They’re Onto Something

First I heard the guys at the muffin shack next door talking about it.  Then I heard it mentioned on Good Morning America and I knew I needed to investigate.  It’s the “best paid job in the world” and where do I sign up?

Seriously, Tourism Queensland is recruiting a “caretaker” for Hamilton Island on the Great Barrier Reef whose job duties include swimming, snorkeling and frolicking on the beach along with posting photos and video to a blog.  Promoting tourism with a first-person online diary – it’s not a unique idea.  But perhaps the thing that makes it unique is that they’re paying the lucky job-winner $100,000 for just six months work and throwing in airfare and an oceanfront villa…and they’re promoting that fact.  According to the Jan. 15 article in the Los Angeles Times more than one million unique visitors logged onto the website promoting the gig between Monday, Jan. 12 and Thursday, Jan. 15.   That’s one million people who may have never heard of Hamilton Island that may now consider it for their next vacation.  Impressive.

In the LA Times article Anthony Hayes, Chief Executive Officer of Tourism Queensland said “The tourism industry is having a tough time at the moment.  So what we’re really trying to do is drum up as much interest and as much passion for the place as we can.”  Of course, but it’s not kicking off on July 1, 2009 when the blogging begins.  It already started.

Watch application videos on YouTube by searching “Island Reef Job.” They run the gamut.  This one seems like a cross between an application and an American Idol audition!

Seizing Opportunities

We’ve all heard about being in the right place and the right time, right? Well, that’s a start. If you don’t take action when the opportunity arises, then nothing will happen. This is true in your personal life (a blog for another time) as well as professionally. And one thing is for sure, one of my “communications superpowers,” if you will, is recognizing and seizing an opportunity when I see it. Admittedly, not all have turned out perfectly, but that’s what makes it all so interesting…its trial and error. Oh, and another thing…opportunities often come at the most inopportune and unplanned moments…such as Christmas Eve. It’s just another way that differentiates those willing to seize the moment and those that say, “Ah, next time.”

While at work on Christmas Eve, I eagerly watched and participated in a Twitter giveaway hosted by Peter Shankman, public relations and marketing guru and founder of HARO, Help A Reporter Out. Peter gets a lot of swag through the year from companies in hopes that he’ll mention the promoter’s product or service. So on Christmas Eve he decided to give away the items he received to his Twitter followers with a little trivia. This intrigued me…an all social networking promotion? Huh. This should be fun. Yes, I participated and answered a couple of questions but wasn’t fast enough, didn’t win but had a great time. Toward the end of the giveaway, Peter indicated that he would do the same thing on Friday for those PR folks working the day after Christmas. What a great idea! I continued to watch the Tweets from Peter trickle in and saw that a few companies were offering up some products to give away. Ding, ding! The bell went off and I rapidly sent off a message to Peter saying that if he still had room and thought it might make a nice giveaway, we could provide him with a Reno-Tahoe ski trip for two with lodging, lift tickets and swag. 

Within seconds he responded with a resounding, “YES!” I quickly drafted the prize letter and package details sponsored by the Reno-Tahoe Regional Marketing Committee and forwarded it on. Again, within seconds he responded and said it was INCREDIBLE, the best prize he’s received so far and that he’s making it the grand prize. The grand prize?! Simply by recognizing and seizing an opportunity?!  Hey, that’s pretty cool.  Well, I had no idea how incredibly great this would turn out to be.

You see Peter has quite the list of loyal followers, 18,000 plus, and it grew by 1,000s during the 12 hours that he ran the Twitter Trivia day. Prizes were being awarded every 10 – 15 minutes and the trivia questions were getting tougher. Throughout the day anticipation was building for the grand prize – the Reno-Tahoe ski trip as was evident by the Tweets coming in from all over. About three hours before the trivia was coming to a close, Peter’s friend Brian Shaler, who happened to be in New York, came over and hooked up a live feed. Then it really got interesting. I emailed a current snow update and they read it out loud within seconds talking about Reno-Tahoe and the grand prize. WOW!  Yes, I watched the live feed that had two guys on a couch, with computers, a cat and lots of cans on the table. At times I was wondering what I was doing, but I just couldn’t turn away.  

As I watched this unfold I thought of two things. One, WOW! Reno-Tahoe received a lot of publicity value by just saying, “hey, we can help.” And two, the Reno-Tahoe ski package was promoted only using the power of social networking through Twitter and the trivia contest – maybe the first of its kind. The results have been numerous Tweets about the area, the answer to the grand prize question (Squaw Valley home of the 1960 Winter Olympics), trending at the top of the Twitter searches and blog after blog being written about the day’s events http://tinyurl.com/872c5u, http://tinyurl.com/8s4xuq, http://tinyurl.com/753hww). From a FlyRenoTahoe.com perspective, our web hits saw a spike and we were able to continue to promote the area as a top winter ski destination.

Yes, it’s great to be in the right place at the right time…it’s even better to act.

A BIG, HUGE thanks to Peter for all the effort that went into this. It was great to watch it unfold and to see the results first-hand. We feel honored to be among those that participated in this inaugural Twitter event.  And if you ever need a prize again, we’ll be there!

 

Helping Christmas Wishes Come True

RKPR Kiwanis Bike Donation, Dec. 19, 2008

Over the last six years that RKPR has been in business, we’ve had the opportunity to do some pretty incredible things. We’re thankful and feel blessed for every single one of them. But one is going to stand out above all others.

On Friday, December 19, RKPR delivered 11 brand new bikes to kids at Sun Valley Elementary School through the Reno Sparks Kiwanis Bike Program. Earlier in the week, the Kiwanis held their annual holiday party and donation providing bikes to several of the students. Unfortunately, they were 11 bikes short during the presentation. Can you imagine how those 11 kids felt when all their other classmates received bikes and they were told they’d have to wait until January for theirs? Call it perfect timing if you will, but all the pieces fell together perfectly and without a hitch.

We invite you to check out our RKPR Holiday 2008 blog for more details, photos and a video.

There’s lots to be thankful for this year and one of them is being provided the opportunity to give back in a meaningful way.

Merry Christmas!

Unplugging

It’s the final hours of work before the big vacation.  Tasks are done.  Team is updated on any straggler jobs.  Calendar post is sent to remind someone to water my plant.  Now’s the time to unplug.

Vacation can be a tricky thing in a time where we can access our e-mail, check the news and text our colleagues all on our phones.  So while on vacation, do I check my work e-mail to keep up with what’s happening back at the office, trying to avoid any big surprises?  Or, do I ignore the RKPR Mail tab on my phone and really let loose?  I’ll take option 2.  We all should.

Vacation as defined by Merriam Webster is, “a respite or a time of respite from something.”  If we’re still plugging into work via e-mail, news or texts, we’re not really getting a respite.  Vacation is a time to relax, try new things, see new places and literally vacate our daily life.  When I get back my e-mail will still be there, albeit piled up in my inbox.  But if I had to trade one long Monday of checking e-mails for two full weeks of complete departure, again, I’ll take option 2.  We all should.

Aloha!

Trend – The Crystal Ball of PR

What is a trend? Is it slow food? Is it metrosexuality? Is it the latest (shortest) skirt you spot on The Hills? In my experience, a trend is like a rainbow – follow the right one and you will find a pot of gold. However, predicting trends is nothing short of alchemy but all you have to do is look and listen…

Get out of your comfort zone. Change up your routine. Investigate and explore. Visit websites that are not on your ‘favorites’ list, follow links and get lost on the internet, read foreign newspapers, read Vogue. Go to a different coffee shop, take a different route home – what do you see?

What are the people around you talking about? What are the underlying themes of conversation on the internet? What is everyone listening to? Take a lunch break and hang out at the mall, the zoo, the airport. Travel – take the bus, hire a cab, get on a plane. Take time to venture through your neighborhood, your town, your state, the world and recognize the clues laid out in front of you.

In PR, recognizing trends helps us recognize gaps in the market, point out where we can expand and our customers can develop.  Recognizing emerging trends such as ‘luxyoury’ or ‘eco-holidays’ gives us the ability to be one step ahead of our clients’ competitors, develop a strong strategy and deliver a kick-ass campaign.

Watching for trends is like following a conversation taking place between fact and future. You see and understand what is happening, but you have to take a chance – an informed chance, mind you – and predict where it’s going. Pointing out what’s already happened is not trendy, it’s yesterday’s news and the only place for yesterday’s news is the bottom of the bird cage.

Social Freeloaders

I started this blog post two weeks ago, spurred by a Twitter post I read that said the person felt like a voyeur for following others and reading others’ posts more than posting themselves.  It got me to thinking, just how many “social freeloaders” are there out there and what is their role in the online mix?  I did some research, looked for statistics and survey results and sat down to write.  Then a funny thing happened.  Frustrated, I stopped writing, put this post aside and went back to reading others’ blogs.  Feeling overwhelmed that I had to have the perfect blog post, I reverted to being the freeloader I was researching.  Ridiculous, right?

So, back to the research.  I came across stats about how there are more consumers that creators in social media.  Without getting into too many numbers, here are a few figures that show the gap between creators and consumers in social media.  Data from a recent survey of undergrad and graduate students in the U.K. shows that 80 percent were viewing videos on YouTube, but only 14 percent were uploading videos.  Universal McCann’s Media in Mind study shows that 10 percent of U.S. adults now publish blogs, up from 5 percent in 2007, while 32 percent of adults have read them. The number publishing blogs jumps when isolating the 18 – 34 age group with 20 percent publishing blogs.

But in the general marketplace, haven’t there always been more consumers?  And in the marketplace those consumers play an important role by purchasing goods and keeping the economy flowing.  It’s a little different online, mainly because most content creators aren’t in it to make money.  They’re posting family photos and video, twittering out their every move and thought and blogging.  But if there were no one out there consuming all of that information, would there be a point to posting it?

And that’s it.  We may tag the non-creating consumers of social media “social freeloaders,” but if we’re all putting it out there without placing any sort of restrictions on the material, such as an access fee or permission process, then aren’t we inviting people to use it at will?  In the end, the numbers aren’t that big of a deal—eventually they’ll shift as more and more people begin creating.  The point is freeloading is a relative term and often the only barrier to becoming a creator is intimidation.  It’s important to welcome, rather than label, newcomers to the social media scene.  Eventually they’ll increase their participation and who knows, maybe even outpace the rest of us!

Just another pilot

When it comes to connecting with audiences, removing the barriers (seen or unseen) goes a long way. This video showing “Just Another Pilot” is layered with life lessons. In the end, communication is about being authentic. And it’s something that can be challenging especially for those with faces that are easily recognized worldwide. Ultimate success is not measured against this pilot’s professional accomplishments, but against the freedom that his path has provided him. Something to think about the next time you see a plane overhead.

My Life as a Professional

As a recent college graduate and new PR professional I have come to realize that the world of public relations surrounds me in my everyday life.  There really is “no walking away from work” for me because no matter where I am, who I’m talking to or what I’m doing there is always a way of turning the current situation into a PR lesson. 

In-Person Networking – It’s Not Dead

There’s a lot to be said for the “new” networking—that is social media and the myriad options for connecting online.  It’s as easy as surfing the internet, posting brief thoughts and uploading photos and video.  And despite being able to share personal details and often random thoughts, it’s done on your own time, at your own computer and on your terms.

We’re in the business of engaging

Like proud parents, there’s nothing better than seeing your team aspire to do great things for each other, the clients we represent and in turn expand their world.  It’s become quite apparent to us that our motto as an agency is to engage.  To engage our audiences to respond to our clients messages, products and/or services.  To engage our clients to think beyond traditional public relations tools and tactics.  To engage actively in social communications.  To engage each other to do and be more.   As part of that, we are not sitting around talking about what we’re going to do, we’re doing it.  One example is with Artown.  We are developing a series of educational videos that provide attendees a visual user experience thereby engaging them to learn more and become involved.  These series of videos will be posted online and distributed via several social sites.  But the reason we’re most proud is that in addition to producing a great sample video montage, our fabulous team also created–get this–a blooper reel.  Not only is that clever, creative and inspiring, it’s engaging.  Great job, team!  Check it out for yourself.