Even with sea gulls circling, waves crashing and the smell of suntan lotion providing delicious distractions, it still takes a few days for vacationing PR and IR executives to force their brains into vacation mode.

Visiting the Narragansett, RI, Dollar Tree location was meant to be a simple stock-up for provisions missing from our beach cottage.  Instead, it turned into a bizarre “what if?” exercise about the brands we knew and loved when corporate communications was a simpler business.

Walking through the discount retailer’s aisles was like visiting a brand graveyard and exhuming familiar products that conjure up powerful memories.

Mallo Cup and Charleston Chew feature prominently in the candy selection.  In the breakfast aisle, Kellogg’s hasn’t paid a premium to occupy prime real estate, so shoppers get to experience Toast ‘Em breakfast pastries rather than Pop Tarts.

Remember when Lavoris stood proudly among Listerine and Scope as a leading mouthwash? Or when Bugles corn chips commanded the same respect as Fritos.

If Dollar Tree was a B2B supermarket offering steeply discounted services that still worked fine, but lacked advertising support or the latest technology update, what brands would we find?

Thick, phonebook-sized directories figured prominently in our industry a decade or two ago. IR officers religiously thumbed through the Nelson’s directory of analysts while the PR function carefully guarded their Bacon’s book of media contacts.  They’d definitely appear in the PR/IR dollar store.

Some of the earliest digital tools would be on the shelves, too.  The Reuters-owned Inc.Link product was the first generation of what we know today as the IR web site.  PR Newswire morphed Inc.Link into Virtual IQ, which Thomson then turned into its competitor to CCBN.

Streetfusion was another oldie but goodie, publishing a calendar of corporate earnings calls and webcasting them for investors.

Unlike consumer food and beauty products, most of the deceased PR/IR brands truthfully could not survive in a heavily discounted B2B environment equivalent to the Dollar Tree.  There are big data-gathering, fact-checking and technology costs to produce a product of high enough quality for corporate customers.

So even though Wyler’s lemonade is the powdered drink mix of choice at the Dollar Tree, it’s unlikely corporate buyers will be willing to drink the Kool-Aid offered by familiar suppliers of years gone by. Even for a buck.

During the dress rehearsal for a meeting with Facebook executives, one of my colleagues took some ribbing for her use of iteration when talking about the reason a Fortune 100 company’s social marketing program worked so well.

Getting called out for use of Web 2.0 jargon was funny, but the joke was on us an hour later when the Facebook honcho leading the session used that very word.

Also called successive approximation, mathematicians refer to iteration as a problem-solving or computational method in which a succession of approximations, each building on the one preceding, is used to achieve a desired degree of accuracy.

For public relations and marketing pros who have spent most of their careers winning and retaining business on the strength of their creative ideas and execution, the word might be defined as extinction unless they can quickly adapt and begin to incorporate science alongside their art.

The point was made again in a brochure promoting the Public Relations Society of America’s “Digital Impact” conference on May 6-7. One of the sessions features Gabriel Stricker, director of Global Communication and Public Affairs for Google Inc., the company famous for training its employees to say “Data shows…” rather than “I think…”

“Google has a strong innovation culture of ‘launching and iterating’ – that is, making products and features available for public use, and refining them over time,” reads the PRSA brochure blurb. “Google’s public relations team uses the same approach of Beta testing, then polishing, communications tool.”

One of the allures of social media – particularly on the Facebook platform — is the relative ease for a brand to gather information about how its fans are behaving (or not!). That stream of data gets even deeper when brands start inviting their fans to use applications.

There are relatively easy stats like growth of a fan base during a sweepstakes or product giveaway. Then there are subtler findings that fall under the category of  “social optimization.” Examples:

• One tab name or app design – launched at exactly the same time and served up randomly to 50% of users — attracts X% more fan interaction than another

• Users are willing to share something with a friend X% more when they are not compelled to first become a fan

• Walls with brand participation in the discussion X or more times a day achieve X% more fanning up and sharing versus those with less interaction

Whether the word is iterate or optimize or just improve, the concept is the same: an organization that blends creativity with strong data analysis skills will be able to demonstrate their online marketing successes better than any time in history. That you can share with a friend.

(Image credit: samyakonline)

There’s something special about a guy who isn’t a rock star yet has three times the Twitter followers of Bob Dylan.  He’s not a deep-pocketed electronics retailer, yet his social media presence dwarfs Best Buy.

Jeremiah Owyang is an influencer in Web strategy, a futurist, a gadfly and — most important of all — someone who listens, studies, engages and shares.  A partner in the newly formed consulting firm Altimeter Group, Owyang earned his nearly 60,000 followers the hard way.

Since I dived into the social web after leaving PR Newswire, I found that Owyang’s Forrester research reports provided a well-grounded reality check that validated fundamental shifts in consumer behavior, marketing methodologies and the demand for new PR and marcom tools.  He’s routinely quoted by CMOs during conferences and, unlike many celebrities, @jowyang almost always tweets back immediately.

During my recent visit to Altimeter Group’s new headquarters in San Mateo, California, Owyang showed no signs of being jet-lagged, despite returning less than a day earlier from one of his frequent overseas speeches.  He also demonstrated keen knowledge of an increasingly confusing vendor community supplying social media monitoring, analysis and curation tools.

To illustrate why the public relations industry should familiarize itself with social customer relationship management systems, Owyang shared an anecdote about how appliance maker Whirlpool  failed to appease a disgruntled customer, and the damage it caused due to that customer’s ability to influence millions through social media.

“Customers do not care what department you’re in,” said Owyang, predicting that some forward-thinking companies will take on the challenge of building smart systems that inform Support, PR, Marketing, Product Development and offer a single view of the customer no matter where they touch the company.

I am aware of one large food manufacturer whose PR department is heading into the new year with amped up monitoring capabilities and a plan to pipe real-time data into their customer service call centers.  If the readers of PounceNow are aware of organizations where PR is embracing the challenge, please comment on this post.

“Take a penny leave a penny” is a welcome sign at cash registers.

Sadly, I’ve seen far fewer of these spare change jars as retailers would rather weigh my pockets down with 97 cents of change rather than giving up 3 cents that could go toward rent, workers, utility bills and suppliers.  The recession has clearly made even once-generous businesses of all sizes into penny pinchers.

That’s why I was pleasantly surprised to see this week’s innovative corporate social responsibility campaign from Pepsi.

In the first test of the philanthropic power of the GPS-based social network Foursquare, Pepsi is pledging 4 cents to the not-for-profit Camp Interactive for each point earned by Foursquare users.  The campaign encourages more iPhone , Blackberry and Android  users to “check in” with Foursquare all around town, all day, knowing that the pennies will add up.

What does Foursquare get out of the deal?  Thanks to a good cause and a deep-pocketed sponsor, Foursquare will experience a supercharged rate of entries to its database from users who log in their favorite hip bars, restaurants, coffee shops, health clubs and other venues.  In fact, I just added the New York Public Library’s new Grand Central branch to Foursquare (that’s 4 cents more, Camp Interactive).

Harnessing the excitement of consumer technology will continue to set innovative brands apart in 2010.  A few years ago another Pepsi brand, Dorito’s, was among the first to stage a YouTube-based contest for the funniest amateur ad, to be aired on the Superbowl.  Since the advent of inexpensive mini camcorders, like Cisco’s Flip and Kodak’s Zi series, it’s become affordable even for charities in third-world countries to create engaging content for global audiences.  (Nokia sponsored a contest around the crowd-sourced translation of those videos for the charity PlanUSA.org)

It took just one visit to the website of Camp Interactive, the Bronx-based youth program that mixes technology with outdoors activities, to see  another creative CSR linkage to another Fortune 500, Chase.

Unlike Pepsi’s decision to spend 4 cents at a time, Chase made its budget clear at the outset: $5 million.  Through a very smart Facebook application, the bank is using crowd-sourcing in a very different way.  Facebook users are rallying support for their favorite charities, and Chase will divvy up its $5 million based on that input.

The San Francisco-based social media agency Context Optional worked with Chase and is also behind super projects that highlight socially responsible programs for Toyota Prius, Target and ToysRUS.

As print and broadcast spending slows, CMOs appear to be channeling more resource into their community-giving outreach via social media.  Working with the New Jersey firm S3, coffee and tea maker GoodEarth is pledging 50% of its profits to charity through the end of February. The larger, Nasdaq-listed  Green Mountain Coffee, which uses the platform JustMeans for its responsibility program, is extremely active and global, making loans to hurricane-ravaged growers in Mexico and sponsoring river cleanup efforts closer to home.

With mass media atrophying and consumers refusing to be swayed by spin, it will become increasingly critical for organizations of all kinds — small and large businesses, associations, NGOs, political candidates, celebrities, etc. –  to demonstrate their commitment to doing good.  Professional communicators tuned into best practices will be far more likely to win new business, promotions and a seat at the table in this new paradigm.

Don’t let the mustard-colored sports coat fool you.  Tom Kunz is one hip CEO.

As head of Cenury 21 Real Estate LLC, Kunz is in an industry that’s being disintermediated by the Internet      and ravaged by the recession.  Yet I have never met a more positive, open-minded and technology-friendly executive.

What does he do right:

• He’s not afraid to experiment. Century 21 pulled its TV advertising budget and spent the cash to bolster its presence online. Kunz says brand recognition for the franchise was already in the high 90s, so there was no reason to spend millions on 30- and 60-second image spots.  The company is contemplating a switch back to TV, but it would be a web-based format where Century 21 branding was visible at all times on the screen.

• He understands the time-sensitive nature of news. When Congress extended incentives aimed at first-time homebuyers, Kunz dropped what he was doing to record a 2 minute presentation on a tiny, inexpensive Flip video camera. His comments were up on Century 21’s YouTube channel within minutes.  As of today, the video had been watched nearly 1,700 times.
• He takes counsel from Matt Gentile, Century’s 21’s director of corporate and brand communications. In an interview with PR Week’s Eric Iacono, during the Next conference, Kunz talked about making media outreach in local markets a priority.  By incorporating interviews with local print and broadcast media into trips, and inviting local Century 21 franchisees to participate, the organization lands extended coverage rather than the short soundbites afforded by national media.
• He doesn’t hoard good information. While many CEOs would stay silent about marketing strategies, Kunz is a walking dictionary definition for transparency, even sharing his age (61) with the crowd.  As for naysayers, he advises them to watch the AT&T  “Lost Dog” YouTube spot to explain power of social media.

I also liked Tom’s ability to be self-effacing in a manner that seemed genuine:  “I’m a gadget freak,” he told those attending the Next event at the Waldorf Astoria. “It doesn’t mean I know how to use them all, but I buy them all.”

Tom was kind enough to do a short interview with me following his appearance at Next. Please excuse my camera work, as his head is halfway out of the frame for portions of the video.  Yet another reason I never worked in TV.

My former boss had a funny line to describe how often the owner of a mid-sized New York investor relations agency showed up at free media breakfasts:  “He’d show up to the opening of an envelope.”

These days, any exec who attended the plethora of events aimed at professional communicators would be hard pressed to get their work done — assuming their job wasn’t eating rubber chicken lunches in hotel ballrooms and attending tweet-ups.

Barely a day has passed since I finished reading tweets from those attending the annual research symposium of the Society for New Communications Research (whose SNCR acronym is pronounced like the caramel-nougat-peanut candy bar) outside Boston.  Now, some of those very same techie flacks are heading to San Diego for the big Public Relations Society of America conference.

But wait, we’re not through yet. Thursday marks PR Week’s NEXT event in New York City.  On Nov. 12, 18 and 19, Steve Etzler’s  Business Development Institute is holding three separate forums.  Before the month’s out, there’s even a PR Camp in New York, the brainchild of Atlanta comms veteran Dan Greenfield.

I’m pretty sure the above list doesn’t come close to scratching the surface of autumn events designed to provide professional development — and a nice revenue stream for organizers.   Other organizers who do a quality job with educational events include  Women in Communications, the International Association of Business Communciators, National Investor Relations Institute, Mediabistro and Infocom Group.

The unprecedented fragmentation taking place among publishers, industry associations,  entrepreneurs and ad hoc groups involved in PR means there’s plenty of idea sharing and peer conversations taking place at these events.  The sad reality, though, is that many would-be attendees have to hold down the fort because of a lack of adequate staffing and a downhold on corporate travel expenses.

Anyone who wishes to see the PRSA action in real-time should keep their eyes on Twitter posts with the #prsa09 hash tag as well as a live video stream from dna13 on Monday, November 9 starting around 9:30 a.m. Pacific Time.   This free access to the conference can be found at http://blog.dna13.com

Zillow just scored a nice Wall Street Journal hit, along with 300+ references in Google News, for its inaugural “Trick-or-Treat Housing Index.”  Timing of its October 26 blog post was excellent, with ample time to spread virally before Halloween.

The premise was to look for the most affluent and safe neighborhoods where the houses are closest together, reasoning that’s where costumed kids could haul the most candy with the least amount of walking.  It’s great branding for the Seattle-based online real estate resource, which promises to spread the index beyond its hometown next year. (Childhood obescity experts will undoubtedly position themselves for the counter attack.)

When I was a kid in Rochester, New York, the Rapp family was the local Canada Dry soda distributor.  They handed out cans of pop to kids in the tony Browncroft neighborhood on Halloween.  (One of the kids, C.J. Rapp, grew up to invent Jolt cola.)

This Saturday night, kids everywhere will readily share Halloween strategies that are not dissimilar to Zillow’s methodology.  But no matter how many Saf-T-Pops, Mary Janes or miniature Snicker bars are proffered, the real prize on Halloween will be figuring out which houses are doling out full-sized candy bars, whole packs of gum  or other top-shelf goodies.

A marketing and PR coup would be a branded mobile app that used GPS and crowd sourcing for strategic trick-or-treating.   Lord knows it’s possible.  Garmin makes GPS navigators capable of displaying known police speed traps, and FourSquare tells me which nearby bar is giving the first glass of wine away for free.

Those who say this could ruin Halloween should look at the benefits before passing judgment:  Kids with peanut allergies could tag houses handing out Skittles.  Vegetarian kids could avoid the Skittles (which contain gelatin).  Dentist homeowners could opt in to author their own “No Candy Here” disclaimer to lessen the chances of getting TP’d for giving away pencils and tooth-shaped erasers.

I’m going to stop now and write my CandySniffer app business plan.  Anyone know which VC funded Webkinz?

Photo credit: amykclark via Photobucket

Let’s take the social media temperature of the airline industry.

United breaks guitars. Bad situation, though I loved spokeswoman Robin Urbanski’s quip:  “This strikes a chord with us.”  She was classy while under fire.

Southwest allows its flight attendents to rap the pre-flight safety demonstration.  When SWA’s Paula Berg speaks to PR pros about emerging media, she always plays that wonderful video.

jetBlue has 1.4 million Twitter followers.  When the airline tweeted about a unique $599 pass that allowed unlimited flights during a traditionally slow month from mid-August to mid-September, they quickly sold out.

Malaysian carrier AirAsia trended on Twitter and was a top story on many news sites because a baby born onboard one of its jets was awarded free flights for life.

Delta issued a statement saying that laptop computers are prohibited on the flightdeck of  its flights and those of its Northwest Airlines unit.  Media reports, including this blog entry on LaptopMag.com, say the pilots overshot Minnesota’s Twin Cities airport because they were distracted by their laptops.

“I know whenever I get to playing Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook hours and hours can go by without my noticing. And I’ve missed my stop on the train more than once while heavily engaged with Chess Titans,” wrote K.T. Bradford.

Delta is a global company that serves plenty of developing nations.  These are some of the same regions where Nicholas Negroponte sought to distribute inexpensive, rugged, wifi-equipped laptops to help educate the world’s poorest children.  It seems to me that Delta could earn high marks from its customers by introducing a welcome distraction into the lives of kids who could benefit from a laptop: a large contribution to One Laptop Per Child.

I would value comments from readers on whether or not Delta should take additional public action, beyond its October 26 statement.

By Alice Fong,

Business Editor, The Ticker

On Oct. 15, four leaders in the public relations industry spoke in a panel dubbed “The Changing Dynamics of Public Relations” at Baruch College. The event was streamed live and Twitter comments were projected in real time.

The industry leaders described how the public relations industry has changed, and the course it will take moving forward.

The conference was hosted by Baruch MarkLab, a resource center that connects Baruch students and marketing industry professionals.

The panel discussion was webcast live and open to Twitter comments and live feedback from the audience.

Dave Armon, former president of PR Newswire, a provider of information distribution services, moderated the panel.

The panelists reflected on the change that the public relations industry is currently undergoing.

“Change is tough for everybody,” said Jeff Gluck, a leader in external communications for the General Business division of IBM, “The industry is going through tremendous change right now.”

He cited the recent sale of BusinessWeek magazine to Bloomberg LP.

Gluck remembered receiving public relations information through the mail. Now the public relations industry has moved to the web.

“Digital communications is name of the game,” said Don Middleberg, founder and CEO of Middleberg Communications, “my clients would rather be in BusinessWeek.com than in BusinessWeek.”

Yet mainstream media still has “an extraordinary amount of influence in catalyzing the conversation,” said Peter Himler, founder and principal of the New York media consulting firm Flatiron Communications LLC.

A provocative business story in mainstream media reverberates in the public.

This news in mainstream media is seemingly magnified through Twitter. Twitter functions in a similar way to PR Newswire or Business Wire for companies.

It allows knowledgeable individuals to disseminate information to interested parties.

“Now, it’s not about mass; it’s about niche,” said Middleberg. “Employees can become ambassadors and take that load off of the internal communications department,” said Himler.

This is a change from how information in the public relations business used to flow. “PR people played an integral role between the newsmaker and the news reporter,” said Himler, “it was always top down.” Public relations would work with their clients to make sure that they advanced their media agenda.

Now the content on blogs and Twitter feeds bypass the media filter.

“All of a sudden, the newsmaker has a voice in what ends up in editorial domain,” said Himler, “People’s media consumption habits have changed…it’s no longer top down.”

However, the goals of companies have not changed. “Every company, every institution still wants its brand in the media,” said Himler, “only the means to that end have changed.”

Technology, such as Google news alerts, now enables public relations companies to follow what people were saying about their clients. Bill Southard, founder and CEO of Southard Communications, is active in trying to understand what is going on with the company’s clients.

“We’ll do ongoing competitive analysis for our clients,” he said.

Public relations started in the early 1900s with “press agents,” paid individuals who tried to influence journalists for various interests. This sparked the rivalry between public relations people and journalists.

Middleberg suggested that the public relations industry is a great business.

“It’s a great opportunity to come in and be a sharp, smart strategist right now,” said Middleberg.

To succeed in public relations, Gluck suggested hard work and preparedness.
“Be selective about whom you follow, and read tweets that interest you,” said Middleberg. He looked for academic leadership and intellectual curiosity.

“Think about your resume and what’s going to ‘pop’ there,” said Himler. “Go out and play with these [web] tools, then put them on your resume,” said Himler.

Personal branding is also very important in the business. “You can’t stand too many bad stories that are your doing,” said Gluck. Students should aim for “a brand of integrity, a brand that stands for something,” said Middleberg.

Middleberg offers an internship to Baruch students at his firm, Middleberg Communications, on what he calls “McDonald’s wages.”

The panelists cited paid or unpaid internships as a way for interested students to get a foot through the public relations door.

Walking to work, I decided to look into the front door of a white tablecloth Italian restaurant called Nanni’s to see if there was a menu on display.

I hope what I saw was not on the menu.  A black and white cat was sitting proudly on top of a nicely set table, while an employee chatted on the eatery’s pay phone.

With a blog called PounceNow, cat-related items are kosher, right?