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.”

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 »

From day one, Michelle Obama has had America at the edge of its seat waiting to solve the mystery of her next fashion choice.  The unlikely mix of mass market, quintessential American style with high-end, new fashion names gives her an edgy, accessible image, but that’s nothing compared to the promotional opportunities the endorsements provide the brands she’s worn. White House Black Market converted its Union Station store in Washington, D.C., into “inaugural dress headquarters – and offered a special collection for the balls; J.Crew issued statements; and Jason Wu… well, he didn’t have to do much besides cake on the pressure for his upcoming show during Fashion Week. The 26-year-old designer now has a name. I smell a Target Go International collection…

President Obama sadly could not do the same for established men’s wear company Hartmarx Corp. when choosing the brand for campaign events and the Inauguration. WWD reports that Hartmarx recently filed for Chapter 11. Read more »

According to , foreign correspondents in Israel trying to cover the latest conflict have not received permission to cross the border into Gaza, which inhibits attempts to report accurately. The cause? A two-month-old Israeli ban on foreign journalists entering Gaza. The Times attributes part of the reasoning to Israel’s desire to “control the message.”

Like all wars, this one is partly about public relations. But unlike any war in Israel’s history, in this one the government is seeking to entirely control the message and narrative for reasons both of politics and military strategy.

The ban is a result of the media’s effect on Israel’s 2006 war against Hezbollah, a former Israeli army spokesperson told the Times. Apparently, reporters on and off the battlefields in Lebanon got in the way of military operations.

Much of the outcry from the ban is related to foreign media relying on local Palestinian news from Gaza. To contribute to the message filling international airwaves, the Times reports that Israeli political and military commentators and private groups, “financed mostly by Americans,” are helping guide the press around Israel.

One of these groups is the Israel-based nonprofit organization MediaCentral. Read more »

A variety of media outlets are reporting that Isreal has launched an international PR campaign to justify the goal of its military in Gaza that began on Saturday and its position against Hamas.

According to the Guardian , on Saturday Isreali foreign minister Tzipi Livni briefed two buses of up to 80 international representatives and opened a multilingual media centre to brief foreign journalists in Sderot which is on Gaza’s northern perimeter.

The Jerusalem Post reported that the Foreign Ministry “has been preparing for the offensive by sending its representatives background material on Hamas, talking points, and instructions to return from holiday vacations.”

As part of a local communicatory effort with citizens, David Saranga, Consul of Media and Public Affairs in New York, is holding a citizens’ press conference on Twitter on the situation in Israel and Gaza. Citizens have also joined the effort with grassroots support online.

On Tuesday, PRWeek’s editor-in-chief Keith O’Brien moderated a mediabistro.com panel, “The Customer is the Company: How Social Media is Changing Business”. Among the seven panelists were Craig Newmark, Craigslist founder and customer service rep; Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos; and Jeff Howe, contributing editor at Wired and “crowdsourcing” expert.

The panel touched upon your typical social media issues - why/how/when to use, when to separate corporate and personal blogs and Twitter accounts, ROI, etc. - but the techy talk seemed to fall flat next to Hsieh’s passion for customer service and a discussion about Zappos’ internal comms and hiring strategy (and Keith’s jokes about robots, of course). At the end of the first week of the four-week long new employee orientation, which includes customer service training, Zappos offers employees $2,000 to quit to weed out those who aren’t completely dedicated to the concept of service and the brand– seriously!

While Hsieh focused less on social media than on how Zappos’ corporate culture - customer service and a positive staff energy - contributes to its success, it’s well known that the company served as a social media pioneer, using Twitter for customer interaction. So Zappos serves as a model that success in the digital age can also be rooted in Stone Age values.

Annmarie Scotto, founder of clothing line Chloe & Reese and PR veteran, recently launched an e-commerce site offering customizable pieces.

On a PR budget of $2,000 a month, Scotto said she’s promoting the site and positioning the overall brand by hosting trunk shows and events; identifying appropriate partnerships, which currently include Little Black Dress Wines and E! Online; and reaching out to fashion blogs, publications, and friends in the media and beauty industry who she met while working in PR.

“I feel I have the instinct,” she says. “I know who my target is and try to be resourceful in reaching that target.”

Scotto developed that instinct working in PR at AMC networks; WE, where she was involved in the launch of the series Full Frontal Fashion; and the Emmys. Before launching the line, she was director of PR for L’Oreal’s hair care divisions.

People’s Revolution owner Kelly Cutrone is at it again, doing PR for her PR for her PR, and everything else under the sun. Cutrone is working on a new reality show about her agency, “to showcase the nitty-gritty side of fashion publicity,” reports the New York Post. And this is not another Laguna Beach spin-off as Cutrone is working with production company The Magic Elves. “Think of it as ‘The Wizard of Oz’ meets Stephen King meets ‘Rhoda,’ she tells the Post, adding, “I’m really sure we’re gonna be the first p.r. company to be on TV that showcases what really goes down.”

Could this project be the icing on the cake (imagine The Hills as the cake) and actually up the bar for other fashion PR agencies that refuse to be in the spotlight? More to come.

NEW YORK: Last week, Target announced a partnership with Alexander McQueen which will launch its new Designer Collaborations program. According to a press release, the program features well-established designers who draw inspiration from a collaborative partner, muse, or creative element. The program is separate from Go International which features emerging designer lines for Target.

According to an e-mail statement from Target’s fashion and beauty PR agency, LaForce & Stevens, ”[Target] will be having a long lead editor preview next week for magazines to view the collection. The McQ Alexander McQueen for Target collection will be supported with a strategy designed to drive buzz and traffic via innovative out-of-home, online, national magazines, and e-mail.”

The statement adds, “There are other possible initiatives but nothing is confirmed as of right now.”

Maybe the next initiative should involve controlling the lines outside Target stores when it launches in March, 2009. Very exciting, Target!

30 head coaches from the NBA have to wear Joseph Abboud suits, sport coats, dress slacks, and ties during games, reports the Wall Street Journal, which adds that the company is “building its brand on dressing high-profile sports figures.” The brand is providing threads with a combined retail value of $500,000 in return for the right to call itself the coaches’ official clothier.

The National Basketball Coaches Association told the Journal that main draw was JA Apparel’s promise to donate boys suits to the association’s new children’s charity. While the partnership seems like a CSR win-win, the Journal rerports that the line, not visibly labeled, could slip under the radar if not distinctly designed.