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Vanity Fair did a piece about the heavy-hitters who frequent The Four Seasons, which turns 50 years old. Martha Stewart, Tom Brokaw, and Liz Smith are among those featured in a photo taken in the restaurant’s Grill Room. Standing on top, fourth from the right, is PR’s own Gershon Kekst. Click for video as well.
Citi Cards launched two new options for cardholders on March 4: Citi Forward, which rewards customers who use the card responsibly by actually lowering their purchase interest rate by a quarter of a percent; and , which gives customers rewards points for reporting their socially responsible activities on the card’s social media page.
“For Citi, this is an offering that rewards consumers for using credit wisely,” noted Terry O’Neil, EVP of Citi Cards in an e-mail to PRWeek. “For MySpace, the new card educates users about being fiscally responsible and mindful in today’s economic climate.”
Citi Cards has been working with TMGpr on the launch activities, which include a pre-launch Webcast moderated by Christopher Penn from the Financial Aid Podcast; “man-on-the-street” video clips now appearing on the card’s ; ; and media outreach, which has gotten coverage in a number of outlets, including Fox Business News.
“If you want to establish deep connections with your consumers, you have to be wherever they are,” Tami Gross-McCarthy, founder and CEO of TMGpr, told PRWeek. “Citi is interested in a two-way dialogue with consumers. The social media world helps us to achieve that.”
Agent Provocateur, a UK-based luxury lingerie brand privy to risqué viral videos, recently launched a Web site (http://helloagentprovocateur.com) featuring a blog and Twitter feed. The company is leveraging the platform as part of a larger campaign to boost awareness and sales in the US.
“In the UK, Agent Provocateur is absolutely everywhere…In the US, we have nine store locations. We’re doing amazingly but could stand for more awareness,” said Jeanann Williams, US press manager for the brand.
She adds that the site focuses on empowering women and provides an extra look into “the world of AP.”
Working with StrawberryFrog, a marketing agency that created and maintains the site, the PR team plans to interact with anyone who sends messages or comments via twitter or a blog.
StrawberryFrog founder Scott Goodson said, “We’re not trying for a massive bang at the beginning, but an organic growth.”
The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has created two public service announcements in the past week, each promoting distinct elements of a probable delay of the digital broadcasting transition.
One of the spots, available in both English and Spanish, promotes the almost-official delayed June 12 transition date. Congress has approved the delay from February 17, but President Barack Obama has yet to sign the bill. Obama supports the delay.
The NAB’s other PSA promotes the use of a proper antenna.
“The goal of the new [transition] date spot…is to let people know that the date has changed. The spot is very simple, the wording is very simple, and it says that the date has changed but there is no need to wait [to get the right equipment],” said Shermaze Ingram, NAB senior director of media relations for the Digital Television Transition. “The goal of the second is to ensure that consumers don’t miss the important piece of news that their antenna is still very relevant.”
Ingram added: “I’ve seen stories about how this is a requiem for rabbit ears, and that couldn’t be further from the truth.”
An established PR agency will often forget that it needs to maintain an image as fresh as that which it harnesses for a client, but such is not the case at Porter Novelli (PN). Pairing its corporate brand with fashion, digital, a pop-up concept, and youth certainly created buzz.
PN opened Jack and Bill, a pop-up fashion agency providing temporary pro-bono PR services to fashion, model, jewelry, and stylist clients, this past summer (July-September). The initiative had been designed to garner attention for the agency from clients, employees, and media, explained Lisa Rosenberg, partner and managing director at PN.
The agency gained credibility in the style/culture arena and capitalized on showcasing its digital offerings and social media-savvy youth, she said.
“I’ve worked in the business a long time. It’s difficult for a PR agency to get the kind of coverage we did from Stuart Elliott’s [New York Times] .” Read more »
I suspect this is right -
… The animal rights organization says they sent this “Veggie Love” spot to NBC for approval to run during Sunday’s Super Bowl. This is of course complete cow manure. PETA submitted this spot for one reason—the disapproval publicity NBC’s rejection is generating (this post included). No, they’d sooner go on a fox hunt riding bulls with their bodies smeared in rabbit blood then waste $3 million on 30 seconds of TV ad time.
Via Andrew Sullivan
Warner Bros. launched a viral campaign for the upcoming movie Watchmen, based on the comic book series by Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons, and John Higgins. In addition to a 1970 , the campaign includes a account and a Web site for The New Frontiersman, a right-wing conspiracy publication.
Premiering on March 6, Watchmen is set in an alternative 1985 and follows a vigilante named Rorshach, who is investigating the death of a former superhero.
The latest viral video to make its way around the Web? This one featuring a group of celebrities, ranging from Jack Black and Margaret Cho to John C. Reilly and Neil Patrick Harris, breaking down the debate on Proposition 8– in full song and dance numbers, of course. While the video is humorous, it ultimately directs viewers to the Web site for JointheImpact, an LGBT organization whose mission is to “to encourage our community to engage our opposition in a conversation about full equality and to do this with respect, dignity, and an attitude of outreach and education.”
Sesame Street, that staple of PBS television and children’s-and parents’- lives for nearly 40 years, is making its next step into the world of Web 2.0. On Monday, Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit that produces Sesame Street, announced that for the first time full episodes of the show would be available on Hulu, YouTube, and iTunes. This move coincides with the recent launch of a new Web site in August, just before the debut of the 40th season. It also falls in line with what Gary Knell, Sesame Workshop’s CEO, told me about the company’s digital plans when I interviewed him for the recent PRWeek/Burson-Marsteller CEO Survey article.
YouTube rolled out a that encourages voters to take out their video cameras come election day. , the video-sharing site’s “Video Your Vote” page tells people, “It’s Your Democracy” so “document the energy and excitement, as well as any problems you may see.”
It also links to some election coverage from and a number of voter protection groups.
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For both journalists and communicators, the news cycle never ends. At The Cycle, PRWeek’s editorial team offers commentary and viewpoints on how the latest marketing, business, political, and cultural news impact the PR industry.
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