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Entries in blog (10)

Friday
Jul162010

Young Love? Or a Made-for-TV Romance? 

This week Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston announced that not only are they back together, but they are also (again) engaged to be married. Unlike most couples, Bristol and Levi didn’t relay the exciting news to their families first. Instead, they landed an Us Weekly cover and told the world.

The news set off a media firestorm, with everyone from CNN to David Letterman reporting. Soon after the announcement, rumors began swirling that the couple’s rekindled relationship was really just a ploy to drum up excitement for a new reality TV show.

Bristol and Levi certainly wouldn’t be the first to use media excitement to land a job. In an age in which celebrity gossip runs rampant on blogs, Facebook and Twitter, C-list and D-list celebrities desperate for the spotlight (and an extra buck) have gotten savvy about personal branding and the free PR opportunities at their fingertips—in other words, they’re working the media to their advantage.

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DateJuly 16, 2010 | by AuthorColleen Cleary | | tagged , , , | CommentPost a Comment
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Wednesday
Jun162010

Who’s Watching the Kids? 

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/06/10/2010-06-10_abby_sunderland_16yearold_california_girl_trying_to_sail_solo_around_world_feare.htmlMany people breathed a huge sigh of relief when 16-year-old Abby Sunderland was rescued on the open seas. We immediately knew she was OK because when her quest to become the youngest person to sail around the world ended, the media covered it extensively—and Abby blogged about it…in real time.

Was anyone surprised, then, at revelations that her father, Laurence, had signed a deal for a reality TV show? (Anybody? Raise your hand, you lone optimist out there.) This isn’t the Sunderlands’ first brush with fame; older son, Zac, 17, had held the record for youngest to sail around the globe for almost a year already—though we didn’t hear so much about him. (An Australian teen, Jessica Watson, completed a solo, unassisted round-the-world sail in May 2010; it’s not an official record yet because of questions about the route she took.) And the Sunderlands, parents to seven kids, are expecting yet another child to love, cherish…and, presumably, milk for any kind of crazy, dangerous stunt they can think of to make money or photo ops.

To be fair, Daddy Sunderland is a sailing instructor, and Abby and Zac have pursued world records for sailing. So, fine, maybe Baby Sunderland will be put on a boat to sail the world at 14, to keep the world title a little longer than big brother Zac did. But really, this is a reality TV show just waiting to happen—their name is Sunderland, rhymes with “Wonderland”; how could a producer resist that? Well, at least one of them couldn’t.

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DateJune 16, 2010 | by AuthorAngie Argabrite | | tagged , , , , | Comment1 Comment
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Wednesday
May122010

The Transformation of American Youth: From Teenager to Teenagent

Originally posted on huffingtonpost.com.

Would it be an exaggeration to say teenagers are running popular culture? We don’t think so. And, if anything, we’re willing to up the bet. Take a look at teenagers today—their habits, their purchasing power, their mastery of media—and momentarily suspend your belief in the stereotypes or hollow assumptions about them. What you’ll uncover is a group of people who are changing the world of marketing, altering communications, inventing new lexicons and adopting still-embryonic innovations.

The teens of today have never known a world without hyperconnectivity. They never experienced those awkward first movements of the mouse or the truly troubling (but exciting) moments when your computer seemed to speak to you on ICQ. For them, all this is as much a given as the sky.

Their always-on, interactive dynamic can be both exhausting and exhilarating. It has affected their lives—and the lives of their parents, not to mention the strategies of marketers who communicate with them—in five key ways:

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DateMay 12, 2010 | by AuthorMarian Salzman | | tagged , , , , , , , , , , | CommentPost a Comment
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Thursday
Apr082010

Social Media in America 

creativecommons.org/by toprankmarketingThis is the fourth in a series of six.

During the protracted health-care debate, it quickly became clear that the media put a premium on accessing information: Even C-SPAN, the cable industry’s nonstop outlet for televised government affairs, had to challenge the Obama administration to open the doors to the process. In the meantime, Americans would have to make do with the networks—Fox News, CNN, The Washington Post and other major media outlets—to get the juice on health care.

Just as the media seems to be at the apex of its influence on society, it’s also at its greatest crossroads for change. The fact that this writing is being placed on a blog—and that there is no need to explain what a blog is—shows the extent to which media has changed.

Factor in the unlimited success of Facebook and Twitter, and consider that MySpace is old news; figure that the idea of a newspaper printing press seems to many people like a quaint contraption from an industrial past; remember that the once untouchable New York Times appears to flirt quarterly with bankruptcy…and you can begin to understand the depth of change occurring.

Because you’re reading this blog post, you might assume your neighbors are just as Internet-savvy. Think again.

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DateApril 8, 2010 | by AuthorAshley Rindsberg | | tagged , , , , , , , , , | CommentPost a Comment
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Friday
Apr022010

Why Do Some Celebrities Rise Up?

I’m very proud that Euro PR counts Wyclef Jean and his nongovernmental organization, Yéle Haiti, among our clients. I’ve been fortunate to work with him on ongoing communications and when he addressed the delegates at the One Young World conference in London in February. As both a collaborator and an observer, I’m deeply impressed and inspired by his commitment to his native country, Haiti.

As I watched him speak by satellite at One Young World, I sent excited tweets like these:

  • Wyclef Jean at #oneyoungworld informing the world about Haiti and inspiring all of us; he is the voice of greatness.
  • Wyclef says help orphans and seniors in Haiti @ #OYW. We all have to make a new Haiti sustainable. He has made us all better via satellite.

His commitment—thousands and thousands of hours of his time, freely given, to raise funds and steer Yéle daily—comes from his personal connection. And although Yéle has been bettering the lives of Haitians since 2005, the recent devastating earthquake refocused everyone’s attention and efforts. As Clef recently wrote in a blog post, “So many innocent people have died in the streets of Port-au-Prince, in the country where I was born. I can’t just sit still. Every day I think of my brothers and sisters who are living in ruins but hoping for brighter days.”

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DateApril 2, 2010 | by AuthorMarian Salzman | | tagged , , , , | CommentPost a Comment
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