Pierce Mattie Public Relations New York

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.

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!

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.

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.

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?

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 has increased the number of visitors making a purchase on its site by 40 percent after implementing a Web analytics solution from Coremetrics, a provider of on-demand Web analytics and precision marketing solutions. Working with its assigned Coremetrics business analyst, an industry expert who works with a specific company to drive ROI, Laura Mercier used data in its online analytics solution to determine that improvements to its on-site search could yield tangible results.

It seems these days that celebs across all industries are teaming up for a good cause. Whether they’re simply donating massive amounts of excess income or using their celebrity status to draw attention to a cause, a large number of celebrities are reaching out to the public in hopes of making a difference. Recently, some have even gone so far as to adopt children in incredibly impoverished countries (Madonna in Malawi, Angelina in Cambodia and Ethiopia).

In recent news, two of the biggest household names have teamed up to raise money to fight AIDS in Africa. Bono, the U2 frontman and ultimate philanthropist (it seems like his name is somehow connected to every charity in this country), and Oprah, the talk show host we all know and love, have combined forces to promote the Product Red campaign. As part of the effort, proceeds from products sold at various retailers, including The Gap, Apple, Converse, Armani, and Motorola, will go to The Global Fund, an organization that fights AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. The Gap will be debuting their Red Line of clothing this week, where half of the profits will go to The Global Fund. Apple has created a new red-colored iPod nano, and will donate $10 from the sale of each item to the cause. The effort has attracted the attention of many other celebrities (several of them posing in Gap ads) hoping to make a difference, including Kanye West and Penelope Cruz.

In explaining the idea of getting consumers involved, Bono posted on his blog: “‘Product Red’ is the consumer battalion gathering in the shopping malls. You buy the jeans, phones, iPods, shoes, sunglasses, and someone - somebody's mother, father, daughter or son - will live instead of dying in the poorest part of the world. It's a different kind of fashion statement.” Good job, Bono- the Product Red Campaign began last spring in the UK and has already raised more than $12 million for African AIDS programs.

Everyone wants to know what is going to be the "next" big thing. The idea that you will somehow be in the know before the guy sitting next to you is an incredibly tantalizing prospect. Fashion and beauty live for the thrill of the "next."

Of course, plenty of people claim to have their pulse on exactly what is happening in the here and now. Whole sites are dedicated to scoping out what is cool and happening. But in a world saturated by information it isn't surprising that it is nearly impossible for one individual person to keep up, no matter how good their taste.

One of the many intriguing realizations to come out of the Web 2.0 phenomenon is that we can harness the wisdom of many people such that we all derive benefit from our collective wisdom. Now us girls are certainly familiar with leveraging the wisdom of our girlfriends, mothers, and shopping buddies to make better style decisions so it should come as no surprise that we are equally willing to seek guidance from like minds no matter what their geographic origin.

Thus let me introduce you to ThisNext. Have a look at the ThisNext blog after you check out the site.

ThisNext is a shopcasting network where you can recommend, share and discover great products. ThisNext believes that better buying means better living. Great products can help us do, be and experience the things that make us happy. Our goal is to help people discover great and deeply gratifying products.

I have received fully six invitations to the Maja Ferme "Nymph" Fashion Show.

Normally I am pleased to have a publicist follow up on a subject. As a blogger and online fashion editor it helps to be reminded of new and interesting subjects as we new media types are often inundated with information making it quite possible that things slip through the cracks. In fact, more often than not publicists ignore the new media altogether.

But I admit I reached a certain point where I felt I had too much information on the Slovenian designer. I received email invitations, personal invitations, and invitations in the mail. Everyday it felt like I was being subtly reminded that I simply must RSVP to the "Nymph" showing. I have actually gotten to the point where I feel slightly guilty that I haven't followed up. Disregarding the fact that it said opportunity to buy clothing after the show in small type at the bottom of the invite as opposed to cocktail reception afterwards which is a sure way to turn off any editor, is it wise to so constantly assert your client to the press? When does it become too much?

I am sure there are many schools of thought on the issue and few publicists would argue that gaining maximum visibility for a client is a bad thing, but is there an ideal level of communication? In this particular case, Maja Ferme may have gotten her wish. I feel I simply must attend the event if her publicist made such an extreme effort to gain my attention. I only hope that there are cocktails afterward.

Beauty Bloggers are welcome, space is limited! Bloggers outside of of the NYC area can register for advanced media kit to be sent day after the event.

In honor of the launch, Pierce Mattie Public Relations is hosting a cocktail party in her honor. In a true celebration of beauty, grace and style, Jane Iredale's GLOBAL BEAUTY event will highlight style influences from Cleopatra to Beyonce in the event of the year! We invite you to share in this iconic celebration. To RSVP, please contact Lauren Branche or Ivy Cartagena at 212/243.1431

I'm a geek who daily works on a PC and a Mac. While I'm very comfortable on a PC I'm a Mac lover and ashamed I didn't immediately recognize the model in the new Apple ad. Perhaps had I viewed the ad on TV I would have noticed, unless your watching HD quicktime clips you always miss a little detail in the compression. Thanks to Meg Wilson for the link to the model's career "mash-up" video.

View all the Apple ads here

Few decisions weigh more heavily on a young consumer than that of a watch purchase. We want something trendy, stylish, and edgy but equally we want something that is high quality. We don't need watches that will set us back as much as a down payment on a house, we just want something that fits our fashion or mod that day. Fom men it is a key accessory. And finally they have many affordable option to dress up that pair of jeans and t shirt. Please let me introduce you to STORM Watches.

All STORM timepieces are made with high grade stainless steel in matte, brushed or polished finishes. Models feature Japanese or Swiss movements, are anti-allergenic and use scratch resistant mineral glass.

They have quite the celebrity following as well with a storied brand history starting in the UK.

Don't like the life you have now? Get a second one! Perhaps you always wanted to be a Supermodel, beauty editor, the next Oprah with a twist. We've all been playing simulation games around the office lately with the recent October launch of Desperate Housewives: The game. A company called Second Life, has created something different, it's social networking in that familiar 3D simulated environment that is fun, but can be profitable as well. Users can create, design, own virtual land, meet people, engage in real business opportunities, convert virtual cash into real currency, own IP rights and much more.

More than 900,000 users have signed up to build homes, form neighborhoods and live out alternative versions of their lives in the 3-D, computer-generated world. This is not just for Generation L (liquid generation) audience/demographic, Second Life is sure to attract anyone who was labled a Generation Xer (1961-1981) to todays new Silent Generation (S 2001-). Players spend around $350,000 a day on average or a rate of $13 million a year. I'm sure we'll be hearing more about Second Life in the real world as advertisers and marketers are sure jump at ways to reach out to those who choose to build a second life for themselves online.

L'Oréal is continuing its push into the natural cosmetics market with the acquisition of a French manufacturer of organic essential oils, skin creams and toiletries.

The world’s leading cosmetic player has further expanded its position in the naturals market with the acquisition of French Laboratoire Sanoflore, one of the founding companies specialising in the manufacturing of certified organic cosmetic products in the country.

The move follows on from the company's acquisition of the Body Shop, which was approved by EU authorities in June of this year.

Sanoflore will become a part of L'Oreal's Active Cosmetics Division – currently the company's fastest growing business area. In the company's most recent third quarter results the division's sales growth was put at 12.4 per cent.

"Antonio was seen as more of an alpha male. The brand was more keen to have a personality which meant more to US audiences."

Strike Two for Edelman PR as Their Second Fake Wal-mart Blog is Revealed, via B.L. Ochman's What's Next blog

WallStrip, via Repliqa is a RocketBoom format web-show that profiles a different public company on the stock exchange every day .

Sofia Speaks The face (errrr cartoon illustration) of the Holy Mud Company rants about beauty, fashion, art, pop culture and...Politics!

Next Generation Insights (Young Adult Panel) The panel itself is informative, the technology (video tag) is cool too.

In the past twenty years there has been a change occurring when it comes to Halloween. Back when I was growing up in the 70’s and 80’s, Halloween was a specific children’s holiday. Then in the mid-eighties things began to change and Haunted Houses and adult costume parties began to take off.

Adult costume parties and Haunted Houses continue to increase in popularity every year. What has gone from a one night event, now becomes an entire weekend of parties solely reserved for the young at heart and a month-long event for Haunted Houses and Haunted Hayrides. Even farmers have cashed in by offering haunted labyrinths through a corn maze.

It's always hard when a client leaves your agency, especially ones that have been with you for a very long time. For those of you who have felt the hit this year as budgets get crunched in the fourth quarter, keep in mind that nothing - and I mean nothing is as bad as having a client of 20 years say "good-bye" - especially if that client is Wal-Mart and your name is Omnicom. I do wonder though with all of the changes going on at the low cost leader - if PR is something that they are tossing around? Not just any kind of PR, I am talking market placement editorial PR. Could they also be on the search for a new PR firm? Rumors that Metro 7 - their new fashion line was being cutand its distribution dropped have sent Wal-Mart watchers into a state of 'what's next?'

Did they really think the 'get skinny pant' would sell to their customers? I doubt the Barney's customer can barely fit into them. Seriously though, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is severing ties with another longtime ad agency as it struggles to communicate its new image of being both a trend purveyor and a low-price operator.

Ralph Falon Builders: At first glance, Fallonbuilders.com looks like a typical offering of Who We Are and What We Do. But instead of a copy-intensive approach it, like many architectural sites, relies on photography to tell the story of this builder’s work. The focus of the site is a 172-image gallery of notable projects. It’s an easy to update, XML-driven and -tagged compilation of photos with a related hierarchical format that connects project attributes. Because the result is the creation of unique, on-the-fly galleries (similar to Flikr and del.icio.us) it offers an interesting and engaging way for visitors to browse. And, because the content is easily updatable, it consistently offers an accurate representation of the company and its craft.

With its gallery-like presence, it’s neither superfluous nor trendy. It’s a great example of how to use simple and contemporary technology to create a unique experience for a small, niche business.

Dan Coe, creative director
Dave Snowball, interface designer
Mark Potnick, Flash developer
Coexist, site design and development

We all hear about the richest and most powerful people in the country, but one of them always seems to stand out. Not only is Oprah Winfrey one of the most powerful people in the entertainment industry, but she’s also one of the most generous. Always finding a way to share her wealth with others, she has just given away over $300,000 to her audience in what she calls her “favorite giveaway ever.”

Every year around Christmas, Oprah does a “favorite things” show in which she gives her lucky audience members hundreds of dollars worth of items that she’s fond of at the moment- goodies from last year’s show included Burberry coats and purses, iPods, UGG boots, Ralph Lauren sweaters, watches, and blackberries, as well as her favorite croissants, popcorn and cookie dough. In other shows, Oprah has given away cars, homes, vacations, eliminated debt, and paid medical bills for those who are less fortunate.

However, this most recent giveaway is unlike anything she’s done before. On Monday’s show, Oprah gave more than 300 audience members $1,000 debit cards sponsored by Bank of America for them to donate to a charitable cause of their choice. The surprised recipients have the choice of either giving the entire sum to one person (relatives not included) or splitting the money amongst several charitable causes.

On the show, Oprah said “You're going to open your hearts, you're going to be really creative, and you're going to spend it all at once on one stranger or spend a dollar on every person. Imagine the love and kindness you can spread with $1,000”. What a great message to spread, Oprah- using your wealth and influence to help others in need is one of the kindest things you can do.

How much do you know about your friends? Better yet, have you ever snooped through their bathroom cabinets or somewhere in their house? I have been guilty of this on a few occasions, mainly at my mother’s house. She is always one to buy the latest trends in makeup and beauty products and I always like checking it out.

I’m sure most of us have been snooped on, as well. I remember this one time when I was listening to the radio on my drive home from working the second shift. The radio DJ was having a party at his home and broadcasting live. Some of his co-workers went into his bathroom and began announcing the contents of his bathroom cabinet to the listeners. Much to his dismay (and probably that of his wife), they announced quite a few interesting items. It told me more about this guy than I needed to know. So when having friends over, be sure to keep your cabinets organized and void of any embarrassing products.

Here is the bathroom cabinet of a young, gay French man versus mine (an American 30-something, married, pregnant mother of 3). What can you tell about us by snooping through our cabinets?

How many of you have purchased something that was a knock off? I admit it, I purchased knock off Chanel sunglasses this past summer from a vendor next to me at a local fair. Imagine my surprise when I came across this blog and the video it shows.

The buying and selling of counterfeit products is costing American businesses $200-$250 Billion dollars a year and the loss of 750,000 jobs according to The U.S. Chamber of Commerce. This is not only the knock off of sunglasses, purses and watches you can find on any New York City street corner, but it also carries over into cosmetics, movies, music and even clothing and footwear like Air Jordans.

I have been in the beauty industry for about 12 years and doing beauty pr for about 7 years. And in all of my years of experience with press releases especially those that that go out on the wire I have never ever seen one as damaging as the one that Russ Fons PR in Las Vegas ran today about their client; National Toxic Encephalopathy Foundation (NTEF) and their opinion on Clarins Cosmetics. You can view the horrific release here.

In this release the NTEF states in great detail on the extensive damage and misleading labels of the Clarins brand, so they claim.

What’s odd though is that John Sheppard the director of the foundation states that you are putting your health at risk if you use these products. I don’t know about you but I see a huge lawsuit taking place from Clarins. I am sure executives at Clairns are beyond miffed about this release. What’s even odder is that all of the ingredients used by Clarins are found in most other top selling brands. One would assume that NTEF is crucifying Clarins based on a personal agenda and not on logic.

However was John Sheppard not aware that Clarins recently acquired Kibio an organic skin care manufacture who has gone into negotiations on creating new products together? I posted about this on my other blog a few weeks back. You can view that post here.

No, you don't have a case of DEJAVU. Busy day yesterday. Google acquired Jotspot (we love Jotspot and use it) & Conde Nast acquired Reddit because Digg wanted too much from Condé Nast. Whats on sale next month? Will it be Lipstick.com or Coutorture? What are the next hot Web 2.0 venture capital opportunities?

For a long while celebrities have been pretty vocal about their political beliefs. They are not strangers to being used by both political parties to taunt their positions or to help in raising money for their party through their celebrity clout.

Some say that celebrities and politics don’t mix. After reading a recent article by Jeff Davidson on TMZ.com, 90% of me agrees. Many celebrities put their faces in commercials or join a campaign to tell people to vote. Yet, one celebrity in the 2004 Vote or Die campaign turned out to be all lip service. Or there are those who threaten leaving the country if a political figure is re-elected; remember Alec Baldwin? That is what bothers me the most. Celebrities who talk and talk and won’t shut up (and then make money off of their chattering) or those who take a punch during a concert, but quite honestly don’t do a darn thing to help foster change. Am I alone in this annoyance?

In a previous post, I mentioned being all for the healthy kids initiatives being launched into schools. However, I also think that sometimes good intentions can turn into scaring parents.

Take this new ad from Birdseye, for example, that I found on Adrants. The ad documents a child growing in waist size each year instead of height. Their point is taken and in the fine print they let you know what they have been doing to make their microwavable dinners more “healthy.”

Instead of more positive ads, like showing healthy kids exercising or eating healthy as a model for children to mimic, it seems to becoming more the trend to scare parents into getting their kids “healthy.”

Still warming up to Second Life? I am asked about it almost daily and wanted to get some basic info posted for those friends who read our blog consistently. Backstory is here. Follow the links.

New World Notes

From April 2003 to February 2006, I was a contract writer for Linden Lab, creators of Second Life, primarily hired by the company to cover SL as an embedded journalist in an emerging society-- its controversies, its personalities, its innovations and ambitions, along with larger themes of identity, social norms and organization, and cultural expression important to online worlds in general.

That contractual relationship has ended, but the story continues here. -Wagner James Au

Second Thoughts Do's and Dont's for Big Business.

"Every human being is interested in two kinds of worlds: the Primary, everyday world which he knows through his senses, and a Secondary world or worlds which he not only can create in his imagination, but which he cannot stop himself creating." W.H. Auden

Second Life Herald The Second Life Herald was founded on October 23, 2003, by philosophy professor Peter Ludlow. Its mission, as described the next day, was to observe, record and study "the legal, social, and economic implications" of life in the virtual world. Originally established as the Alphaville Herald and reporting for the most part on life on the Alphaville server of The Sims Online, the Herald soon branched out into coverage of other massively multiplayer online games and virtual worlds -- helped along by the murder of Herald publisher Urizenus (Ludlow's avatar) after Electronic Arts got wind of the stories the newspaper was printing about the scams and cyber-prostitution that were taking place within its game, and the company's indifference to reports of real-world violence.

Todays photo is from Patrick Marella. It's both cravable and breathtaking, reminds of growing up in Oregon, (Coos Bay) our high school track team would meet at 5AM to get a run in before first bell. Oregonians are big on running, Steve Prefontaine was from Coos Bay and of course Nike Global headquarters is located in the neighboring town of Beverton. Everything looks better in twilight. Think about it, all the coffee commercials that you've seen, they bask in twilight. Paris gets more twilight then any US city and It has been said lovers prefer twilight to daylight. Twilight represents hope, or if your a New Yorker you may think of the nightclub. But, I digress. New York is beautiful this time of year, thanks Patrick, for capturing so well a "feeling" I'm fond of. You can see more of his work on Flickr or JPG - The magazine of brave new photography.

If you're like me, you start planning your Friday nights several weeks out. Well if you are lucky enough to be in the San Francisco area on Friday, November 17th, the place to see and be seen is at The World Is Just Enough event.

Club Sportiva, Mitra, and On The Fly host the shopping event of the holiday season: a benefit for City of Dreams, a San Francisco non-profit dedicated mentoring at-risk youth.

Tickets are $75 per person, and are redeemable for $75 in gifts & merchandise the night of the event. Attendance is limited to 400 guests.

At 9pm sharp, a raffle will take place for the following prizes:

Angara will be auctioning off a $5,000 diamond.
Two Gold Memberships to Club Sportiva valued at $3,700 each.
Mitra will be raffling off a turnkey home theater system valued at $4,000.
A "Box O' Testosterone" from On The Fly valued at $6,000.
Raffle tickets will be sold for $20 each, or 6 for $100. Must be present to win.

Finally, the after-party will be hosted at Fluid Ultra Lounge from 11pm-2am. For Booth Reservations & Bottle Service, please call 415.370.1804.

If you can't make it to the west coast, but you have a modern who needs a holiday gift, log on to www.onthefly.com and start your shopping.

For all those who care, just two months after Tom Cruise was notoriously dumped by Paramount Pictures after a 14-year production deal, it was announced on Thursday that his luck has finally changed. Cruise and his longtime business partner, Paula Wagner, have formed a partnership with MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc) to revive the legendary United Artists studio. UA was founded in 1919 by four of the biggest box-office names at the time-Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and D. W. Griffith- with the goal of giving artists more creative freedom without big studios pulling all the strings.

This year about 564,830 people are expected to die from cancer. That is 1500 people per day. I can confidently say that I am sure anyone reading this has been affected by cancer in some way, shape or form. Cancer has been a destructive force in my and my husband’s family. My husband lost his sister to Liver Cancer 6 weeks after being diagnosed in her senior year in high school. Recently his aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer. For me, it was my Great Grandfather passing away from Lung Cancer and my friend Maureen from Sarcoma. There are many other people between the two of us who have either battled or passed away from cancer, but it’s just too many to list.

I was recently able to speak with Kim Erikson, President of the Board of Directors for the Wayne County unit of the American Cancer Society for whom I am coordinating Shop for a Cure with. Ms. Erikson, whose mother is a volunteer for the Look Good, Feel Better Program for the ACS in Wayne County, shocked me when she told me that my local area of Northeast Pennsylvania was in the top ten for the highest cancer rates in the country. In fact, when I looked up the information on the American Cancer Society’s website, it appears that PA is in the top 5, with a projection of 73,630 new cancer cases for 2006. Other states in this top 5 are California, who ranked the highest for projected cancer rates, followed by Florida, New York and Texas.

Bloggers are the new media; there is no way around it. Companies are beginning to see that there is a goldmine waiting to be dug up in the blogosphere. Most Bloggers are everyday people, not corporate big wigs or media outlets with advertisers in their pocket. Bloggers will tell you how it is, from their eyes, with complete honesty.

Or do they? As blogging has become a way of life and is now etched into our society, marketers are finding that they can reach so many more people through a blog than through a billboard. We all know it's not just about exposure to the masses, but appropriate exposure to your target audience and influencers. Awesome traction means nothing if your not seeing the intended results!

I know this isn't exactly breaking news for everyone. However, for those who have lives and don't live and shop online exclusively, this may be news to you, it was to me. Many "recommendation" sites are popping up all over the Internet, yesterday a Fashion blogger referred me to one that is getting kudos in the New York Times; ThisNext.com. I was impressed just how organized this site was and even more impressed to find fashion and beauty bloggers I know doing Shopcasts there, such as Kristopher Dukes, The Jewelry Weblog, and Lola is Beauty.

What's a Shopcast? It's basically shopping and broadcasting combined. It's a playlist of products you recommend and you run them on a badge on your site and they also run on the ThisNext site, as well. You can create wishlists and also make recommendations by downloading a few buttons for your browser.

There are some really great recommendations just waiting for you to discover them, or if you feel so inclined, for you to make them at ThisNext.com

Yup, we have a new "dealer" of premium coffee, and they want you to sample the goods. If you are lucky enough to live in the Northeast, then you are well aware of the freebie McDonald’s is offering coffee lovers. If you are not aware of this fabulous promotion, then wake up and smell the free coffee!

McDonald’s has struck up a deal with Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. to create a special blend under the Newman's Own Organic Blend brand. This free deal is only available until November 11th and only available in 7 states in the Northeast.

Artwork by Ashley, The Painting Journalist

McDonald’s is trying to get an edge on the coffee competition such as Dunkin Donuts (which is HUGE in the Northeast) and Starbucks. I can completely attest to the celebrity status of Dunkin Donuts in New England as a native Rhode Islander. There is a Dunkin Donuts on practically every block in the state. So how can McDonald’s compete?

• Communication Arts: This year’s interactive design winners were selected by our distinguished jury from a group of entries including Web sites, Kiosks, CD-ROM projects and PDA's.

• Strategic Public Relations: PR Industry: Improve Your Writing -Kevin Dugan

• Salon.com: Fake News, Fake Reporter: Why was a partisan hack, using an alias and with no journalism background, given repeated access to daily White House press briefings? -By Eric Boehlert

• Online Media Daily: Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) Puts Edelman Public Relations on probation for creating fake Blogs (flogs) for client Walmart

• Customer Listening Blog: WOMMA Ethical Blogger Contact Guidelines: 10 Principles

The Copyblogger, a resource for guys like me who always need to refine and develop writing skills. I come from the advertising world, most art directors work in tandem with a professional "wordsmith" (copywriter), so I never had to worry too much about my writing skills, that is until now.

What I'm Reading Right Now: The Ten Faces of Innovation, IDEO's strategies for beating the devils advocate and driving creativity throughout your organization. I fell in love with the IDEO method cards a few years back and decided to pick up the book. What Sticks, Why most advertising fails and how to guarantee yours succeeds. I'm always looking to make the most out of our clients marketing budget. Sisomo, creating emotional connections in the market with sight, sound and motion. The follow up book to Lovemarks. What are you reading? Write it down in the comments and I'll check it out.

I don't own a Mac, however I had been enjoying the Mac Guy/PC Guy commercials Apple was putting out there. Had been--yes past tense, as Justin Long the Mac Guy, was fired yesterday. It was fun while it lasted. I've been a Justin Long fan since his days on the sitcom, "Ed." I thought the Mac commercials were witty, unique and simply did what they were intended to do: show that a Mac had advantages over a PC. Who will step in and fill Justins shoes...Gisele Bundcnhen?

Alas, I am alone in this thinking since Justin Long was fired today due to the public's keeness for PC Guy. Justin's firing got me thinking of commercial "characters" that have disappeared once the public got bored with them such as the Dell dude, and it appears I am not the only one thinking about this today.

What did you think of the "Get a Mac" commercials with PC Guy and Mac Guy?

Yesterday Microsoft labs announce the first public release of Photosynth Technology Preview. Photosynth takes a large collection of photos of a place or object, analyzes them for similarities, and displays them in a reconstructed 3-Dimensional space. With Photosynth you can:

* walk or fly through a scene to see photos from any angle;
* seamlessly zoom in or out of a photograph even if it's gigapixels in size;
* see where pictures were taken in relation to one another;
* find similar photos to the one you’re currently viewing;
* explore a custom tour or see where you’ve been; or
* send a collection to a friend.

Funny when I was in Las Vegas this week for the ISPA show the taxi driver that picked me up was complaining on how the town was blowing things up. Little did I realize that it was the famous Stardust. The home of my favorite cheesy movie; Showgirls! As most hotels turn into resorts and expand their spas like Caesars Palace did this month with their new spa tower, the old players cannot keep up.

The Stardust, the neon-wrapped casino with a mobbed-up past whose 1,065 rooms once set the standard for size on the Las Vegas Strip, witnessed its last roll of the dice Wednesday.

Wistful longtime employees and loyal gamblers gathered for a last farewell to the iconic 48-year-old institution, which is to be razed early next year to make way for Boyd Gaming Corp.'s planned $4 billion Echelon Place resort.

The Stardust opened July 2, 1958, as the world's largest hotel and catered to middle America with $6-a-night rooms and low-minimum stakes gambling.

But as bigger, classier casinos sprung up around it in the late 1980s and '90s and patrons began shelling out more for rooms, food and drinks, its luster began to fade.

"I'm really going to miss this place," said Jimmy Kunihiro, a 60-year-old Honolulu resident, as he took a last pass at the craps table. "It's a home away from home."

Wal-Mart has gotten itself embroiled in yet another Nazi-connected scandal, selling T-shirts depicting a skull that had been used, according to this Bent Corner post, by the Nazi 3rd SS Division Totenkopf during World War II. (You may remember other incidents such as the book-burning (sub req'd) incident last year.)

What's interesting about this story is the pace that it gathered, and the speed of Wal-Mart's (via Edelman) response. It's clear that Consumerist, the Gawker-family consumer affairs blog that helped the Bent Corner story gain visibility, is a site that Edelman is checking every minute, and while there have been previous spats between the two (summarized in part here) one does see the necessity of keeping your friends close, but your enemies closer. Get the whole scoop on PRWeek or the Consumerist

As you can tell from my previous post about blogs becoming the new media, I absolutely believe that this is only the beginning. While companies are finding that sending products to a Blogger to review may increase revenue, they have also found that advertising on them can be just as good.

Any given company may not know how to advertise on a blog, be it not for all the companies popping up to support ads on blogs, and they sure are cashing in. One of the giants would be Google AdWords, which is not only website friendly, but blog friendly as well. Many niche blogs have found there is a great deal of money that can be made when placing Google Adsense (AdWords in action) on their blog, not only because of the advertisements, but because Google Adsense conforms to the content of your blog. The more focused your blog is on a particular subject, the greater likelihood that the ads displayed will fit in with your content and increase your chances of readers clicking. This obviously benefits the businesses placing ads through AdWords, as its target market sees their product or service.

Women vary from men greatly. That's a good thing! This includes our shopping habits: our shoe shopping habits online, to be exact. Choosing a shoe is like choosing that perfect sports car, you need to visualize yourself in the shoe.

I know what I look for when browsing websites in search of the perfect shoe, but I decided to go to the experts at SheFinds.com to see what they felt women looked for when it came to shoe shopping online.

When I asked Michelle, owner of She Finds, to rank what she felt was most important to women when purchasing shoes, she told me that first and foremost women look at fashion/style appeal, comfort, and then price. Michelle stated, “If you love 'em and they fit (or even sometimes if they almost fit) your price threshold goes up.” When someone recommends a comfortable shoe that has style, we all race to go find it.

• Edelman Public Relations Disclosure Follies (Raving Lunacy) Edelman to Fund a Second Life Business screams the headline over at Micro Persuasion.

• $6 Billion For MySpace? (The Blog Herald) Rupert Murdock, CEO of News Corp., told Australian investors that MySpace would sell for $6 billion.

• Users Respond To The Dove Evolution Viral I find the user created responses to Dove fascinating, it is as if through retouching themselves, and manipulating their own digital representation, users can reaffirm their feeling in their true body, and experience an apparent sense of liberation through mutating themselves, looking at it and being able to recognise how ridiculous and distorted standards have become.(Marketing Babylon)

• Pepsi goes organic with new product lines at Whole Foods Market (SpinThicket)

• B.L. Ochman Yawns At Big PR Firms Getting Into "Social Media" (B.L. Ochman)

I've been a Rocketboom viewer since the beginning (and persecuted for my advocacy of the lighthearted daily news by friends and colleages): I think I tuned in on her 3rd podcast on iTunes. Not a iTunes subscriber? Check your Tivo; Rocketboom is now available to most Tivo subscribers. Like many loyal followers of "citizen journalism," it was sad to see her leave Rocketboom. The good news is now everyone can see her on the boob-tube; watch for Amanda on ABC, maybe even prime time! Again, congratulations. Yesterday's headline read:

Amanda Congdon, the former host of the Rocketboom video blog, has been hired by US TV network ABC.

Congdon is also in the process of developing a show with US cable channel Home Box Office (HBO).

The Back-story: Congdon left Rocketboom in June this year claiming that she was fired, but Baron alleges that she quit to pursue an acting career in Los Angeles.

Baron apparently gave Congdon a 49 per cent share of Rocketboom. The two are currently in a dispute as to whether the agreement still stands.

In true Congdon spirit, here is an interpretation of perky quirky "news babe" memorable highlights. You may get a kick out of it if you watched Rocketboom since the beginning.

"I am going to be video blogging for Disney ABC, specifically ABC News," Congdon said in a video message on her Amanda Across America blog.

"I'll be the first person to fulfill that role for the network. Because ABC is continually pushing ahead and innovating, I'm super excited to be a part of their team.

"I'll also be appearing on ABC's News Now from time to time and occasionally I'll pop up on Good Morning America, Nightline and 20/20 to serve as an Internet correspondent."

Back in July when I came for a visit to New York, the one thing I asked my friend was, “Where are all the restrooms?” No matter which store you passed by, there were signs in the window stating that the restrooms were strictly for store patrons only.

It appears Charmin also took notice of the issue and will be capitalizing with a new marketing strategy. Starting Nov. 20th, through January 1st, Charmin has installed 20 deluxe, super-clean restrooms in Times Square.

This is a great way to solve an issue for consumers in New York, and resolving a consumer issue brings about brand loyalty. This is a winner: being able to have your brand "come to the rescue" in your potential customers' time of need, providing a super-clean, well-lit and even fun place to "doo your bussinasty" in the center of the universe is a fantastic way to make a great impression. As a matter of fact, I'll start buying Charmin now. What are you doing to increase your customers' loyalty to your brand? Publicity manifests itself in many ways. [via our trend partners at Trendwatchers.com]

• Personal Care Appliances - Global Strategic Business Report : This report analyzes the worldwide markets for Personal Care Appliances in Thousands of Units.

• Spinduggery, The Flack: Peter Himler posts about Jeff Jarvis' snarky comment insinuating PR professionals have dishonesty in their DNA. Jeff Jarvis, being the 'spin'-ster he is, should love the quote "you can’t polish a turd."

• KFC Logo Relaunch - From Space, Near Area 51: I know all of you are saying "I thought of that months ago." Ever since Google launched satellite imagery on its maps, I've wanted to pitch this idea to a client. While not the first, KFC is doing it on a grand scale; a nice publicity stunt. For those of you who know my New York address, you can see me on the roof of my apartment building with my dogs, frozen in time from space.

• Loyalty VS. Advocacy CRM Lowdown: Most companies think that their job is done when they manage to convert a regular customer into a loyal customer. They tend to forget the guy because now ‘he can take care of himself.' Wrong! Once you’ve converted a customer, your job becomes even more difficult.

• Link Karma From The Copyblogger: 21 Surefire tips for a successful blog launch, 10 things to consider when choosing a site meter, and the five W's of great content.

• Hotels offer lots of freebies during winter (just not in New York City), The Mercury News: Winter travelers can take advantage of a number of hotel deals. Properties are offering free nights, free gift cards, special rates and other perks.

• How To Stop Comment Spam Without Lifting a Finger, Tubetorial: If you're a wordpress user, you have to visit tubetorial. Quick, easy-to-understand flash video - enjoy.

• The European Newspaper Design & Concept Awards Europe‘s most innovative newspaper 2006: Look and learn. This year, Europe’s best designed newspapers come from Belgium, Norway, Finland, Portugal and Spain. 287 newspapers from 26 countries participated in the eighth European Newspaper Award.

If you haven't heard about him already, I suggest you turn on the TV or just surf on the web - you will surely encounter something to do with BORAT aka British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen. Ever since his movie, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, debuted (at the top no less with over $26 million in ticket sales!), Cohen has been on the craziest publicity tour.

Who is his publicity team? Whoever they are, they've been successfully getting him major screen time which is making his movie, and Cohen, more and more popular. He's everywhere and even his funny broken English is catching on - the PMPR Beauty Team has been quoting him all week! He's been appearing on everything from the Today Show (twice!) to late night talk shows and even doing print interviews in character as Borat, a faux Kazakh reporter - genius! He's even inviting fans to be his friend on MySpace through a link on his official web site.

For those that have no idea what the movie is about: Cohen takes his encounters with unsuspecting real people in a faux documentary about American culture. Though some might find Borat's behavior offensive (I'm sure those in Kazakhstan are not happy with Cohen's misogynic and racist comments), the movie is a representation about what people around the country are REALLY thinking and how political correctness gets thrown out the window when people think they're saying things in confidence.

Go see it if you haven't done so already - it is niiiiice!

Challenge: Gas prices are super high, how do you build brand loyalty when oil prices are ridiculous?

Advice:Take advantage of the high gas prices, bring more value to the customer then your competitor with cravable experiences.

Heightened customer experience is where it at. By now oil hungry customers know the service station is not making a huge profit off the gas. But the consumer still feels the hit to the wallet. A smart business owner will try to offset that "emotional hit" by providing more perceived value. Lowering the price temporarily doesn't build loyalty or lasting value to a car owner it just causes him to bounce all over the place looking for cheap gas. You need to create "Cravable experiences," cravable experiences and convenience will create lasting emotional traction that will help win consumer loyalty.

• Get better premium coffee beans and take beverage service seriously
• Buy nicer, thicker, insulated coffee cups with better more secure lids
• Order Krispy Kreme donuts and but a display up near the cash register.
• Offer organic "fast food" options
• Boast about having the best restrooms in town with the softest tolet paper
• Start a policy that if they have to wait in line for gas more then 3 min, a free beverage is on the house.
• Provide "old-fashioned" white glove (celebrity) service. Checking under the hood, looking at the oil level and tier pressure can all be done in 2-3 min, the time taken to fill a tank of gas. Customers are more likely to re visit your station and trust you if your looking over the car frequently.

If you can apply this concept of cravable experiences to a filling station and see dramatic results, you can most certainly can apply it to your next business promotion and see success. Good luck!

We're reviewing a few of the new game councils out on the market. We love our computer-platform lifestyle games, (Desperate Housewives, the game) but knew we were missing out on HD (1080i), surround sound, game-matching, leader-board enhanced experiences that the new counsels offer. So we've decided to fully immerse ourselves in the gaming lifestyle and it's become very serious (fun) research. I happen to have received one of the Xbox360 platforms so your probably going to hear more about it in the future then the Sony PlayStation 3 as I blog more then the other participating game platform "researchers." Look for some posts on our discoveries in the near future.

Above you can see my gamertag. Please comment here if you have an Xbox360 gamertag. I wanted to offer an invitation to add me as a friend or email me your gamertag if you don't want your tag to be posted publicly. Steve Rubel, I know you have one...how about a little friendly competition?

Joanna Roche is the Senior Managing VP of Pierce Mattie Public Relations. She has a proven track record of success and corporate experience. She is high energy and passionate about her work, which makes her direct, up front, realistic approach with Pierce Mattie PR clients what makes her a true asset.

Joanna is a married mother of a 2-year-old son, who loves to run, cook and travel. The best way to describe her is balanced. She loves to dive into her work, yet still maintain the proper balance of her hobbies and family life. Joanna is goal oriented and believes that nothing is impossible.

Tell readers about a typical day as VP of Pierce Mattie.

There is nothing typical about being a VP at Pierce Mattie PR! Every day is different and it is one of the things I love about my job. Most days include working on new business, coming up with creative ideas to promote our brands, meeting with clients, nurturing the staff and helping them develop pitches and reach editors, and keeping abreast of trends and happenings in the PR world.

I’ve honestly never paid much attention to products that were celebrity endorsed, in high school, maybe a little, however there have been plenty of my friends who live by what products “Celebrity A List” says are the best. There was a time, back when I was very young, that I did follow what my favorite celebrities endorsed. One such product was Pepsi, simply because I was a very big Michael Jackson fan. Luckily, I wised up.

So when I saw one of my favorite fashion designers, Isaac Mizrahi, pitching StriVectin-SD in a commercial the other day I felt such utter disappointment. Strivectin-SD, which claims to be an anti-stretchmark cream turned anti-wrinkle cream, is trying to pitch their product to men through Mizrahi's popularity. Isaac is a talk show host and thus a "lifestyle advocate" however, as a person who admires Mr. Mizrahi for his outstanding fashion, I wonder why he had to go this route. Seeing him in a commercial promoting an anti-wrinkle cream made me lose a little bit of respect for him and I didn't want too. I'm sure I am not alone.

I believe there was a time when celebrity endorsements held clout, but the times have been changing, most especially as blogs have become more and more popular. There are so many blogs out there that review products and I am more apt to listen to the average Joe tell me their likes and dislikes over a product than to run out to buy a product because Mischa Barton has been using it. According to a survey done by Allure and Essence, the same holds true for many of their readers.

The move does not affect the online operation of the magazine, which will continue to operate at fhmus.com.

Most of the 47 staff working on FHM US will lose their jobs. Emap has no other business in the US apart from the New York office of its fashion trade website Worth Global Style Network.

Although Blogging has been around for years, approaching Bloggers to review or pitch your products is fairly new and growing in momentum. If you are thinking of approaching a Blogger to review your products, there is a protocol that sometimes many companies do not invest their time to understand and follow.

As a beauty Blogger, I receive many emails on a weekly basis from companies and PR firms big and small to find out if I am interested in reviewing their products on my two beauty blogs. There are some that exude professionalism both in the way they approach me through their emails, through the way the package is sent and in their follow up. Then there are the mass emails, lack of PR materials with the product, presentation of the product and lack of follow up. The difference between the two potentially means your emails go in my trash folder.

Things you should not do when you approach a Blogger:

Send out a mass email, most notably saying “Dear Bloggers” or having no greeting at all. While some newer Bloggers may respond to this, many seasoned Bloggers won’t. It is the sign of a company simply harvesting your contact information and not taking the time to personally contact you, as they want you to personally review their product. It is a two way street.

Have the expectation that the Blogger will want to review your product simply because you offered it for free. Bloggers know their readers and most will only review products that are 1. Related to their blog and 2. Something that would be of interest to their readers.

Insincerely attempt to flatter them. So many companies do it and many times I receive the same email to each of my accounts for my blogs when the company doesn’t even realize they are sending it to the same person. Bloggers can read between the lines.

We’ve been seeing this going on in the blogosphere for some time now and it’s been slowly making the crossover to the mainstream media. Frito-Lay has enlisted the public to enter into a contest by creating their own ad for Doritos that will air during the Super Bowl, now Dove is asking consumers to create an ad for their Cream Oil Body Wash according to MediaPost. Just like new Bloggers, consumers want to work with big name companies and are willing to hand over their creative talents for free. However, this is now Generation Cash and free is not going to last very long.

While it still may cost big media just as much, if not more, to run a contest and convert the amateur ad into a professional one, the lure of a consumer getting their face on television or their idea on television without monetary compensation, will soon die down as this approach continues to gain popularity and grow. As with most big media companies, if one is doing it, then they all begin to follow suit, except each one tries to outdo the other. The one thing consumer generated content is creating is something I like to call the “consumer-prenuer.” Consumers who use their basic know-how to generate an income through user generated content. While big media has played a role in it’s creation, it is something they will have no control over, as a consumer-prenuer works for themselves and not big media.

I’m sure big media is not losing sleep over the costs of the consumer generated ads in the short term, as long as they are following the latest trends in the advertising world and it is generating a buzz about their products. However, as with all things, novelty wears off, especially when the bottom line involves money.

What is your take on consumer generated media?

We all experienced the rise of “metrosexuality” a couple years ago, marked by an emergence of hair-care, skin-care, and grooming products in the men’s market. Heterosexual men were being told that it was now ok, and expected, to want to look their best and use the types of products they saw on their girlfriend’s bathroom counter. I remember my shock when I was getting a manicure in my hometown and in walked a guy I went to High School with- I hadn’t expected to have a male customer come sit next to me, but then again, it was the trend at the time.

Above: Marco Dapper, December 2006 Most beautiful Man

All trends come to an end, though, and this year we witnessed the apparent “death of metrosexuality.” To compensate for the lack of masculinity in recent years, the new trend is "macho"- men that are proud to say their beauty routine consists of soap, water, and toothpaste only. Advertisers are catching up with the trend as well, with popular brands trying to exude masculinity in their commercials. As just one example, Miller Lite’s “Man Laws” ad campaign this year included guys at a square table discussing the code of what manly men can and cannot do.

Manufacturers have also had to take note, in that packaging has become more and more important because it is usually the consumer’s first contact with a product. If the package hints at any type of femininity, a lot of men will steer clear. On the other hand, if the packaging conveys a sense of strength and masculinity, it will be accepted by a larger amount of the male population. One of our men’s grooming clients, for example, does a great job of providing luxury grooming equipment for men without coming across as “metrosexual.” Hommage’s line of shaving sets will not only help men look and feel their best, but will also ensure an image of masculinity and tradition. Take note ladies- with Christmas and Valentine’s Day on the way, these shave sets are the perfect gift for the "manly" men in your life.

There’s no argument that electronics and technology driven products have always been geared towards men. Commercials, print ads and the whole notion of using a techie product have always revolved around the male perspective. However, the tides are changing and women are quickly becoming more tech savvy and becoming the lead user of media and technology than men of the same age.

The Center for Media Research published today the key findings of a Customer Focus Tech Savvy study done by Vertis Communications. In a nutshell, they found that:

+ 26 percent of Generation Y women (born 1977-1994) plan to purchase a personal desktop computer in the next 12 months, compared to 20 percent of Generation Y men.

+ 25 percent of Generation Y women wish to purchase a cell phone with advanced features in the next year, compared to 14 percent of total adults.

+ 16 percent of women in the same group plan to purchase a digital video recorder within the next year, compared to 11 percent of total adults.

They also found that Generation Y women are leading the way with video game purchases, which I found very interesting. You can read the partial report on The Center for Media Research’s blog or the full report through a pdf they have put together.

We welcome your insight. If you are in the technology industry, what are your thoughts on these findings?

There are many milestones in a young man’s life. I can remember my first kiss, the first time I tried to drive a stick shift and the day I left my small hometown of Pearl, Mississippi for the bright lights of Broadway.

As I celebrate my third year anniversary at Pierce Mattie PR, I’ve hit two more milestones. I’m now one of the seniors at the firm, and as a result, Mr. Mattie has given me my first Louis Vuitton bag to commemorate the occasion. Just think, a few days ago I couldn’t even spell Louis Vuitton, and now I own one of their Epi leather briefcases.

As I think back on my time with the firm, I have many great memories. Aside from the day-to-day work, which I love, I’m most fond of the people. Nikki Walker, last year’s Publicist of the Year always brightens my day with her big smile and cheerful attitude. And no day is complete without the musical stylings of Miss Lauren Branche. But the person I have the most admiration for is Pierce Mattie himself.

Pierce will never admit this, but I often get the feeling that he cares more for his employees than himself. Even when he’s critiquing our work, I know that he’s doing all he can to help give the team all the tools we need in order to be successful. Whether it’s a gym membership to help stay in shape, a bonus to show his appreciation for the work we’ve done all year, or simply a “great job,” Pierce always goes above and beyond when it comes to taking care of us, and that is one of the major reasons why I’ve flourished so much in my career over the past three years, and why the firm has grown to a bi-coastal company with firms in New York, Los Angeles and Atlanta.

So for me, the Louis Vuitton bag is not just a milestone in my path to becoming a more fashionable publicist, it’s a stepping stone to the next level of my career journey at Pierce Mattie PR. And no matter where the road takes me, I’ll always look great while pounding the pavement and securing the placements.

PR professionals are laid off, change careers, rotate agencies and some individuals even start up their own shop around this time of year. The years end is a natural time for corporations to evaluate their talent pool and make appropriate changes. We've had a fantastic year of tremendous growth which has required constant tweaking of our staff to better serve our clients and provide our team with the best tools and resources available.

Of course, good people are in high demand. It’s always been my manner that if an employee doesn't love working with us, then I always feel like it's my responsibility to find out why and fix it! This was a year of change and growth for our firm; we've said goodbye to a senior staffer, switched up players on our different teams, beefed up our training and mentoring program, restructured reporting relationships in all three offices, promoted two directors to vice presidents and we added two new senior vice presidents to help lead the charge in 2007. It's been exciting to see the positive results in the last few months!

I hear stories all the time of an employee jumping ship and starting their own agency and stealing a few clients as they pick up the last paycheck. While it may be a common practice in our industry, this type of behavior does not display the level of professional ethics that are so vital in business. In fact, we're proud to help employees transition out of PR when they realize it's not for them any longer.

Here are some guidelines that every PR professional should understand:

1. PR firms own relationships both on behalf of the clients they represent and for the staff that they train and mentor.

2. PR firms should be compensated if those relationships are jeopardized or challenged.

3. Employees are accountable to their PR firm first and foremost rather than clients or the media.

4. It is always better to take the high road; business relationships are recycled everyday and you never know whose path you will cross again, so never burn bridges.

My golden rules for maintaining integrity as a PR professional are:

This month, Pierce Mattie PR presented the highly anticipated and coveted Annual Media Awards. Arriving in New York, our Los Angeles and Atlanta teams joined forces with our New York Team all with baited breath, awaiting the results. After a sumptuous holiday feast, (it was sumtuous!) we announced our winner and runner-up of Pierce Mattie PR's top honor: the 2006 Publicist of the Year Award. The winner is awarded a six day and five night all inclusive trip to Paris for two, while the runner-up receives a 5 day session package for Pilates.

Drum roll please...

Congratulations to Lance Buckley (NY office), our 2006 Publicist of the Year who also got his three year anniversary Louis Vuitton briefcase. We had over 3,000 editors and segment producers write in to tell us who they thought should win. It's not just a popularity contest but a testament to which publicist created the best rapport with the press.

Having worked at Pierce Mattie PR for three years, Lance brings creative insight and encyclopedic knowledge of his market all packaged together in a calm and thoughtful demeanor. He has led such successful campaigns as Desperate Housewives, Lotus Sports Cars, Hommage Razors, NoNami Clothing, and Lock Stock & Barrel to name a few.

Maryam Zarkesh (LA office) came in with the next number of votes. With Pierce Mattie PR for just over a year, Maryam has risen quickly by displaying a tireless work ethic, a strong grasp of the brands on which she works and a charming manner that has made everyone adore her.

Also awarded were:

2006 Best Print Media Placement of the Year
Nafi Saboor (NY)
Xtreme Lashes in Teen Vogue

2006 Best Broadcast Placement of the Year
Nikki Walker (Atlanta)
Black Opal on the Today Show

2006 Platinum Service Award
Ivy Cartagena (NY)

2006 Best Media Event of the Year
Lauren Branche (NY)
Jane Iredale Global Beauty Launch Event

Of course our holiday event wouldn't be complete without our Blooper Awards but that's for our eyes only. Even our CEO received the biggest blooper!

We are proud of each and every one of our team members. While we honor the few whose work shone brightly, we are a family and recognize that each person's work is a reflection of the larger whole.

Onward to 2007!

By now you know we here at Pierce Mattie love playing the Xbox 360 and Xbox Live. If you haven’t already seen Steve or my gamertag, you can find our tags in this post, and hopefully you will add either (or both) of us as friends so we can play you online. We’re not the only ones who love the Xbox 360, with $11 million dollars worth of consoles sold since November, I’d say there are plenty of you out there who also think it surpasses other consoles on the market.

Now Hollywood has taken notice of the 5 million Xbox Live members, most especially the fact that the majority of those 5 million members are the hard to reach demographic of males ages 16-34. If you are on Xbox Live, then you are well aware of the exclusive movie trailers that Live members are given access to, the thousand plus hours of entertainment with buy-to-own TV shows and movie rentals, music videos and arcade games, but also the Demo downloads for games not yet launched and games made exclusively for Live. One such being the upcoming Halo 3; this is one game myself and my b5media friends will be playing together online.

The area in which I live is known to have character. Each house is different, or has historic presence, and stands out among other places nearby. There really is no “big business” in our area overcrowding every street corner and making their over domineering corporate-America presence known. This is a place that embraces entrepreneurs.

So when driving down a road I haven’t traveled in a while, I noticed something out of the ordinary; cookie cutter houses. A new development was being built and each house looked exactly the same. Their yards were the same, with the same tree in the same spot, and the grass all the same length. Nothing about these houses or this development had anything exceptional to them. They lacked character.

The marketing behind Burger King these days has impressed me. In the age of Tivo, Burger King has managed to find alternative marketing strategies to continually bring their name to the forefront, even when you skip through the commercials.

"The King" ad campaigns brought about attention when a strange oversized plastic King could be found in bed next to an unsuspecting person or just outside of their window to the catchphrase of, "Wake up with the King." The commercials were a bit odd, but definitely catchy. The commercials moved on with dry wit humor and occasionally I would find myself laughing at some of them. Burger King’s actual products remained in the commercials, but weren’t necessarily the main piece to the ad.

In November Burger King began offering Burger King Xbox and Xbox 360 games with their value meals in three different genres; action, fighting and racing. I thought it was in good fun and admired the cross promotion involved with a fast food chain. When I saw it was available on Xbox Live and that the game involved other Burger King mascots, I realized that Burger King was onto something.

I decided to share what the topic was at "show and tell" time in our weekly management meetings in the New York Office. This weeks discussion was a review of Liz Wilson's Telling It Straight article. I will post the article here, then invite Pierce Mattie members to comment along with any comments you may have.

What quality do employees most want from business leaders?

A clear vision of the way ahead, perhaps? A charismatic leadership style? Political or business acumen?

Of course, we demand all those qualities in leaders. But a recent piece of research points to a different quality as being the top priority for many employees.

A survey of over 1,000 employees found that what they most want from their leaders is authenticity, honesty and clear communication. In other words, straight talk.

Many professional communicators already sense this and are counselling business leaders to adopt more open communication measures. But this message isn't always getting through. "Too much value is placed on charismatic leadership: Boards select leaders for their dazzle and the biggest plaudits are saved for those whose profile is often bigger than that of their organization," notes CHA, the consultancy that commissioned the research.

The straight talking survey identified four communication styles among business leaders:

Controlling
Understated
Charismatic
Considerate

Controlling Communicators don't really communicate at all. They are perceived as arrogant, cold and insincere. In the workplace environment, they are seen as strong on business acumen but failing to provide staff with enough information. Rupert Murdoch, boss of News Corporation, is cited as an example.

NicoDerm has launched a new anti-wrinkle campaign for smokers looking to quit called “The Beauty of Quitting.” This new campaign is targeted at the other effects smoking has on you that many do not take into account. Of course cancer is serious and absolutely life threatening, however smoking has a long list of side effects that also include wreaking havoc on your skin. Pierce Mattie is very much against smoking and encourages all of his employees not smoke. In fact, he pays for those that do to go on the patch.

As an ex-smoker myself, I can tell you that there were definite things I noticed while smoking. My “smoking hand,” most especially the fingernails nearest my cigarette, were always yellow; my skin was always dry no matter how much lotion I slapped on; and my teeth looked grayish in color. I was only a smoker for 5 years, but still began to see the effects take shape in that small period of time. When switching to a new health insurance 3 years after quitting, a blood test told them that I was still a smoker. I contested it and they revealed to me that nicotine stays in your bloodstream for up to 10 years after you quit.

Blood Diamond, the movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio with several Academy Award nominations, is based on the violent civil war in the 1990’s in Sierra Leone in which the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels attempted to overthrow the government, and an illicit diamond trade was used to fund the war effort. The movie has brought attention to the diamond trade and many times what is involved in mining diamonds that are the most sought-after gem in the world.

So it’s no surprise that there are laboratories out there, such as Apollo Diamonds and Gemesis, that are perfecting on creating real diamonds in a lab setting. Not your typical chemically produced Cubic Zirconia, but diamonds created through a process involving real diamond seeds that come together under pressure to create a diamond that matches or exceeds a mined diamond in quality and brilliance. Same natural diamond, only it takes 2 weeks to produce one in a lab setting versus billions of years in the earth. Obviously it is also much safer to create than the risks involved in mining and what it does to our environment.

Creating and mimicking what is real is nothing new. It’s in how man-made products are taking its toll on the industries that produce the real deal. Cultured Pearls are almost indistinguishable to the naked eye compared to its natural counterpart. Fake fur, really well produced pieces, can often be mistaken for the real thing. While the industry that brings you the real products is beginning to feel its effects, it tries to counteract the new demand for man made quality copies by stressing the importance and value on their non-synthetic product.

MTV and The Body Shop have collaborated to help in the fight against HIV and AIDS. The Spray to Change Attitudes will launch on January 29th with a new fragrance by The Body Shop called Rougeberry Eau de Toilette. The Body Shop will sell this limited edition fragrance until March 30th.

Both MTV and The Body Shop will host ad campaigns to try to reach their young demographic, the most vulnerable of all the ages for HIV and AIDS. Nearly half of the 5 million people infected with HIV last year were 15-24 year olds according to The Body Shop founder, Anita Roddick. Since MTV and The Body Shop have world-wide appeal, they are hoping that through reaching this demographic and educating them through the Spray to Change Attitudes campaign, that they can make a difference in the lives of young people and hope that they will in turn educate their friends.

Proceeds from the sale of Rougeberry Eau de Toilette will be given to the Staying Alive Foundation; in the US that should be about $8.70 per bottle. The Staying Alive Foundation, as described on their website, is a multimedia global HIV and AIDS prevention campaign that challenges stigma and discrimination associated with HIV and AIDS as well as empowers young people to protect themselves from infection.

What do you think? Will the campaign be effective in educating and changing the attitudes of their targeted demographic?

Tarte Cosmetics, known for their fabulous Cheek Stains and double-ended lipgloss and BORBA, known for their all natural products and drinkable skin care, have come together for what is likely to become a trend among cosmetics companies this year. tarte Cosmetics has teamed up with BORBA to create their newest lip gloss set to launch in February called Inside Out. Inside Out is a vitamin-infused lipgloss that tarte calls a “double-duty” beauty product. It’s one that not only works on the outside of the body, but on the inside as well. The gloss works to soothe and hydrate your lips, while the nutraceutical blend delivers powerful skin care ingredients.

Scott Vincent Borba exclusively created the blend of vitamins for tarte’s Inside Out lipgloss. It is a combination of all natural ingredients from BORBA’s Clarifying, Age Defying and Replenishing lines. They include Acai & green tea extract which help strengthen capillary walls, reduce epidermal irritation and enhance skin’s clarity and radiance; Grape seed extract & Vitamin C which help accelerate production of natural elastin, protecting skin against free-radical damage & restore skin’s clarity, Vitamins A, E & K which act as antioxidants to give you that healthy glow, and Lychee extract promotes long-term skin hydration and chamomile extract soothes skin and helps to counteract redness. Inside Out comes in 3 colors; shimmery pale pink, hot pink and nude. Each gloss is 5.7oz. and is scented with pomegranate, the same scent as BORBA’s Clarifying Cotton Fibers.

Every brand has a life-cycle, just like fashion trends in general, one day you’re hot, one day you’re not. Does it mean that you fall off the face of the (fashion) world when your star doesn’t shine as brightly as before? Absolutely not, especially when your brand is GAP and was the top staple of fashion for 30 years. It simply means you regroup, you refocus and you look at how you can reconnect with your customers again—past, present and future.

While Gap Inc. may have had declining sales figures for a while now, I’m really not ready to count the brand out. They recently began switching around management both at Gap and Old Navy and soon after, CEO Paul Pressler resigned. Is this a bad thing? Should we look at this as a knockdown for Gap? Actually, I think this is where the brand begins its new life. While the switch in management comes from within the organization itself and its chains, it still means you have people behind the brand that are passionate about it and hopefully a new CEO with a fashion background and ambitious nature to put Gap back on top.

I’m predicting that we will see a comeback for Gap this year. With a fresh perspective they’ll be able to make the brand better, reflect on their core principles that took them to the top in the first place, focus on brand development and eventually find a good publicist to get the message out loud and clear: Gap is back.

The Today’s Show weekend edition a few months ago had an interesting story about how preschoolers are targeted with marketing for junk food during the height of children’s programming. During the story they did their own mini-study to see how marketing of slogans, logos and characters had an effect on how the children chose what they would eat for breakfast. Initially I was surprised, yet in a weird way, not so much.

In regards to what the children would prefer for breakfast they were given a choice between one food product and another. One product would have a character logo on it and one would not. The most surprising of all was when they asked the children would they prefer a banana or a rock for breakfast. The rock was covered in character stickers. I really was floored to hear each child say the rock; even my own children chose the rock. Common sense says you can’t eat a rock, and the interviewee even pointed that out, but the children were engrossed by the characters on the rock and assured her that they would choose the rock as their food for breakfast.

For a few months now, I have been talking about childhood obesity and some of the initiatives being launched to reverse the damage that has been done on this generation of children with expanding waistlines. If you don’t have children, it doesn’t take much to look around and see what is happening. If you are a parent, then you may very well know yourself either through your own children or their friend’s/classmates that this is a serious issue.

The Bush Administration recently held a meeting with the private sector to encourage a collaborative effort to get involved with the government to create awareness, encourage fitness and prevent obesity in children. Some of the attendees were Cyma Zarghami, President, Nickelodeon Television; Don Thompson, President, McDonalds USA; Lance Friedmann, Senior Vice President, Global Health and Wellness and Sustainability, Kraft Foods, Inc. and Roger Enrico, Chairman of the Board, DreamWorks Animation SKG. These companies are directly involved in products that are geared towards children and can offer valuable solutions and help put childhood obesity at the forefront in American society.

While their initiative also touches on adult obesity, some of the programs and campaigns they hope to put in place are:

+ School wellness policies (I am already seeing this in my school district).
+ Generating greater access to public lands and National Parks to promote physical fitness.
+ Public messaging partnerships, which will include working with the advertising, entertainment, arts, food, and beverage industries to recognize achievements and increase support for obesity prevention initiatives.
+ Dietary and physical activity guidelines for Americans.

They say that imitation is the best form of flattery. If this is the case, then Dove should surely be flattered as CoverGirl takes at stab at their rendition of using real women in their next advertising campaign to promote their new Queen Collection for women of color.

The Queen Collection inspired by CoverGirl’s spokesmodel of five years, Queen Latifah, was launched on January 29th at BB King Blues Club and Grill in NYC, the same day as the casting call for their ad campaign. The Queen Collection is CoverGirl’s newest line to be geared towards women of color, from Latina to African American. CoverGirl is joining the ranks of cosmetics companies promoting their products to this demographic such as Jane Iredale, whose Global Beauty line is also geared towards ethnic women.

CoverGirl will mimic Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty ads by using real women that may vary in ages from 18-48. The difference will be that these women will have an inspiring story about how they have achieved both inner and outer beauty, whether it was through a recent accomplishment, community service, overcoming an obstacle or standing up for something they were passionate about. The winner(s) will be announced in 2 weeks and will appear in the ad campaign slated for release in June.

Do you think CoverGirl’s use of real women of color will continue to bring a breath of fresh air to marketing campaigns or will it be seen as a Dove copycat?

As I’ve been gathering stories to write for both of our Beauty and Fashion blogs, I’ve been noticing something become more and more prominent in the news headlines: more companies are going green or collaborating with a green initiative. In 2006, we began to see this trend emerge, but it looked uncertain whether it would take off with the American public or not. Now as I try to write more diversified posts, it seems I can’t get away from writing about who is the next brand marketing green, therefore proving that this topic is not going away anytime soon.

Dave Morgan, at Media Post’s Online Spin, echoed my thoughts exactly today in an article he wrote, “Is Green The New Red, White And Blue?” He too wonders if green is just the “flavor of the month” or a defining element for US brands for years to come. Some of the recent brands I have been Blogging about have been Lancome and their collaboration with Carbonfund.org to reduce carbon foot printing, Diesel’s ad campaign that shows fashion in a post-Global Warming world and whose website encourages becoming involved in StopGlobalWarming.org and watching Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth,” as well as, H&M expanding upon their use of Organic Cotton in more of their clothing lines. I predict these will not be the only companies, or industries for that matter, that incorporate green into part of their branding.

Lord & Taylor, America’s oldest department store operating since 1826, will be getting a facelift that is multi-faceted in nature according to WWD. NDRC Equity Partners, who bought Lord & Taylor from Federated Department Stores last year, has many plans in the works to bring the store back to life.

David Lipman will be breathing new life into Lord & Taylor’s advertising campaigns. He has been responsible for the success of many other brands, including Burberry and Zegna. Randall Ridless and Mancini Duffy, the architectural and design firm, will be collaborating on revamping the interior of the stores, with the Manhattan location being downsized from its weighty 11 floors to just 5 or 6. Store designers will also be developing a new Fall/Holiday branding campaign and there will be focus on the remerchandising of the products they sell and their private label. There are many fabulous events going on at their different locations to draw in the crowds (can someone say Isaac Mizrahi on 2/24?) pursuant to show that Lord & Taylor can offer exciting events for their customers and anticipate that while in-store, potential customers perception of the Lord & Taylor image over the last few years will change. Lord & Taylor considers it a rebranding and hopes it will put the once hugely popular department store back on the map.

When our culture is being overwrought by Wal-Mart’s, Target’s and the like, I think it is very refreshing to get back to basics and have those brands that were the lifeblood for so many years re-emerge stronger, bring a fresh sense of history along with it. As with Gap’s repositioning, I suspect Lord & Taylor will make their rebranding a success.

The trendy Volkswagen Eos is a fun and fashionable car with an artistic quality. Not only is it fun to drive and gorgeous to look at, it is also one of the safest convertibles on the road being named “Best Convertible” in Motor Week’s Driver’s Choice Awards this past week. Building upon their image of quality, style and elegance, Volkswagen has collaborated with fashion designers to create an accessory line for its drivers.

Lutz & Patmos, Hable Construction and Sigerson Morrison are the designers involved in the new lifestyle accessory line found at the Eos Boutique. Lutz & Patmos, two CFDA’s members, have created two of the four accessories in the Eos Boutique line. The Origami Wrap is half cashmere and half wool and can be worn draped over one or both shoulders, or wrapped around your waist. Their Two in One Sculptural Coat/Blanket for Two is really unique. It is a cashmere wool blend that can be worn as a sculptural coat for one or as a blanket for two. When worn as the two person blanket, it has openings to slide your head through and keep it from slipping off. Hable Construction created a scarf that is 100% silk and can be worn by the Eos driver around the head, neck or as a belt. Lastly, Sigerson Morrison has designed a soon to be launched Driving Slip-on. They are made from genuine leather with Eos color-matched piping.

There is no other car company doing cross branding like this. Volkswagen may have hit the mark by knowing the type of style-addicts their owners are, seeking out fashion designers that can create a lifestyle accessory line that meets their distinct sense of sophistication and appreciation of quality.

In the age of Tivo, marketers have had to think long and hard about unique ways to deliver their brand’s message to consumers. Although Tivo did come up with a way to annoy its users by adding fast forward banner ads when they try to skip commercials, they can still be skipped nonetheless and the marketer's message lost. However, PumpMedia, an outdoor media company, has found a way to reach a captive audience: at the gas pump.

This idea of marketing at the gas pump has been creeping in slowly, as it is something I have seen here at my local Sheetz. While I pump my gas, a no-sound commercial plays showing me all of the sandwich and coffee selections in their mini-mart, there is even a screen where a customer can order one of those sandwiches right at the pump and have it ready and waiting for them when they go inside to the counter.

In a time when most gas stations have taken the “hold pump” mechanism off its pump handles, forcing you to remain at your vehicle while pumping gas, there is nothing much to do besides watching how much the pump will drain you for this time. PumpMedia found this a prime opportunity to reach consumers at a time when they are bored doing the mundane. PumpMedia says it will offer entertaining and informative content while refueling and also offer a new advertising medium for the auto industry. While it is unclear just which types of brands will take advantage of this new way to market to consumers, I’m sure it can be safely assumed it will involve auto makers.

What do you think of this new way to market to consumers?

As was the case with high-end retailer, Lord & Taylor, JC Penney is giving itself a makeover. The difference between the two is that Lord & Taylor is rebranding from head to toe, which includes physical face lifts to their stores, as well as their merchandise and marketing campaigns, and JC Penney is simply shifting their focus to the middle-income consumer through a new set of marketing campaigns.

JC Penney’s new slogan is “Every Day Matters” and while its rebranding shifts their focus to a new demographic of consumer, they will remain a promotional department store with weekly circulars and direct mailings, something that has proven successful for the store into the present.

When consumer confidence seems lacking, brands are trying to recapture that essence of the excitement of shopping within their stores by listening to what their customers want and desire. JC Penney no longer wants to be looked at as the dated and drab department store, but wants to establish an emotional repore with its consumers and become a relevant part of their lives.

What most people don't realize about big glossy magazines is that advertisers in the magazine also get favored additional product placement in the form of mentions in product line ups and other "advertorial" mentions. Nothing wrong with that, it's just how it's always been. A good publicist can help non-advertising brands get more exposure in the same magazine, however those that can afford integrated advertising and publicity often get the best exposure in print and television, of course all this comes at a cost.

Some beauty brands or fashion brands may not have the funding or budget for a large media buy. This post is to address those brands. While selling ad space is not a new idea, finding the appropriate space that is the most effective is critical. If you can't afford the premium ad space in beauty magazines and the top fashion books perhaps you should investigate non-traditional advertising in addition to your PR plan.

Today you can buy ad space on everything from urinal pucks, coffee cups, pizza boxes, shopping bags and now a new and innovative way to reach more people, especially business professionals. Do it through dry cleaning, most specifically, the hangers that go home with each suit and dress and tend to stay in your target customer’s closet for future use.

With 3.5 billion wire hangers ending up in landfills each year, The Hanger Network has designed coat hangers made completely out of paper. The paper is thick and laminated and perfectly acceptable to toss into your recycle bin. It’s strong enough to hold your clothes without falling apart while remaining flexible at the same time. The Hanger Network is hoping that dry cleaners will begin using their EcoHanger because it is free. That saves dry cleaning businesses approximately 8 cents a hanger, meanwhile helping to lessen the burden on the environment.

The Hanger Network is able to give their hangers for free to dry cleaners because it is the advertisers who pay the Hanger Network to place a color advertisement for their product/service on each hanger. These advertisements target both men and women such as ads from Van Heusen and L’Oreal. It’s amazing to me that no one has thought of this idea before. While I would have never dreamed of a sturdy paper hanger, my dry cleaned clothes always come back with white paper wrapping the wire hanger, most times simply stating the name of the place I was just serviced at. Since hangers are reused time and again, this is the perfect opportunity to have your product seen virtually every time a person opens their closet doors. It is unobtrusive, yet subliminal, and done in a way that is functional and serves a purpose.

Presently the EcoHangers are being distributed by Cleaners Supply, the largest distributor of dry cleaning products in the U.S. Currently you can find these hangers at dry cleaners throughout New York City, but with 8 million dollars in venture capital obtained, the Hanger Network will soon be expanding into other cities across the country.

Erbaviva first began its organic line of products to focus on babies and with its success, developed a line for mom’s to be. As success of their products has grown, they have added Aromatherapy and Bath & Body lines that have been sold in high-end boutiques and spas. Now Erbaviva has created their USDA Certified Organic line of products called Erbaorganics and have partnered with Target to sell the brand.

In the realm of beauty where there is no FDA regulation and in an industry that relies upon policing itself, Erbaorganics gaining the USDA’s seal of Certified Organic, means that they are held up to the same quality and standards as organic food. Certified Organic means that you can be assured that there it is chemical-free and hormone-free and that it is organic-plant based. Something I can assure you many mothers think about when applying products to their new baby’s skin. Besides becoming one of the first beauty brands to be USDA certified, it is also one of the first brands to be marketed to the masses through such a retailer like Target. Mass distribution also means a lower price point for consumers and those entering the doors of Target don’t expect to pay a lot for their beauty products, yet demand quality at the same time.

The collaboration of Erbaviva LLC and Target seems to be remaining with the focus of branding that Target has made for itself over the last several years. First adding top household designers to bring a high-end look to their housewares and home decor at a fraction of the price, then adding fashion designers like Liz Lange and Isaac Mizrahi, beauty products by Sonia Kashuk and now Erbaorganics, it seems that Target is setting a standard that other mass retailers fall far behind on.

I am a big fan of Target, so the addition of a high quality totally organic product line for mothers to be like myself and my soon to be newborn son, are a wonderfully appropriate fit.

With so many social networking sites beginning to dominate the internet, it’s about time there was one that had one main focus to bring people with the same interest together to connect and network. IQONS is to fashion what MySpace is to music. Created by Rafael Jimenez and Suran Goonatilake with co-mentor Diane Pernet, they bring experience to the table that will see this new social networking site blossom.

IQONS is the global social network where designers, fashion labels, magazine editors, models, stylists, fashion PR professionals, fashion enthusiasts and the like can connect and network with each other. IQONS only launched last month, but it is already building a presence online with 820 designers with an online profile. Through their profile you can get a more in depth look into who they are and browse through their “showcase.” A showcase is where you can upload your work for the rest of the network to see.

IQONS has a few ways that members can connect and promote their work through the site. Influential and highly respected fashion industry professionals, referred to as Iqons, review and comment on work showcased by members on the site; IQONS features one Iqon each month; they also give members 15 minutes of fame by spotlighting a member profile every hour on the hour. IQONS also creates projects with influential fashion industry professionals for members to take part in. The first one is with online fashion retailer Yoox.com for a design competition.

I think this a great way to network with others in the industry and I’ve already started to create a profile, or “Portrait” as they call it, there myself. If you are already on IQONS, tell us what you think of the site.

Remember when I said I was predicting a strong come back for Gap? It definitely appears that a lot is going on company-wide to make this prediction true. Gap Inc. announced today that they were closing their Forth & Towne brand, meanwhile last Friday they hired Michael Cape as head of Old Navy marketing. Gap Inc. has stated that from here on out, their focus is bringing back to life their Gap and Old Navy brands...Read more on The Fashion Rag.

I came across this really fascinating article today by Nellie Lide on the blog “Small Business Trends.” While her article may have been geared towards small business, I definitely see how these same trends she writes about can be applied to large businesses, as well. Consumer trends are something that doesn’t necessarily fit into one piece of the puzzle for business, but can be easily applied across the board regardless if you own a large department store like Sak’s or a fashion focused store like Scoop.

The five top shopping trends for 2007 that Lide lists are:

* Shopping as a Societal Force for a Better World

* Shopping for Temporary Ownership: The Shopper as Buyer AND Seller

As I read through each one of these trend forecasts, I couldn’t help but nod my head in agreement.

Shopping as a Societal Force for a Better World: This is one trend I have been speaking much upon lately here on our beauty, fashion and main blog. Lide mentions the RED program, a program launched by Bono to fight poverty, which you really are seeing everywhere (Gap, Apple, etc.), but there is now also an extension of this program called (Product) RED, whose purpose is to raise funds to eliminate AIDS in Africa. Businesses involved in this are Emporio Armani, Converse and Motorolla. We’re seeing businesses collaborate with charities to fight Global Warming such as Diesel and Lancome, and those going green to lessen the stress on our environment. Business cannot grow in a vacuum and many are foreseeing their growth by getting involved in projects that matter most to their consumers.

I often think of virtual worlds such as Second Life as a form of escapism from the real world and all of the stresses that come with “reality.” However, Second Life is beginning to mimic real life, and a little too much so for my liking. Somehow that fine line of virtual life and real life is slowly erasing itself and the two worlds are beginning to mesh.

In Second Life, you can convert your real money into the Linden and purchase things for your Second Life persona. I’ve never actually really understood why anyone would want to use real money to purchase something that is not tangible. However, I realize I am in the minority as Second Life is booming with virtual businesses converting that Linden into real dollars. Such is the case for Anshe Chung, Second Life’s largest real estate developer. Your Second Life persona can pay Anshe Chung Studios in Linden for your web based land and home, but in the end it is Chung with the tangible product: money in her non-virtual bank account, $1.6 million to be exact.

Because of businesses like Chung’s, the IRS has now stepped in claiming that any money made in Second Life is taxable. CNNMoney.com claims it to be similar as when selling on ebay. However, I’m not sure I can see a connection. On ebay you exchange real money for a real physical product. In Second Life, it’s virtual money for a virtual product. Is there an accountant out there that understands Linden? Is there a place on your tax form where you can report how many Linden dollars you made and if you are owed a return, is it given to you in Linden? I’m sure it can all get confusing.

Bank of America has been known for a long while now as a leader in the banking industry. Until recently, they had a stellar reputation, however when the news hit that they would allowing the extention of a line of credit to those without social security numbers or a credit history (aka illegal immigrants and possibly potential terrorists), it left many with a bad taste in its mouth. Now Bank of America has shifted the focus off of this controversy to something more positive and an issue that has most of the world buzzing about right now: going green.

I’m not talking green as in the almighty dollar, although that is obviously what is fueling this initiative, but green as in participating in a way to contribute to diminishing the effects of global warming. This is a great endeavor for a bank as large as Bank of America to embark on. They will be investing $20 billion dollars into this initiative, making them the leader among financial institutions. This initiative will include support for trading in carbon units, which is a means to enable its clients to achieve carbon emission neutrality through existing and emerging market mechanisms. One way they plan to enable this is through an eco-friendly credit card. Each time this particular credit card is used, the bank will make a contribution to an environmental organization to invest in greenhouse-gas reduction projects. Those who plan to obtain a mortgage through Bank of America will also benefit if they purchase a home that meets Energy Star specifications, as it will result in an a reduced interest rate or $1000 cash back.

According to Technorati, 175,000 new blogs are created each day by estimate of the 71 million blogs that they track. Everyone blogs for different reasons, but lately the idea of Bloggers being paid to write a review of a product by its brand has come under the microscope and leaves many wondering the ethics involved in performing such reviews. With blogs becoming a new form of media and in the beginning stages of being looked at as a form of journalism, there is so much gray area involved anyone is bound to wonder what is right and what is wrong when it comes to blogging for dollars.

The controversy stems from the ethics involved in giving a true unbiased review when you are accepting money by the brand that, one would think, does not want to have a bad review written about. Many feel that the review is tainted when a monetary payment is involved and others feel it is just another form of compensation when it comes to writing reviews. As one Bull Dog Reporter reader commented,

“How is this any different than a music reviewer accepting concert tickets, a fashion writer accepting clothes, or a golf writer accepting free greens fees? Influencers get paid, and they always will.”

We are all familiar with all the various bidding sites that are out there that bring consumer and seller together such as the highly popular website Priceline.com and of course its now defunct name your price grocery website WebHouse (which I sadly miss). Of course there are other variations of sites that look to capture an audience by allowing various businesses to compete for your business such as with Lending Tree and RentalCars.com (owned by Priceline). As more and more consumers are always looking for the best deals, a new trend has been emerging that Doc Searls dubbed last year as the Intention Economy.

The Intention Economy grows around buyers, not sellers. It leverages the simple fact that buyers are the first source of money, and that they come ready-made. You don't need advertising to make them. The Intention Economy is about markets, not marketing. You don't need marketing to make Intention Markets.---Doc Searls”

With this idea in mind, it opens another market and another way for brands to think outside of the box when it comes to getting exposure for their product. This is a market that is virtually untapped and one that many are beginning to see as a golden opportunity to connect in another way with their target market. One such example is in a specific part of the travel industry: cruises. Cruise Compete is a website that is similar in notion to Lending Tree in that Travel Cruise Agents compete to offer you the best deal on a cruise package. Although sites like Lending Tree, Priceline and Cruise Compete work with a limited amount of businesses to offer you the best deal, these sites still remain popular in this niche of price competition and continue to have a small amount of rival sites.

As a coffee addict myself (I prefer mine iced) it’s been interesting to watch the coffee wars brewing (pun intended). Fast food restaurants have geared up to compete with the likes of Starbucks and everyone seems to “Run on Dunkin.” There are even coffee connoisseur websites, such as Coffee Geek, and National Geographic is even getting in on this highly popular niche. We have become so obsessed with the brew that there are even people willing to pay $1000 a kilo for Luwak Coffee, which is the eccentric yet deemed ultra luxe brand of coffee that is obtained through the excrement of the luwak (a cousin of the mongoose).

National Geographic’s section of its website dedicated to java breaks down the origin and timeline of coffee, maps of where it is grown, definition of the various roasts and even offers a coffee forum where coffee lovers across the globe can discuss their favorite coffee topics. Their roast section mentions that most American mass-market roasters tend to offer more Light roasts over any other blend. However, as we’ve been seeing in the coffee wars, most places like Starbucks and even Burger King are making the stronger blends more popular with consumers, which of course results in more health issues such as heartburn and upset stomachs than coffee consumption of the past.

This has prompted Folgers to try taking coffee in a completely different direction and capitalizing on a niche no one else is going after: stomach-friendly coffee. This new public relations driven endeavor tends to be leaning towards the baby boomers, still the largest demographic of consumers, who love to drink their coffee, but can no longer stomach the aches and pains that go with it. Folger’s new product called Simply Smooth is the result of a roasting process that can reduce the level of irritants and bitterness in the coffee, but still maintain the taste and caffeine.

Simply say, “The Beauty Bible” and everyone knows I am talking about Paula Begoun. I recently was able to interview Paula, also known for her other best sellers: Don’t Go To The Cosmetics Counter Without Me and Don’t Go Shopping For Hair Care Products Without Me. Paula Begoun is also a syndicated columnist of “Dear Paula,” a column that can be found throughout newspapers in the US and the creator and innovative force behind her product line, “Paula’s Choice.”

When you first began to challenge the cosmetics industry, were you met with much resistance by them, or did they give off the attitude that you were simply one individual who didn't pose much of a threat?
I have always found the resistance the same, some people in the industry love my work and others think I don’t know what I’m talking about. In the long run, I don’t pose much of a threat, but that’s always true for an iconoclast.

As time went on and your books became best sellers (and you--a force to be reckoned with), did you notice that the brands you were challenging for false claims began to change the wording in their advertising?
No, if anything things have gotten worse. Cosmetic companies don’t even care what the FDA does, because by the time anyone notices, the next advertising campaign or product launch replaced the previous one.

In the beginning, were you surprised by the amount of women responding to you? Are you still surprised that it continues today?
I’m always surprised how many women know my work. Selling over 2 million books is really great for the ego. What saddens me, is when I feel nothing has changed and women are still wasting lots of money on misleading advertising claims.

You said (on your website) that Paula's Choice and your challenging of the cosmetic industry began as a personal quest. Do you now feel like an advocate for all women discerning fact from fiction in product claims?
It still feels like a personal quest, I find myself wanting to know more all the time. Being an advocate for myself, and having turned that into a business is a wonderful way to earn a living.

What makes Paula's Choice products stand out among its competitors?
It depends on who the competitor is. There are some really bad products on the market and in those instances my products are stellar with state of the art ingredients, air tight packaging (to keep the beneficial ingredients stable), and elegant formulations. But there are also brilliant products out there that are truly excellent and I feel strongly my products compete beautifully (and almost always, mine are far less expensive).

Mother’s Day is only a few short weeks away and happens to be, in my opinion, a day that all mothers look forward to for the pampering, the gifts and demonstrations of love by her family. With consumer spending for Mother’s Day gifts expected to be $15.73 billion, these last few weeks before the big day are a fantastic opportunity to get your brand noticed, especially online.

According to the National Retail Federation’s 2007 Mother’s Day Consumer Actions and Intentions survey, 20% of consumers are expected to do their Mother’s Day gift shopping online, which is a 3.1% increase from last year. Although the other 80% do their gift buying offline, many still use the internet to research and look for gift ideas. While Mother’s Day shopping and gift research typically begins at the beginning of April, far more consumers make their purchase much closer to the holiday, which occurs on May 13th this year.

By utilizing the internet to spread the word about your product(s) as great gift ideas for mom, your advertising costs will be much less versus commercial and print ads and more likely to spread the word faster due to viral marketing. A few ways to utilize the web to get your products before Mother’s Day gift searchers are:

Press Releases
Advertisements on targeted websites
Advertisements on targeted blogs
Promoting them to blog owners

Online press releases are great for search engine optimization and will quickly get you picked up by the likes of Google and Yahoo when consumers do an online search. Using keywords in the title of your press release is a key factor. Key phrases to use are “Mother’s Day gifts” and “Mother’s Day gift ideas.” Some online press release services are PR NewsWire, Send2Press and PRWeb Direct. You can also use these same press releases to email to blog owners, but make sure to include links to your products (if you have an online site) and pictures as well.

For this week's Five Things Friday I wanted to focus on blogging. I knew that the best person to turn to for advice was Brian Clark, the Blogger behind the very popular copywriting and online marketing blog: CopyBlogger. With 15,744 subscribers to his blog, and plenty more regular readers to his credit, when Brian talks--people listen. If you haven't heard of Brian Clark, I will have to wonder if you live under a rock (and then ask you to please come out from under it). Please be sure to check out CopyBlogger, where I am sure you will gain a wealth of information from all Brian has to offer.

With Brian's permission I am reposting his post: The 5 Immutable Laws of Persuasive Blogging.

Blogging is a great way to grow a business, promote a cause, or spread new ideas, because when you take an educational approach to marketing, you gain the attention and trust of people who might otherwise simply ignore old-fashioned advertising. Not only can those people become your customers or converts, they can also become your advocates.

While there’s as many ways to approach blogging as there are blogs, some things remain steadfast when it comes to gaining influence and prompting action. Here are the 5 bedrock elements that you might keep in mind when blogging to persuade:

1. The Law of Value

Your blog must provide value to the reader by addressing a problem, concern, desire, or need that the reader already has. Fresh, original content is critical.

2. The Law of Headlines and Hooks

Your post titles must stand out in a crowded, noisy blogosphere, and you must quickly communicate the value of reading further with your opening.

3. The Law of “How To”

People don’t want to know “what” you can do, they want to know “how” it’s done. If you think you’re giving away too much information, you’re on the right track.

4. The Law of the List

Love them or hate them, informational posts presented in list format are easily digestable, and allow for an efficient transfer of your value proposition to the reader.

5. The Law of the Story

Stories are the most persuasive blogging element of all, as they allow you to present a problem, the solution, and the results, all while the connotation of the story allows readers to sell themselves on what you have to offer.

When it comes to your brand, are you soley focused on the bottom line and how to bring in the customers and drive your sales? Or are you willing to set aside a portion of your profits and time to focus on the one thing that makes your company a success: your customers and what they need. Tom’s of Maine recognized a consumer issue related to their niche and have created a program to serve a public health need. Not only is this a great way to generate positive feelings about the Tom’s of Maine brand, but also a great PR generator, as well.

Tom’s of Maine has a dental program they established in 2004 called Dental Health For All. It’s a program aimed at helping those who are without dental insurance and seek dental care through clinics. Since 2004 they have granted clinics throughout the US more than $670,000, which has helped more than 15,000 children and adults gain access to dental care. With more than 120,000 people in the US without dental insurance, Tom’s of Maine stepped up and decided to contribute to a cause that is beneficial to both the brand and potential consumers. Since they are one of the top leading brands in natural personal care products, it only made sense for Tom’s of Maine to extend their relationship beyond just their customers, but onto others where dental care due to lack of insurance is an everyday struggle.

Due to Tom’s of Maine’s ability to look beyond sales figures and profits, they have been able to establish themselves as a leader in their industry. Being a leader doesn’t mean your company has the highest profits or best sales tactics, being a leader means being the one to think beyond yourself, step out of the box and contribute to the community not only in a way to help your niche, but to help those customers in an unselfish way. By providing grants each year to various dental clinics around the US, Tom’s of Maine establishes a relationship with dental professionals and the clients who utilize their services and isn’t that what public relations is all about; creating a relationship and positive image of your brand that has the potential to do more than marketing alone?

Tom’s of Maine has done it right, what are you doing to establish a positive relationship with your target market to create brand awareness and create that personal connection with consumers?

Dr. Georg Kolb gave Brian Pittman of The Daily Dog a really great interview on what he foresees as the public relations trends we’ll be seeing come 2008. Most of these trends are emerging now while others are trends we began to see take shape last year and have picked up speed as the role of PR has evolved over the year.

PR Trends for 2008 (as forecasted by Dr. Georg Kolb):

+ Fragmentation in the media will require PR to be more focused
+ Publicists will have to do more relationship building than pushing pitches
+ Addressing everyone on distribution lists in the same way will be ineffective
+ Discovery of and involvement in more Web 2.0 will be key
+ Word of Mouth will continue its importance and should be nurtured and supported
+ Corporate values & corporate behavior will need to be cohesive and clear
+ The value of PR will become more measurable

The fragmentation in the media has really taken shape and become more distinguishable as blogs, social media and the mass amounts of television stations have grown exponentially. Things are no longer condensed in neat little areas of media; it’s spread out sometimes creating a lot of scrambling and confusion. Know which portions of these fragments are the most beneficial to your company and stick to those.

For many publicists it’s always about the pitch and pushing the story out there. Just from a Blogging standpoint, I am bombarded with pitches all day long. The publicists who actually invest time into building relationships instead of sending out a blast of emails hoping that they’ll stick somewhere, are the ones who remain the top on my list and receive the most consideration. As I write this, I can think of only 5 publicists out of about 100 I hear from daily who do this. Don’t focus on the “right now” that many publicists fall pitfall to, focus on the many benefits a relationship can bring you time and again in the bigger scope of things. You’ll have to do more follow ups and the more personalized emails will take up more of your time, but in the long run it will reap the greatest rewards.

Just this time last year the celebrity fragrance market was reaching a fever pitch. It seemed like any time you picked up a magazine or read any beauty news online, it all centered around which celebrity was getting their own fragrance. Celebrity fragrances were bringing in the cash, drawing attention and boosting its parent company's brand image.

I had wondered if the celebrity fragrance market would start to get oversaturated, so much so that the novelty with consumers would soon wear off. However, that is not the case, and several more celebrities launched fragrances in 2007 with much success. That is no clearer stated than the recent launch of M by Mariah Carey through parent company, Elizabeth Arden. It's no secret that Elizabeth Arden's sales have been sagging, but the launch of M by Mariah Carey internationally, gave it just the sales growth it needed to not only create a profit for them, but also give back some faith to investors increasing their share prices.

While sales of the fragrance in the US were not as positive as those overseas, this most likely has more to do with the decline in our economy and the weak dollar, than a decrease in popularity of a celebrity fragrance. In fact, more celebrity fragrances will be rolling out in 2008. Of course the most anticipated is Jennifer Lopez's "Deseo," since Ms Lopez has proven that her name alone can drive sales for Coty.

I'm wondering what you think. Will celebrity fragrances and their ability to drive up sales in a weary economy continue to surge, or will our fascination with their fragrances wane leaving their parent companies to look elsewhere for a sales boost?

* Photo Credit. JustJared.com

Over $120 billion dollars are spent by soon-to-be newlyweds on items needed leading up to and after a wedding. It is an incredible industry to become a part of and one that welcomes tradition and trend. Not sure where to start or are looking for a new way to get coverage for your product? I put together five tips to sort through the clutter on how to get your brand better exposure in the vastness of the bridal industry.

Something Old, Something New. If you don’t have the budget for advertising your product in long lead bridal publications such as Brides and Modern Bride, seek out their editorial calendar to find an upcoming theme they are working on that you may fit into. Whether your brand is targeted for traditional wedding fare or along the modern & trendy aspect, offer an idea surrounding your product that tells a story that will resonate with the reader. Wedding planning advice, ideas on DIY, how to find the perfect gown/florist/honeymoon destination and so on are always a hit with brides to be. Just be sure to follow the rule of thumb of sending press 3-4 months in advance. Hot Bridal Magazines: Brides, Modern Bride, Elegant Bride, The Knot, InStyle Weddings.

Something Borrowed. Renting a tux is no longer the only thing that is being borrowed for the big day; brides are also taking part in this wedding tradition, but in a whole new way. Just as celebrities don borrowed jewelry and other items for their walk down the red carpet, brides are seeking out retailers who also have a rental option available for their accessory needs. Bag Borrow or Steal is one such retailer that allows jewelry rental from such names as Vera Wang, Miriam Haskell and Chanel to handbags from Rafe New York and Badgley Mischka for as little as $10 a week. Developing a rental option for your products and starting the buzz in-store and through your local media will quickly have brides generating word of mouth press for your brand that can be as simple as friend to friend or through posting on wedding forums spreading the word to other brides.

I do—green. Offering DIY advice on how couples can maximize their budget using environmentally friendly ways of giving new life to an old product is one such way to get your brand noticed in the green aspect of the bridal industry. The interest in green weddings has exploded in the last year and Portovert Magazine answered the call to assist brides and grooms with creative ideas to evoke a sense of elegance at the wedding with very little environmental impact.

When Portovert launched in January 2007, we became the voice of glamour in the green movement, showing brides and grooms that green doesn’t have to mean giving up on the idea of a spectacular wedding,” said Megan Yudes, Editorial Director of Portovert, “All brides are looking for ways to stretch their budgets. We’ve been able to do this by showing them how to be creative fixing and recycling items found throughout their surroundings and incorporating these elements into their nuptials in a way that will garner positive attention and make them feel good about using these cost saving measures for the good of the environment.”

Today marks the beginning of the first annual New Media Tastemakers Summit in San Francisco. Key players from blogging, vlogging, social bookmarking, among other vertical non-mainstream influencers will be collaborating and networking to discuss the ever evolving niche of new media. With industry giants speaking such as Yelp, Sugar Publishing, Style Hive and You Tube, it's amazing to see more summits like this coming together to further develop interest and understanding into this ever expansive world of social media.

One of the speakers and friend of mine, Lesley Scott-Silbergeld, Editor in Chief of Fashion Tribes, took a moment to answer some questions in regards to new media:

Shannon: With some of the chatter lately claiming that new media is over saturated (and over rated), what are your thoughts on this?

Lesley Scott-Silbergeld: What's so interesting is how many millions of blogs there appear to be and how many are actually in people's readers & have regular visitors. The increase in the number of people participating in the new media has brought us more attention, which is great. The downside, of course, is that there are so many more shoddy quality blogs to weed through in search of what's worthwhile. So yes, much of what's recently come on board is overrated, but overall, I think high quality online publishers and blogs have benefited. What I love most about publishing online is that if you are consistent and have a high quality site, loyal readers will not only find you, they tell all their friends about you, spreading amazing word of mouth.

Shannon: What are some of the ways new media is elevating a brand’s reach and influencing its consumers?

Lesley Scott-Silbergeld: Much of the appeal of a blog is that readers feel there is a person they are connecting with. Yes, the product picks are helpful, but they're more interested in the person doing the recommending. There is an element of trust that major print publications can't buy for any sum of cash, not that they haven't tried of course, but most corporate blogs fail simply because they are an afterthought and come across as such and readers are quick to recognize how inauthentic this is. By endorsing a product or brand, a blogger has their reputation involved, which obviously benefits a brand in terms of a way that a for-pay marketing or ad campaign simply can never replicate.

PR has long misused and misunderstood pitching to Bloggers, most specifically, mommy bloggers. Yesterday I caught the segment of the Today Show featuring mom bloggers Mir, Kristen, Jill and a live interview with Heather B. Armstrong. After watching Hota Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford totally miss the boat with "air quotes," backhanded compliments and asking Heather, "Is it all moms who are on your blogosphere," it basically solidified for me, if the media doesn't "get" mommy bloggers, how can PR expect to understand how to reach out to them either? Well, being a mom myself, I decided to do something no one else has seemed to do before--I asked them.

Erin Kotecki Vest who writes Queen of Spain, Elizabeth Thielke writer of Busy Mom and Jenn Satterwhite who writes Mommy Needs Coffee all graciously took the time to answer my questions when it came to pitching mommy blogs. If you are thinking of pitching your products to mommy blogs, it's definitely best to hear the right and wrong way to do it and avoid your pitch hitting the spam folder.

Shannon: How do mom blogs differ from a tech blog, beauty blog, foodie blog (besides the obvious niche differences)? Is there a difference in who the audience is?

Erin: We're not selling anything and odds are we don't review products or services. Normally we are discussing our lives. It's much easier to connect with a site that is in the business of discussing an 'industry' or category.

Jenn: I think every blog is going to have an audience that finds interest in the main topic of the posts. I think with mom blogs there is more of an interest in community and stories. However, there is a lot of cross over. Not all of my readers are parents. And not all the blogs I read are mom blogs. I just think people gravitate to what interests them most. Whether it be a narrow group or a large array or interests. Mom blogs are not the big influencers when it comes to products because many are now talking about them. Similar to the playground of our day when our moms would share opinions. We just share them online.

Elizabeth: A "mom blog" can be defined many different ways, the common factor is that they are written by a female who is a parent, but the content can vary widely. Many are exclusively about parenting, while others a more of a reflection of life in general, comedy, tech stuff or other topics mixed in the conversation. The audience is the same in that they are people who are interested in the writer and the topic. But, they are perhaps different in that a mom blog's audience is often people who are having or have had the same types of life experiences as the writer, where that's not usually a factor in other niche blogs.

Shannon: Why do you feel that PR firms and various brands are pitching mommy blogs and placing more value on them than the average niche blog?

Erin: There are many reasons-most of which have to do with stats. Women control .83cents on every household dollar. Women are now the heaviest web users. Women are turning off the TV and putting down the magazine in favor of being online. Women are the best word of mouth advertisers in the world.

Jenn: Two reasons: First: Moms do the majority of the household spending and are the ones who are going to go out and purchase most of the things that we are being pitched. We are the ones who are making most of the house hold purchases. Secondly, many women/moms look to each other for advice and recommendations on products before they buy. I will definitely take the word of a mom blogger I trust over any pitch, advertisement or branding tactic that comes my way.

Elizabeth: Moms often make everyday purchasing decisions for wide variety of items and aren't limited to a niche. With growing children, they will be making kid related and household purchases consistently over a long period of time. Additionally, moms are perceived as people who will talk to their friends about products and the reach is extended.

So often we hear about various brands and PR who use social media outlets simply to pitch to key players or use it to generate leads. While that is certainly not wrong, in most cases, it is the way in which these brands and PR approach these tools with a lot of old school mentality that lands them on black lists and leaves users with a bad taste in their mouth, thus tarnishing the image of the company. Aren't you tired of hearing about these companies? I sure am. So I went in search of one that does it right. I didn't have to look far though, I have long been impressed with Zappos and the way they solidify their focus on customer service through active participation in social media. Most importantly through my favorite microblogging tool--Twitter.

Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, isn't simply working behind the scenes to keep his company operating smoothly, he's a true leader in every sense of the word. He gets involved, works to be a motivational masthead and it is with this people-first moto that he inspires the Zappos team to be at the forefront of customer service. It is customer service, after all, that Zappos is well known for, even above the actual high quality products the brand sells. While on a flight to Cabo, St. Lucas for the SIMA Surf Summit Conference, he took the time to tell me how social media has helped improve upon Zappos' brand value.

Shannon: Which social media tool was the initial one put to use by Zappos? How many would you say Zappos is using now?

Tony Hsieh: We started out with a presence on MySpace and Facebook just to try things out, but the problem with both of those is that the people involved were not regular users of either of those social networks, so we didn't really get very far with either of them.

With Twitter, it was something that I was already using anyway and very passionate about (as well as several other Zappos employees), so turning that into a bigger presence for Zappos was a very easy thing for us to do.

The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News each ran ads for a fake airline, Derrie-Air, this past Friday. They did so knowingly, as it was a way to test their ad reach both in print and online. According to Editor & Publisher, the click through rate was 1.25% compared to their norm of .05%. However, there are many in the media and journalists who are wagging their finger at this Top 50 U.S. newspaper, saying that they crossed an ethical line and border on mistrust from its readership. I'm not sure I agree and here's why:

It's no secret that the newsrooms are dwindling. It's happening to the news media both in print and in broadcast. Try contacting journalists at the top dailies--it's next to impossible. Newspapers are making less money as readers want news on demand and turn to multiple sources for their information, mainly online. There are job cuts everywhere and the journalists who remain are beginning to wear many hats. As The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News contemplate how a major paper moves forward profitably, it only makes sense to test their strength and reach among their readers. The fake ads for Derrie-Air, in my opinion, are similar to a blind study. Blinding is a basic tool to prevent conscious as well as subconscious bias in research. If you want to understand your advertising reach, how can that be done if you disclose that the ad you are testing is fake? This would bring confounding variables into play. If you disclosed about the fake ads and saw a higher than normal click through--was it because you disclosed and people were curious or because despite the disclosure, a reader was interested in the ad?

Those of us in PR have all heard the chatter that print publications are a dying breed. Today another print publication, Quick & Simple, announced that at the end of this month it will only be found online. With so many people turning to digital media for their news and seeing more cut backs in newsrooms everywhere (ie. The LA Times) I wanted to get the perspective from one of the top dailies, The Philadelphia Inquirer, with its Executive Editor Chris Krewson, weighing in the state of newspaper publications.

Shannon: As an editor in the newspaper industry, what is the general feeling about more publications abandoning print and strictly going online?

Chris Krewson: I’m 31 years old – so I’m hardly the typical newspaper editor. When I speak to college or high school students, or young professionals in urban areas, they don’t “use” the daily newspaper. They don’t subscribe to it, don’t read it (much less every day) – but they ARE familiar with our brand, our name. Where we wind up engaging the bulk of them is on our Web site –philly.com – or they getting Inquirer content through other means (sharing it with emails, finding it on Digg or Reddit or StumbleUpon, clicking links other people post on Facebook, following us on Twitter, etc.). Now, people are using this content differently than they’re using the printed paper – they’re looking at our Web products for shorter periods of time, generally during the business day, instead of first thing in the morning.

Bottom line, I think printed newspapers will be part of the future – but I don’t think paid circulation is a sustainable business model, long-term. I think free newspapers disseminated at public transit stops that are derived from news and information first published digitally in a constantly updated, robust, multimedia platform that has arms online, on mobile, in video on demand, on Kindles, etc makes more sense.

Shannon: Have you found at the Philadelphia Inquirer that more of the job requirements of the editors is to be familiar with html and SEO skills?

Chris Krewson: We’ve had training to show everyone who writes headlines why print label heads don’t work with Google. For instance, “Sacred Ground” standing by itself on a Web page tells you (and search engines!) nothing, while in our Magazine section the presentation of that and a subhead (‘Beneath Independence Mall, story of early free black America’) gives our print readers every indication of what they’re about to read. Now, every copy editor writes a separate headline for the Web that works in that medium. HTML is not a common skill we teach in the newsroom – but we’re training all our graphic artists in Flash and CSS, so they can more effectively present their work on the Web.

It’s a momentous occasion for the City of New York, as we celebrate the 150th anniversary of Central Park. Originally the vision of Evening Post editor William Cullen Bryant, he called for the creation of a large public park back in 1844 that would act as a destination from the hustle and bustle of the inner city. Little did he know that his vision would one day become a billboard for commercial conglomerates such as Chanel.

With a $27 million annual operating budget, it’s no wonder The Central Park Conservancy – once limited on the amount of revenue it was allowed to collect from commercial vendors – would look for outside income sources. When they reached a new contract with the city on April 2006, for the first time ever there was no limit on the revenue the non-profit could take in.

This fall, the conservatory will open up 1.5 acres for a “Mobile Art” traveling advertisement for one of Chanel’s handbags. Reportedly, the project will cost Chanel somewhere in the neighborhood of $1 million for a three week run. And though this first project is linked to art, many fear that it will open the door to other corporations taking over the sanctity of New York’s most famous park. I guess only time will tell.