North Point's iBand - Feliz Navidad [SONG]

And here it is a very creative interpretation of a Christmas song: Feliz Navidad using borrowed iPhones and iPads at North Point Community Church. 


Watch video below.

THE DIGITAL STORY of Christmas [VIDEO]

How social media, web and mobile tell the story of the Nativity.
Christmas story told through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google, Wikipedia, Google Maps, GMail, Foursquare, Amazon...

Times change, the feeling remains the same.

Christmas Creative PR

It is the enjoyable Holiday Season, Christmas time when everybody is happy and positive. 

The following PR initiative definitely made people smile and feel the Christmas spirit all around in an unforgettable experience. 

Unsuspecting shoppers got a big surprise while enjoying their lunch. 

Over 100 participants in this awesome Christmas Flash Mob. This is a must see!

This flash mob was organized by http://www.AlphabetPhotography.com to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! 

(watch video below)

Merry Christmas and a Creative New Year!

Dear PRWeekend friends,

Merry Christmas and a Creative New Year 2011!

 A special thank you to all of you for the great ideas, the encouraging feedback and for just being what you are: unique. 

We hope the international spirit at our community will encourage all of us to be 

creative and prosperous in 2011!

The fun is just getting started!

Cheers,

PRWeekend Team

How do you retain and develop talent in a recession? [INTERVIEW]

Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO, WPP shares his professional opinion on the following hot topic:

How do you retain and develop talent in a recession?

Video below gives a brief overview on how big corporations deal with talent development during recession time. The interview is also a good info source for PR students or recent PR Grads.

LFF 2010: Unilever Creative Challenge Grand Prize Winner - Vaseline [VIDEO]

"Melody of Skin" by Japanese director, Ryoko Kawanishi, took the Grand Prize at the BFI London Film Festival, Unilever Consumer Creative Challenge. Unilever Creative Challenge Grand Prize Winner is a very creative video for Vaseline!

Watch below!

Pyramid of Success

"Success is a peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best of which you are capable"

John Wooden, Head Coach

Click here for larger image

Source: www.CoachJohnWooden.com

Measurement & Evaluation of PR: Barry Leggetter, Executive Director AMEC

How to Sell the Evaluation?

"Get Over the Overload! 

What's important for you... you don't have to measure everything...!"

The measurement and evaluation of public relations is one of the hottest topics in the industry and is crucial to demonstrating its value. Barry Leggetter is at the forefront of this modernization effort.

Barry is Executive Director of the International Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication (AMEC). A former national newspaper journalist, Barry has spent 25 years in major PR consultancy and has been UK MD of Porter Novelli, Fleishman Hillard and Golin Harris. His most recent appointment was global chairman of Bite Communications. He's a Fellow of the CIPR.

Barry updates us on the progress made since the Barcelona Principles were agreed in June, and comments on the death of Advertising Value Equivalent (AVE) and how practitioners should get to grips with the measurement and evaluation of fragmented and social media.

Video presents a great overview of how to measure PR, digital PR, social media. It's  the last  educational video from CIPR TV for 2010. 

YouTube Culture and the Politics of Authenticity

YouTube Target

The Machine is (Changing) Us: YouTube Culture and the Politics of Authenticity is Michael Wesch's keynote presentation from Personal Democracy Forum 2009  - a great educational video that you can see below.

Michael Lee Wesch is Assistant Professor of cultural anthropology at Kansas State University. Wesch's work includes media ecology and the emerging field of digital ethnography, where he studies the effect of new media on human interaction.

Wesch created the popular short video, "Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us."  (2nd video below) Released on YouTube on January 31, 2007, it quickly became the most popular video in the blogosphere and was viewed over 10 million times. 

Wesch has won several awards for his work with video, including a Wired Magazine Rave Award and the John Culkin Award for Outstanding Media Praxis from the Media Ecology Association.  Info source

Michael Wesch - PdF2009 - The Machine is (Changing) Us

Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us

The Social Media Press Release...

The Social Media Press Release

How to write the Social Media Press Release?

Keep in mind that in the end of the day what matters is the creative approach.

To attract attention in the New Web, your Press Release needs to be:

• Relevant
• Consistent
• Unique

Check out the sample below. 

Info source: http://www.shiftcomm.com/downloads/smprtemplate.pdf

Image

Old Press Release vs. Social Media Press Release

Corporate Guidelines for Social Media - Best Practices

Source

Take a look at JetBlue’s social media policy, as well as other great examples, from companies including Forrester, Intel, IBM, Best Buy and Coca-Cola, to get ideas for your company’s social media policy.

The examples/links of best practices of social media policies were first published in HOW TO: Define the Role of Your Social Media Team on http://mashable.com/2010/11/16/social-media-team-role/

Changing Education Paradigms: How to Prepare Students for the Future?

Divergent Thinking:  An Essential Capacity for Creativity

This animate was adapted from a talk given at the RSA by Sir Ken Robinson, world-renowned education and creativity expert and recipient of the RSA's Benjamin Franklin award.

Video presents a great overview of how education needs to be transformed in order to prepare students for the future. 

And the Future of PR is ... ?

 

Social Media Logos

Adam Singer, TopRank Online Marketing, interviews Lisa Buyer, The Buyer Group, at SES Toronto 2010 on the subject of the future of PR. 

 

With the introduction of social media, PR agencies no longer need to solely rely on the press release.

 

The press release and the advent of social media applications have created many more opportunities for companies to have a voice online with their markets. 

 

 

The journalism profession is rapidly changing and the way PR professionals and journalists are communicating continues to evolve. 

 

Lisa cites several new online tools both PR and journalism professionals can use such as Pitch Engine and the twitter chat session called #journchat, which offers real-time chats between PR and journalism professionals once a week to discuss the latest media trends.

 

It's still about the relationships that PR professionals create with their sources, including journalists and bloggers!

(full interview below)

What Is the Role of PR in Change & Internal Communications? (Richard Millar, CEO of H&K UK)

Richard Millar, CEO, Hill & Knowlton UK on the PR role in 

Change & Internal Communications

 

Hill & Knowlton UK CEO: Richard Millar

Richard Millar is a senior consumer marketing practitioner that has crossed from agency to in-house and back again. He shares his views on the role of PR in change and internal communications, both for clients and at Hill & Knowlton as it moves to a new sector based model.

Prior to taking the UK CEO role at Hill & Knowlton, Richard was the Consumer Marketing UK Practice Head and leader of the agency's retail practice with clients including B&Q and Sainsbury's.

The retail environment is arguably one of the toughest sectors in which to operate. Daily sales logs shine a harsh light on the results from PR and other forms of marketing.  

Watch the interview to learn how retail organizations measure and modify their PR programmes in response to sales data!

Richard re-joined Hill & Knowlton in March 2004 after almost eight years at Habitat. He previously worked for the agency as Associate Director in its MarComms Division, leading accounts including Adidas, Pepsi and Porsche.

He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and a graduate of the University of Manchester with a degree in Politics and Modern History.

(full interview below)

What Is the State of B2B Social Media Marketing? [infographic]

Source

Pecha Kucha Presentation Is Creative!

Have you ever made a Pecha Kucha Presentation? 

It is a creative way to present your ideas in a very short time. Take a look at the video below - Pecha Kucha at World PR Forum. Video offers a simple definition of the presentation format. You can also learn what PR professionals think about the creative Pecha Kucha Presentation.

CIPR Presidential Debate - PR Trends & Issues!

Source

Rob Brown and Sally Sykes - the two candidates for CIPR President-Elect for 2011 - go head to head in a Question Time-style debate over their hopes and plans for the Institute. Putting them through their paces is the regular presenter Philip Sheldrake. The CIPR's new CEO, Jane Wilson, introduces the proceedings and asks the first question. The pressure is well and truly on, with eligible CIPR members having until noon, 19 November, to make up their mind as to who to elect. 

PR professionals are good at planning debates. PR professionals are even better at participating! CIPR Presidential Debate  presents an overview of current trends and issues in the PR industry. What is the future of the PR profession? PR students will have  an opportunity for career success and development if they read, learn and practice. PR students need to be up to date with the latest trends in the industry!

(CIPR Presidential Debate - video below)

Visual Theater - How to Tell a Story Creatively

Mapping during 600 years anniversary of the astrological tower clock situated at Old Town Square in the center of Prague, Czech Republic.

The Macula & Tomato Production

Prague 2010

Video tells the story of the astrological tower clock through an absolutely creative visual theater.
 

How to Use Social Media for Personal Empowerment and Career Success?

 

Source

The 2nd edition of Me 2.0 by Dan Schawbel is a guide for personal success in the New Web. It shares insights on personal branding:

• Know what your brand is
• Build your network before you need it
• Know what you want 

4 Rules of Networking and Personal Branding by Dan Schawbel 

1. Neutralism  
2. Giving
3. Targeting 
4. Reconnecting

The Future of Publishing - Creative Approach (video)

Source: https://www.communicationsmgr.com/projects/1387/Multimedia/Gallery/logoV3.jpg

The End = The Beginning 

When can this statement be true?

Now it is the time of the New Web. People behave differently, they need to be approached differently. Watch video below - a brilliant suggestion for finding solutions.

What Does It Take to Make It in PR? (interview)

Be Proactive! Be Persistent!

Mark Ragan sits down with Silvia Davi, VP Corporate Communications - NASDAQ; Alayna Francis, VP Communications - Swiss Re; and Gemma Craven, Senior VP - Ogilvy to discuss the skills needed to make it in the PR world.  Why women make up 70% of the PR industry? Those and more answers in the video-interview.

3 Key Attributes the aspiring PR professional needs to know:

1. How to balance clients' requests
2. How to engage / work with individuals
3. How to manage interpersonal relations

4 Key Qualities of PR professionals:

1. Social media understanding
2. Good writing skills
3. Curiosity
4. Creativity

BBC - The Virtual Revolution Episode 3

Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/60/The_Virtual_Revolution_title.png

Educational BBC movie on behavioral targeting. 

Interview with Eric Schmidt - CEO, Google

Why Google worked and how it works? How the attachment to Google is being increased? 

What if marketers knew what the customers want ...

What is the impact of Social Media networks ...

"Web is about connecting humanity."- Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Inventor of the World Wide Web

Movie below: 58:57

What's the Difference between Publicity and PR?

Mark Borkowski, MD of Borkowski - interview for CIPR TV.

Take Advantage of Singletasking When Possible, Get More Done

Digital PR - Trends & Book

Digital Public Relations - the hot trend in PR. 

What are the trends in Digital Public Relations? 
Check out the video that interviews Edelman Digital Guru, Steve Rubel!

Article on Digital PR Tools

There is a great book on Social Media management:  "Engage" by Brian Solis. "Engage" will guide you towards using the influence of Social Media, after reading it you will effectively compete in the new era of Digital Darwinism while engendering the support of online champions. A reference to the book is below.

Paul Mylrea, BBC's Head of Press and Media Communications talks about PR

PR is soft power. PR is essential for International Diplomacy. Social media opens things up and lets people say what they want.

1. What should recent PR Graduates be doing to get the attention of prospective employers? 
2. What are the suggestions for improving the access to PR Internships?
3. What are the plans of CIPR to tackle the issue of ethnic diversity in PR?

These and more answers in the interview with Paul Mylrea, BBC's Head of Press and Media Communications and CIPR President-Elect.

Interview is brought to you by CIPR TV.

(video below)

CIPR TV Trailer - 1st live show - 8th Sept 2010

The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) launches CIPR TV, a brand new addition to the CIPR, developed by members, for members. http://www.cipr.tv  CIPR TV will be a platform to share expertise and best practices, to educate and inform.

Paul Mlyrea, Head of Press and Media Communications at the BBC and CIPR President-Elect joins in the studio for an exclusive interview for the launch of CIPR TV.  

The article about CIPR TV was first published on http://www.cipr.co.uk/ciprtv?chn=www.cipr.tv

First live show, 5pm GMT, 8th September 2010

For more information: CIPR TV Trailer below:

THE NEW DORK - Entrepreneur State of Mind (Jay-Z ft Alicia Keys Spoof) | grasshopper.com

A song about the influence of social media! Great lyrics! Enjoy!

Crisis communication tips from a four-star admiral

Tactics met with Admiral Paul A. Yost, Jr., who was commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard during the Exxon-Valdez oil spill in 1989. Admiral Yost discusses best practices in crisis communications for PR professionals. Video was created by the PR Society of America.

The Exxon-Valdez crisis management case study has been part of Crisis Management chapters in PR textbooks worldwide, yet the tips from the contemporary video below are truly relevant now, as they were more than two decades ago.

How to Promote a Non-commercial Topic?

When the topic of your campaign is not a product or service...
How do you promote it?

- Give it a title.
- Give it a name.
- Make it a person.

Remember that brands have special attributes, identity, behavior, character. Create emotional appeal to the target audience and the job is well done! Watch the video below. It is not on a commercial topic and it is original, creative, it works!

Sleepy Free Coffee - Creative Promotion

Video below describes the mechanics of a promotional campaign with a good idea behind.
The Result: People noticed. People Smiled. People went to McDonald's to try their coffee.

Jack Leslie - the PR Landscape In South Africa

Jack Leslie, Chairman, Weber Shandwick discusses the PR landscape in South Africa with Senior Strategist Josh Gilbert.

(full interview - video below)

Senza Tempo - a film by Gabriele Muccino & Peroni Nastro Azzurro

Peroni Nastro Azzurro has partnered with award-winning Italian film director Gabriele Muccino to create Accademia del Film. The Italian film 'academy' aims to promote the iconic world of Italian film in the UK by celebrating the principles that have made and continue to make the Italian craft of film-making so unique, such as its rich heritage, passion and flair for aesthetic narrative.

The Accademia del Film Peroni Nastro Azzurro is brought to life by this bespoke short film director by Muccino - 'Senza Tempo' - which exemplifies the passion and attention to detail that Italian film-makers put into their craft.

Kiwi! When the End is only the Beginning!

"All the breaks you need in life wait within your imagination. Imagination is the workshop of your mind, capable of turning mind energy into accomplishment and wealth." - Napoleon Hill

Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try. Video below (Kiwi) tells a story - if you want something strongly enough, you will achieve it. Keep It Short & Simple (KISS): When there is a will, there is a way!

(motivation video - watch below)

What is the story behind "Twitter Fail Whale"?

The image of the "Twitter Fail Whale" has a creative story behind, as "Twitter Fail Whale" means ... "lifting a dreamer".

The whale is a happy thought. The biggest dream you can't achieve. The love that the designer wanted to give her friends when she was unable to visit their Birthday parties. It's a creative idea, isn't it?

Yiying Lu, the designer of "Twitter Fail Whale", talks about the story behind social media's most iconic error message.

(full interview - video below)

What is the role of PR?

Public Relations brings value to Business Communications. Successful management of Internal and External Communications results in positive corporate image and reputation.

How PR people perceive the value of their job?

Hear DC area Public Relations professionals share their views on the value of Public Relations. Appearing in this video are PRSA-NCC Board and Committee members Aaron Ellis, Brigitte Johnson, Robert Udowitz, Rebecca Andersen, Heathere Evans-Keenan, Suzanne Holroyd, Sylvia Aguilera, Jeff Ghannam, Amie Hornbaker, Fred Whiting, Michael Sheward, and Amy Robinson.

Video below premiered at the PRSA-NCC Thoth Awards on September 24, 2009.

Digital Influence Index - Canada

"When Canadians find information online, it's more likely to lead them to conclusions."
- Michael von Herff, Regional Director, Canada, Fleishman-Hillard

6 Drivers of Digital Influence

1. Speak at the masses one at a time
2. Share your values
3. Be on the tips of the fingers
4. Use authentic voice
5. People like people like them
6. Take the best of the new PR tools & the best of the old PR tools - make them into something enduring and ultimately powerful!

(full interview - video below)

How far does your Creativity go?

This film is part of a integrated campaign for Panamericana School of Art and Design, created by Andre Godoi and Andre Gola, from AlmapBBDO.

Video shows - Creativity is attitude! Creativity is inspiration!

Digital Influence Index - London

Dean Russell, Director at Fleishman-Hillard Digital talks about the influence of the web.

Advice for PR people:
Understand the process of how people use the web, how they engage with it in their busy lifestyles!

(full interview - video below)

Change Management - Who Moved My Cheese?

Being good at change is a competitive advantage of a company or a person. In order to be good at change you need to know what change is and how it happens.

Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life by Spencer Johnson is a story on how we deal with change, as the four characters are parts of all of us. "Cheese" is whatever you want at work or in life. Sometimes in order to succeed you need to go out of your comfort zone, to go into an area where you have never been before to find new opportunities and achieve your goals.

5 Phases of Change

Phase 1 First shock

Phase 2 Provisional adjustment

Phase 3 Inner contradictions

Phase 4 Inner crisis

Phase 5 Re-construction & recovery

Graph source: http://www.eoslifework.co.uk/Images/pitfig1.gif

These are the most common 5 Phases people go through as they encounter professional or personal life change. As people have different personalities & life experience, it’s not necessary that everyone goes through all 5 Phases in the same way.

5 Tips on Change Management

1. The more important cheese is to you the more you want to hold on to it.
2. What would you do if you weren't afraid?
3. When you move beyond your fear, you feel FREE!
4. When you change what you believe, you change what you do.
5. Adapt to change quickly, the quicker you let go of old cheese, the sooner you can enjoy new cheese.

"Who Moved My Cheese" ... the movie on Change Management

(video below)

To get an MBA or NOT - Guy Kawasaki

The only way to learn how to manage is to manage! Great advice from Guy Kawasaki at the Stanford University!

(video below)

In order to succeed you need to have a great idea, to make meaning, make a difference and strive to make the world a better place! Video below presents a great advice from Guy Kawasaki.

(video below)

How to Think With a Hat?

Edward De Bono‘s concept on lateral thinking and its efficient application in multiple business situations has received worldwide acceptance and popularity. According to Edward De Bono a creative idea must have value. Just being different for the sake of being different is not creativity.

Edward De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats method provides the means of addressing one of our most challenging and "lowest hanging of fruits" - Meetings. Meetings are sometimes insufficiently focused and can consume more time than we'd like.

Benefits of Six Thinking Hats

1. Smooth planning
2. Focus & a clear thinking agenda
3. A strategic planning process expedited with great efficiency

Before making a decision, you need to think with all of the Six Hats!

"What's behind different Thinking Hats?" (video below)