipts alone, according to the-movie-times.com. In 2005, Spielberg’s War of the Worlds grossed nearly $600 million world wide in box office tickets, excluding the DVD and rental sales.

The man who now demands $31 million a picture has come a long way since earning only $850 for his work in TAPS (1981), but after Mission Impossible III opened to less that stellar reviews and box office sales, and this latest development with Paramount, the million-dollar man may need to start looking for a new job at the Scientology Center in Beverly Hills. After all, it has been alluded to in the past that the church is a leading reason for Cruises antics, and now he has lost one of the most lucrative production deals ever commanded by an A-list Hollywood star. It sounds to me list someone could use some major PR damage control. Pierce Mattie PR’s number is at the bottom.

Interesting interview with Cathy Horyn of the New York Times. Cathy shares Julie Fredrickson's viewpoint on the need to take bloggers seriosly. Also discussed, Cathy's take on personally blogging and the "imaginary" conflict that some luxury brands feel when it comes to blogging about luxury. I'm sure if Billy Daily was still working at KCD he would have let Julie from Coutorure Media in to see the Mark Jacobs show at the Spring collections fashion week. Other sources for coverage are: New York Magazine, Fashion Week Live website, with coverage by Lauren Ezersky

Pierce Mattie PR is now working with the Arabian designer Areej Turki on the launch of her fashion debut in the US. Areej Creations is a new clothing and sportswear line that features the art of Areej Turki. Entitled Brushstrokes, the collection consists of elegant, comfortable lounge wear with bold motifs from Turki's personal oil paintings. Because of the artistic influence, the collection is available in three different color palettes: blue, green and purple.

Ideal for the customer that doesn't want to wear a logo, but wants to add character to their wardrobe. The soft cotton pieces are ideal for exercise including pilates and yoga, as well as mixing and matching with jeans and skirts for a fresh look that is sophisticated and eye catching.

"Esquire's Big Black Book: An Advertising Party With a Velvet Rope Around It" Esquire magazine, which has struggled for a few years to find a comfortable market niche to call home, is scheduled to launch a new elite coffee-table-book, magazine hybrid, called Esquire's Big Black Book--designed as a luxury style manual for men."

In an interesting twist, Nobody can just advertise. To advertise in the book, marketers had to receive an invitation from Hearst, and each advertiser could purchase only one of the 74 ad pages. Advertising Age reports that all 74 have been sold to advertisers which include Ralph Lauren Purple Label, Bombardier, IWC Watches, Hugo Boss and Louis Vuitton.

Our Current Top Luxury Publications
(1). Luxury Spa Finder
(2). Harper's Bazaar
(3). Robb Report
(4). Vanity Fair
(5). Visionaire
(6). Genlux

Something about these projects (I've seen a few over the years) that always grabs me. I know, many people think it's lame. Perhaps it's the voyeur in me. Here is your unique advertising opportunity Baxter Of California! How about a travel site? I want to see him on a beach, or visiting famous places around the world, it’s a little melancholy that all his recorded images are inside- he needs a tan, (product placement opportunity) how about some new threads? He obviously gets around as a photographer. I can see the big budget version of this. A big name beauty product. Ten year time laps and the female talent actually looks better at the end, because of the product of course! Would work best for a mid-sized privately owned cosmetic line like Jane Iredale. That way the owner could do the real time laps "herself". Definitely a back burner concept.

The Simulated Lifestyle Game Is Almoste Here! Desperate Housewives, hitting stores October 5th (Nationwide), players can take on the role of the newest housewife and cheat, spy, sneak, and flirt their way through Wisteria Lane's seemingly perfect neighborhood.

"Unlike other "Sims Style" games -this game is compleatly different"

The Sims meets every woman's "guilty pleasure" in what looks to be a promising title.

For more on screen action view our Desperate Housewives Playlist with clips about how it is different from other SIMulation games and get a sneak peak about the new games shocking ending!

The game will give players control over their in-game persona and early reports suggest the title will resemble the hugely popular Sims series of games.

As another desperate housewife, players will be able to expose or engage in the domestic scandals that are the show's signature.

"You can be as nice or as mean as you'd like to be," said Mary Schuyler, lead producer for the game.

Buena Vista Games, which will distribute the title, said it was negotiating with other members over their appearance in the game.

The company said it hoped the game would prove popular with fans of the TV show and convert some of them into regular players.

The game is being made by Liquid Entertainment which is better known for its real-time fantasy strategy titles.

If there is one thing that America loves as a culture it is scandal. Celebrity culture is such a pervasive force that it substitutes for small talk just as well as the weather nowadays. High minded individuals may take offense to these subjects, but in truth we are all attracted to the destructive flames of perversion and excess. Many disdain the hoi polloi for their distractions, but I would contend that we all benefit from whiffs of scandal now and again.

Cathartic acts can heal , and now we can all engage in these sorts of behaviors without any of the consequences. The popularity of shows like Desperate Housewives takes all of us inside these dens of inequity that bubble away hidden in suburban utopia, confirming and arousing suspicions that we all secretly harbor. Of course no one really wants crazy murderous neighbors or philandering husbands in their actual lives, but some of us wouldn't mind a little "fake" drama now and again. Actually, we would all be better off because of it.

Thus, even if you are a New Yorker reading, Economist quoting, graduate degreed snob you could still use a little Wisteria Lane in your life. Isn't that why we all love Bree so much? Deep down below the perfect surface we are all a complete mess. That is why even when I find myself experiencing some revulsion at the mere notion of Desperate Housewives I still see a little value in immersing myself once in awhile. That is why I predict that the Desperate Housewives game will be a huge success - all of the scandal and perversion with none of the consequences. So when can I log on?

Many savvy shoppers rely on magazines to help guide their purchases. We often assume that editors know best when it comes finding dazzling new products in beauty, fashion, and perfume. Thus it isn't surprising that one of the newest trends to show up on the frenzied Manhattan shopping scene is the curated magazine sponsored shopping event.

Yesterday New York Magazine hosted a Best Bets Shopping Event. Women lined up to shop discounts from vendors who had been labeled "best bets" by New York Magazine.

It was a hodge podge of potential shopping targets with high end hand bags next to Method soap.

Admittedly it felt like an event where advertisers were given a chance to hawk their wares to unsuspecting women who had actually paid for the privilege rather than a truly editorial driven event. The event surely generated its fair share of controversy as New York Magazine is not the only one to host a shopping event.

Next month shopping bible Lucky Magazine will host its own Lucky Shops event which is going to be quite a bit bigger and hopefully better. After all it is easier to trust a magazine with one proven vertical, fashion, than a magazine like New York Magazine that plays host to many sections.

When I first saw these Ads I thought they were exploratory portfolio comps. Some of the most edgy stuff never makes it out into the public sector.

Hindu clothing chain High-Style The Fashion World creates relevant "shock-and-awe" advertising campaign that will definitely appeal to the younger audience. If you think about trends, this is nothing new, we've been incorporating more and more gore in our entertainment for years. Cobranding big name brands in goreiffic video games is old news. From my experience the more edgy and subtle the integration into the game the better it is received. Clients never like o hear this of course, they want blatant obvious placement which is not accepted as well as modest "easter-egg" style placement. Has anyone seen Michael C. Hall in Showtime’s new drama DEXTER? I'm not advocating that this is appropriate advertising for everyone. I do think you can take things too far, remember the Sandra Burnhard Mac cosmetics spot?

The gore is not from physical violence, just fashion descriptions supported by graphic images. It gets my attention, seems appropriate for the target market and the ads are "executed" well. Although I no longer fit the 18-34 demographic, I actually love first person shooters! I have several girlfriends who love them and UFC fights as well-go figure. Most of us worked in advertising or marketing which taints the demographics a little. So I understand that it takes "more" edge or shock-and-awe to reach an over stimulated generation of shoppers. Trends to keep in mind: Shock-&-Shop, Multicultural-Must-Haves and Gore-iffic.

It's been a few weeks since Good magazine launched. For those who are not in the know, Good magazine encourages and inspires conscious global citizens to band together and "give a damn." I was following up on the LA and NY launch parties via posts on GOOD magazines own blog (the site is integrated into a blog) and ran head first into a truckload of published spam comments.

I'm not talking about Astroturfing, or shameless plugs that help the cause. The really offensive stuff! It's like nobody has been on watch at Good for the last 15 days, and that isn't so Good after all. On September 25th Good's blog spambot sold out to the bankers, sex industry and drug companies! They all should make a large contibution todoy.

The Goods on Good Magazine: Clean website design, nice magazine layout. Both are easy to navigate/read –stimulating mix of content that will reach several demographics. Good Magazine Departments:

Cover, an arresting visual and verbal statement that presents insight and/or commentary on a current focal point of our culture.

Graphic Statement, a visual interpretation of the issue theme

Look, A bold visual tour of creative ideas around the world

Last week I was out for cocktails with a few other business owners in the service industry. One was a skin care manufacturer, the second was a clothing line designer and the third was the owner of a large fitness chain of health clubs.

We got into an in depth discussion about managing client relationships

We were discussing how to repair a client relationship where things have gone wrong, for example clients whose expectations are unrealistic, clients who are abusive towards the staff and those clients who for whatever reason have become dissatisfied with their service.

The Wall Street Journal had run an article on entrepreneurs a few years back where I was quoted by saying “My New Year’s resolution as a business owner is to only work with people, places and things I really care about and that respect my team, work and over-all business ethics.”

1. Choose clients carefully

4. Live Up To Your Own Standards. Give What You Expect, Set The Example.

If you have done all your work working with your clients and have defined what you can achieve and there are still insurmountable problems, then it is time to re-evaluate whether that client is appropriate to have.

About a month ago we had a client call the office and demand that I get on a conference call. The brand was new to the market, had very little distribution (only one salon in New York) and the consumer awareness was simply not there (she refused to do salon events with us). The owner had worked with two other PR firms before us (our biggest competitors) for about two years who both did not secure the regional and national glossy press that the client was looking for. We were given about 3 months to change her entire media platform and correct the damage that the other PR firms had done during the course of two years. Naturally I slipped off my dress shoes, undid my tie, sat back in my chair practiced my breathing exercises and then took her call.

Laura Mercier Cosmetics and Skincare h