Cherry trees

These wonderful spring days, made the popular cherry trees of BBG start to bloom earlier.
A real New York feeling. Many people from all over the world came to see these wonderful trees. So did we.

Which I didn't know, the BBG has more than 200 cherry trees of forty-two Asian species and cultivated varieties. This makes it one of the foremost cherry-viewing sites outside of Japan. What a unique brand!

And: The first cherries were planted at the BBG after World War I, a gift from the Japanese government to the city of New York!

More about cherries:

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/12/largely-forgotten-a-blossoming-gift-of-friendship/

George Zimmerman Charged: How Journalists Used Twitter to Cover the Story

Mashable compiled an interesting Storify post to show how the news of Trayvon Martin-slayer, Geroge Zimmerstor's sentencing was covered on Twitter.

Instagram for Android

The day has arrived for all those Android phone users wanting to join in on the Instagram fun! I guess us Iphone user will have to share our new found photography skills...Click here to read more about the release!

Pinterest & Your Brand

Pinterest is popular, fun and attracting a large volume of visitors to its online pinboards -- according to a recent Huffington Post article, the site had 16 million visitors in January 2012. Pinterest can also help shape your personal brand. How do you express your brand with Pinterest?

See the Huffington Post's slideshow of "27 Gorgeous Pinboards" to follow:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/14/best-pinterest-boards-pinboards_n_1341362.html#s773748&title=Interspecies_Buddying_

Skittles: Will it be a new crisis communication case study?

I remember how I blogged about Skittles and its social performances in my first class of PRFandP (Public Relations, Functions and Practise) last semester. We certainly can qualify their "rainbow" advertising campaign of strange but it was tremendously successful! Note to myself: I still can't believe I posted this video on my first class in PR at NYU...

Now, I will avoid sharing weird Skittles' videos with my classmates and this time I am bringing Skittles into the spotlight but for a whole different reason. After a

having a guest speaker about crisis communication last Monday and having heard a lot about Trayvon Martin's story , I thought it would be interesting to share this article in the PR News with all of you.

The main facts of the story:

• Death of Trayvon Martin
• The shooter claims self-defense
• The only items found on Martin's body: an Arizona Iced Tea and a bag of Skittles

The repercussions:

• Petition with over 2 million signatures
• Thousands of people around the country taken the streets

Where Skittles is involved against their will:

• Protestors are asked to bring Skittles with them to the marches
• T-Shirts being sold and include a bag of Skittles at no cost
• Photos are being posted on SM sites of people donning hoodies with a Skittles bag in their mouth, symbolizing the silence from law enforcement
• and so on...

Clearly a nightmare for Skittles (or any brand) especially that the initial situation in this case was totally out of their reach.

This is a very good case study and I think Skittles parent company, Wrigley is responding well to the crisis so far. What do you think?

WATCH: Rebecca Black & M&M's

(The WATCH element follows the post content.)

Social media's sharing element is what catapulted Rebecca Black's Friday to become 2011's most popular (or "spreadable" might be a better word) internet meme.

Josi recently shared Vitamin Water's viral meme video. Artists, geneticists & die-hard meme aficionados question  blending "viral" and "meme" into one,  however.

Why? Because there's a difference between memes and viral content:

• A meme is a piece of content or an idea that's passed from person to person, changing and evolving along the way. 
• Viral content is something that's passed from person to person but doesn't evolve or change during the transmission process.

So, a meme must always be viral, but viral content doesn't  have to be a meme. In other words, brands can/should create entertaining content, but they should be cautious if their core objective is to create a viral video meme that will spread.

Like the passing of a gene, memes are unpredictable, and the greater culture adopts memes for completely random reasons.  In fact, the term -- meme -- derives from the  link to genetics & genes, first introduced by Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book, The Selfish Gene. (If you're interested in the art/science of memes, Know Your Meme is a good resource.)  

We covered marketing & memes in Using PR as a Marketing Tool. As part of understanding the connection between brands, memes and viral videos, each person created an original Rebecca Black-inspired project.   

WATCH: Rebecca Black's Friday takes on a whole new life here. Let the video run so that the brand integration happens naturally.

Coupled with the M&M's cast of characters, Friday moves from annoying into the almost-likable/charming category.  Thanks to M&M's, this version of Friday makes me smile vs. cringe. 

How would corporate parent Mars respond? That's a completely different story.

Little 'ol Me

I know you're dying to know all about me, so click here and get it over with.

How to Become the Next Vlogging Star on YouTube

Facebook- Can a Post Damage Your Career?

Does someone have the right to be fired; suspended from school due to a post or photo on Facebook? If the post/photo has nothing to do with your professional/student life does your employer/student administration have the right to penalize you because of it?

As Facebook becomes more entrenched in our daily lives, it affects our lives on a personal as well as a professional basis. Case in point- many teachers come up with a “fake” name for their Facebook account so their students can’t find them on the social networking site. But where is the line drawn?

Check out the link below as it is a story of a student being punished over something posted on Facebook by her school that had NOTHING to do with her academic life.

Thoughts?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/28/philippines-student-facebook-bikini-photo_n_1384673.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003

Senators Urge DOJ To Protect Your Passwords

Julia posted about this last week, but I saw an Investment News article yesterday about two U.S. senators urging the DOJ to investigate reports of businesses asking job applicants to share social media passwords. They are claiming this violates federal law. This also reminded me of what Tom said last night about compliance departments requiring employees to submit their LinkedIn credentials. What do you think?

Certainty Anchor

If some of you still struggle to figure out one personal brand, as I do, I recommend the post published in The Personal Branding Blog by Peter Sterlacci about the concept of certainty anchor as a way to create and develop one personal brand. A simple and almost obvious idea yet so helpful and important to understand when speaking about the whole process of creating and maintaining the personal brands. I find it very interesting the way Peter implements this rule in his own branding strategy. Have a look:

http://www.thepersonalbrandingblog.com/how-to-anchor-certainty-in-your-personal-brand/#comment-1452

Meaning of Obamacare

In todays NYT a little table on the fighting to control the meaning of "Obamacare"  suprised me. It seems that not only the content but also the branding of "Obamacare" is causing major discussion among the Americans.

The article shows nicely how branding can happen and accelerate positively and negatively without strategic planning. According to the article, for some time Democrats tried to limit the term's use. Now they are embracing it and use it for example on twitter and youtube #ilikeobamacare or #obamacare

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/03/25/us/politics/fighting-to-control-the-meaning-of-obamacare.html?scp=3&sq=Fighting%20to%20Control%20the%20meaning%20of%20Obamacare&st=cse.

We will see how the content discussion on Obamacare is going to develope this week. What do you think?

Last Evening w/GetGlue & Mad Men

According to Mashable.com, Mad Men's season 5 premiere generated 106,000 comments from 64,000 users last night- the most social of any other TV drama in 2012.  I too jumped in on the hype and was one of the many who checked in on GetGlue.

Fiona & I doing our best Joan & Don impersonations for the premiere

Brand Boo

The World's Cutest Dog

When I think of brands, people, things or ideas usually come to my mind. But when I was on a walk yesterday and saw a cute Pomeranian, I immediately thought of Boo and all the animal lovers in class. Boo is quintessential cute, and his owner cleverly tapped into that by "branding" him. Not only does Boo has over 3 million likes on Facebook, he has his own Youtube videos and even a book deal. There's nothing this dog can't do! 

Supreme Court-Old Fashioned Rules Apply

While reporters and the public alike are used to getting information in an instant they will have to wait. No electronic devices will be allowed during the Supreme Court 3 day hearings that will determine the constitutionality of President Obama's health care law.  This is an pivotal event will effect all Americans-the law's requirement to obtain health insurance or pay a penalty.  We will all find out the ruling together without SM involvement.http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/26/us/politics/supreme-court-goes-predigital-for-health-law-arguments.html?hp

Instagramed Tweets

Instagram is not only for photos. People are also instagraming tweets they want to share with their instagram followers! A 2 in 1 Social media tactic?

The famous "#"

This week in an attempt to discover more about the famous hashtags on Twitter for my personal use, I was also interested in what it could achieve from a viral marketing perspective for businesses. Then, I found this article on Mashable about 6 Successful Twitter Hashtag Campaigns.

It makes me realize how big are the opportunities with Twitter for brands! In the article, I have an absolute favorite: #kindofabigdeal and RadioShack. The campaign is creative just the way I like them to be and it actually had a proven track record: 80,000 tweets about @RadioShack!

I also learned that hashtag campaigns happen daily without any press coverage, usually because there isn’t any horror story to report (hashtag VS bashtag). So my question to all of you will be: Have you tweet (vs heard) about any other successful hashtag campaigns on Twitter?

This Monday: Damage Control in 140 Characters

What is a crisis? A crisis is anything but business-as-usual; A situation where business-as-usual must be suspended.

BP oil spill. Bedbugs infest movie theater. Twitter loses ability to post tweets. You get the picture.

When a crisis happens, communication with target audiences follows. But what happens when social media takes hold of the crisis and organizations lose control?

Tom Rozycki, a former CJP Communications colleague and a crisis communications pro, joins us Monday evening. 

In person, Tom's brand is far more than this buttoned-up guy on the left. He's a great storyteller, he likes chicken parm and more.

"Brand Me"

This New York Times article offers tips on personal branding -- how to get started, how to focus your brand, what to think about when considering branding yourself. Personal branding expert Dan Schawbel is a contributor. Helpful information!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/28/your-money/28shortcuts.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

A Note on the Social Media Fact Sheet

I've had a few questions about this week's Social Media Fact Sheet assignment. So before we go much farther, let me throw out a couple of other points:

• Avoid getting caught up in definitions, a la "Fact Sheet," which might stifle your creativity and narrow your thinking.

• Some may  approach this as a Social Media Resume project. I intentionally didn't spell it out like this early on because the first thing that comes to mind is a traditional bullet-point document.  

The objective is to create an online presence that creatively markets yourself by (1) tapping into your personal/professional story and (2) showcasing your social media strengths, capabilities and projects.

If approaching this like a social media resume is helpful, by all means. Just don't feel like you need to create a document that is geared toward securing employment. Instead, use your imagination, tap into social media elements and share

How long? What's the format? Those decisions are yours based upon how you want to market yourself.

Here are some ideas for inspiration. There's the new kid on the block, Pinterest. And for those who aren't camera shy, video always adds color and life.