We couldn’t let today pass without honoring a staple of Americana that ranks alongside hot dogs, July Fourth and apple pie. Blue jeans were introduced to America on this day in 1873 by Levi Strauss and tailor Jacob Davis, whose patented denim pants with copper rivets have become a symbol of everything that is celebrated in our culture.

Blue jeans are emblematic of everything American from the hard-nosed, can-do attitude of blue collar workers to sexy supermodels in cutoffs to rebellious rockers in ripped up Levis… and everything in between. The public loves blue jeans, and every generation since 1873 seems to have defined blue jeans in its own way.

Here are some examples: Read more

Old-school retailer J.C. Penney faces several big challenges moving forward—but executing social media strategy isn’t one of them.

The company fired CEO/former Apple man Ron Johnson in April after a big sales dive and followed his exit with an all-media campaign designed to address the backlash over controversial changes adopted during his tenure. It all started with this apologetic TV spot:

JCP continued the campaign by turning its social media forums into customer service complaint lines, promoting the #jcpListens tag and asking for feedback on Facebook and Twitter in order to absorb frustrated shoppers’ many suggestions on how to improve the business.

Thanks for sending in all of your feedback! We’re off for tonight, but we’ll be back in the morning. #jcpListens

— jcpenney (@jcpenney) May 3, 2013

The chain didn’t just ask for ideas; it got specific.

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Amtrak has had an uneasy relationship with the American public. Anyone who has ever traveled in countries with high-speed trains such as the Shinkansen in Japan knows that trains are capable of so much more than what is offered in the United States. And though there are plenty of technical excuses and political complexities to explain this national underachievement, the truth is at some point the public simply became apathetic about Amtrak.

To quote a generation: Whatever. We’d given up on trains. Trains were inefficient and clunky, but also the best option for people who wanted something more upscale than a bus but not as cost prohibitive as air travel. Train travel was the purgatory of movement. It’s where people ended up who didn’t commit to any other means of transportation. Then something happened.

Air travel became increasingly exasperating as perplexing security measures, delayed flights, lost luggage, hidden fees and overworked employees became the face of air travel. Airports were places where one could inadvertently end up for the weekend, and on the local news holding a cot. Rising fuel prices also conspired against travel by car, and snarling traffic around major hubs could delay travel plans for hours. And then came Wi-Fi. Glory. Glory. Read more

Reddit, the “social-news” site, boasted more than 37 billion page views and 400 million unique visitors at the end of 2012; those are some serious stats to throw at potential advertisers. But rather than writing up a boring “look-what-we-can-do” press release or ad pitch, Reddit has opted to reel in ad dollars the way it reels in readers — with strange, appealing, funny images.

Mike Cole, who heads the sales and strategy team at Reddit, recently shared the below ad pitch (in the form of a slide deck) with AdAge. While some of the images may be laugh-out-loud funny, the message is quite clear: Reddit is the new “mainstream media”, and advertisers should want a piece of the 400-million-visitor pie.

Public relations is a tricky industry because perception evolves. Whenever a celebrity is caught with cocaine and a prostitute or a brand is accused of using exploited labor to manufacture products, the public has a tendency to become lost in the emotion of the moment. We are outraged or sad or elated or euphoric, and then days pass and reality sets in, and the long-haul truth of life begins to settle in. We gain perspective.

Much of public relations is about establishing a narrative that tempers the ephemeral fluctuations of emotions and hastens the call to reasonable, informed and sober thinking. That is exactly what Pulbix Super Markets, where the winning $590.5 million Powerball lottery ticket was recently purchased in Florida, is doing. And good for them. The brand did not exploit the exciting moment by going public with a statement such as, “Publix is very honored that one our valued and thrift-conscious customers has been so lucky as to purchase the winning lottery ticket at one of our many modern stores that offer the lowest prices.”

Instead, here is what Maria Brous, Publix spokeswoman, had to say. “We’re excited for the winner or winners. We don’t promote or endorse the lottery, we offer it as a convenience.”

That’s it. That’s all. No opportunism or salesmanship there, just an acknowledgement of the facts. Well played, Publix. This is a mature and savvy public relations response. Publix knows that the lottery is a political hot potato for many communities, and that the winners of otherworldly sums of money often lead miserable and painful lives. Read more

“Social listening” — the practice of brands tuning in to what customers are saying to them and about them on social media — is a hot topic, and we’ve talked a lot about the increasing importance of brand responsiveness. While many companies are working to increase and improve their ability to address consumer questions, comments, and concerns via networks like Twitter, some brands are already way ahead of the pack when it comes to engaging their digital followers, and have made great strides of late.

According to Socialbakers, which has been measuring brand responsiveness on Twitter since the fourth quarter of 2012, companies in the finance, airline, and telecom industries dominate the Twitterverse with respect to effective and quick responses (we wonder if this has anything to do with the fact that these industries often make us want to tear our hair out, and therefore have much to gain by providing excellent customer care). While the latest stats prove that these businesses continue to lead the charge, some under-performing industries like retail have recently shown notable improvement.

In fact, every industry studied has shown at least some improvement in their Twitter response rates, demonstrating that brands are recognizing the importance of social media interactions.

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Advertising Age: Yahoo’s Purchase of Tumblr Has Branding Ramifications

Chicago Tribune: McDonald’s Overhauls Menu to Satisfy Public’s Changing Palate

Los Angeles Times: Virgin America Allows Customers to Buy Each Other Drinks

The Washington Post: Scientists Consider Merits of Rebranding ‘Climate Change’

Forbes: Sports PR: America’s Most Loved Mascots

‘Disney’ Retracts Made-Over Merida After Public Backlash

10 Tips for Pitching Entertainment Media Outlets

Take That, Abercrombie & Fitch – Man Rebrands A&F By Giving Clothes to Homeless

Garment Industry Opts for Makeover After Bangladesh Disaster

Delta Bets the Public Is Ready to Move On. And We Are. Big Time.

Yes, we know time is money. The public understands that every minute we stand in line, are stuck in traffic or must navigate the trappings of bureaucracy we’re losing precious moments of our lives that we’ll never get back.

But consider this little fact: every minute of boarding time on an airline flight costs $30 per flight. Sure, in an airport $30 may represent a few beers at the terminal’s TGIF or a hidden fee for some minor (and infuriating) infraction of small-print protocols, but that number adds up when multiplied throughout the day. Just imagine all of those fellow passengers and the number of flights in a 24-hour period. Cha-ching.

Airlines view boarding times as an exploitable revenue area. Reducing boarding times translates into more efficient procedures, more flights and increased income. Therefore, American Airlines is rewarding passengers who travel without overhead compartment baggage the luxury of boarding early, just after first-class and other premium level passengers. Yes, American Airlines is encouraging customers to be low maintenance.

By now the public has learned to abandon hope of air travel ever returning to its glory days. We fully understand the impersonal, probing, fee-mongering practices of a business model that struggles to serve its customers. Most of us have already found ways of taking our trip into our own hands. We already travel light. We show up galvanized in an attitude that expects things to go wrong. We emotionally prepare ourselves for stuff—delayed flights, lost luggage or weary customer service. Read more

Lindsay Lohan has a hard working publicist. So does Charlie Sheen. So, surely, someone in the PR industry must be willing to take on the poor snakehead fish as a client. Ever since making an inglorious splash in American headlines for being a marauding invasive species indigenous to Asia and Russia, the public has both hated and feared the snakehead fish.

Scientists, reporters and TV personalities have inundated the public with scary facts detailing how the snakehead fish is a voracious predator that can decimate entire species of indigenous fish and wildlife, upsetting the precious ecological balances of entire ecosystems. Oh, and did we mention the snakehead fish can slither—well, more like wiggle—on land and breathe air via suprabranchial chambers? Well, it can. So load your guns and lock your doors. Snakehead fish are coming after your daughters.

Snakeheads do pose a serious and ecologically costly threat to our communities. They’ve proliferated in the Washington, D.C. area, and have even been spotted in New York City’s beloved Central Park as well as in Florida and California. So the public has every right to be both intrigued and concerned. Snakeheads are spreading. Naturally scientists, anglers and environmentalists are all asking the same question: What should we do now?

This is where public relations can play an important role. The snakehead fish, also known as Frakenfish or Fishzilla, has a horrible reputation. And there is no un-ringing the bell on this ecological development. The snakehead is here, and we must deal with it. Perhaps a savvy PR strategy can help contain the snakehead’s expansion by motivating its only natural predator: the public. However, people aren’t too keen on eating anything with “snakehead” in the name. It doesn’t really read well on a menu.

So can public relations help integrate the snakehead into our cultural palate? With a new name, can the snakehead fish be the next Chilean sea bass?

What would you rename the snakehead fish? Let us know.