Hooray everyone! We have a new prince! Release the publicists!

With #RoyalBaby trending for most of the day on Twitter (along with some reference to Buckingham Palace, the Royal family, or David Cameron), it’s only fitting that marketers raced to social media to try and tap into the excitement with some sort of play on the big news.

Out in front as they were for the Super Bowl was Oreo with a cookies-and-milk joke. Cute. OK, we’ll take that because that’s what they do. Also, and making perfect sense, Pampers had a sweet clip about how every baby is special to their mom and dad. Check it out after the jump.

Then there’s the desperate madness that happened. Hostess did something weird with a man cradling a Twinkie in a blanket that fell as flat as their big re-launch day. MAC smeared some lip gloss. Lululemon… I don’t know. And Starbucks (UK) slapped some crowns on coffee cups. Really, I can’t. Buzzfeed has a round up if you need more. But really, you don’t.

Read more

“Baked in” is a popular media technology phrase, but with the latest heat wave, humans are the ones baking. This week it’s high time to share a few pointers for shaking off the extreme heat. The items here involve travel, cocktails, apps, celebrities and sandals, but for a change of pace, no celebrity scandals.

1.Visit the minus5° Ice Bar in New York and Las Vegas: The hotel brand that’s eliminating traditional room service, Hilton, just adopted a more novel option– an icy venue where it’s minus 5 degrees centigrade (or 23 degrees Fahrenheit). While igloo hotels in wintry places have long been popular, selected hotels (New York’s Hilton midtown and Las Vegas’ Monte Carlo and Mandalay Bay casino resorts), adopted the concept for cocktails. At minus5°, sculptures, furniture and glasses are all made of ice. This entertaining retreat charges a cover and lends guests insulated parkas and gloves.

2.Watch a rerun of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown – Canada episode: Another place one needs warm clothing is Canada, and that’s where the devil-may-care celebrity chef trekked last winter. He spent time in Montreal, Quebec City and the province of Quebec while visiting with well-known Canadian chefs and restaurant owners. They went ice fishing and dined in an ice shack on a frozen lake. However, if you find the food they’re consuming too hearty, (Bourdain calls the meals a “Franco Canadian full-on assault on the liver”), then take a TV break and enjoy lighter fare. …

3.Try Ben & Jerry’s Liz Lemon Greek Frozen Yogurt: The flavor is lemon Greek frozen yogurt with blueberry lavender swirl, or as the website calls it, lemon-y-blueberry-y. The print ad announcing the new product shows an image of a figure based on Tina Fey’s 30 Rock character attempting to skate with a giant lemon on Rockefeller Center’s lemon-framed ice rink. Ben & Jerry’s dedicated the product in honor of Tina Fey’s longtime support of Jumpstart, an early education organization for children in low-income areas.

Read more

A lawsuit against Target has brought to light an employee training document –”Organization Effectiveness, Employee and Labor Relations Multi-Cultural Tips” – that offers advice to managers who work with Hispanics. According to court documents, Target was thoughtful enough to remind those in charge that:

a. Food: not everyone eats tacos and burritos;

b. Music: not everyone dances to salsa;

c. Dress: not everyone wears a sombrero;

d. Mexicans (lower education level, some may be undocumented);

e. Cubans (Political refugees, legal status, higher education level); and

f. They may say ‘OK, OK’ and pretend to understand, when they do not, just to save face.

*Clears throat.*

Oh.

Read more

In many ways, New York’s Citi Bike bicycle sharing program has been a success. In the weeks that the program has been in place, the Department of Transportation says more than a quarter of a million rides have been taken. There’s no doubt that, just looking around the city and seeing people pedaling about on their blue bikes, the program has been largely embraced.

Quibbles about bike stands and parking aside, there have been other issues with the bike program that are now being aired publicly. And ultimately, there’s the question of whether the program will ultimately be the PR positive that Citigroup certainly wanted when they signed up.

Read more

Starting June 8, people walking down certain streets in New York City will be able to stop, turn and start window shopping.

“Hey,” you’re thinking, “can’t people do that already?” Yeah sure, but it’s not an eBay window! Derp. What does that even mean? It means every gimmick has a chance when it’s artfully done.

EBay is taking over four empty storefronts across downtown Manhattan on which people will be able to purchase any or all of 30 items presented from the new Kate Spade Saturday line. This is happening until July 7.

Read more

Public relations professionals are tasked with keeping their clients in the minds of customers. To accomplish this challenge, we employ an arsenal of weapons that leverage various assets from marketing strategies and advertising campaigns to digital brand identity platforms and old-fashioned storytelling.

However, as this article in The New York Times explains, nothing creates a lasting impression in the mind of the public more than being in their line of vision. It’s all about location. For small business owners, kiosks present an opportunity to be in the middle of the public where customers have 360-degree exposure to the company’s products—all with minimal overhead.

Is this the future of retail public relations? Are storefronts going to be rendered archaic as new, smaller and more nimble businesses gain traction? This same principle happened in the food business, where food trucks revolutionized the restaurant industry by offering customers on the move quality products at reasonable prices. Instead of becoming a destination for customers, food trucks and kiosks go the extra step of meeting people half way. And this makes sense.

Public relations is a competitive, proactive endeavor. Brands and companies should make an effort to be where customers already are, and smaller more mobile venues offer this ability. Perhaps the retail industry is poised for evolutions that food trucks and food carts have already leveraged. And if so, is the public ready for such changes in their shopping habits? Are we ready for a Nike kiosk or Gucci truck outside of our office, or do we still want the traditional shopping mall experience?

The idea was nothing new: reward loyal customers with a gift certificate, a voucher, or some form of merchandise—anything other than cash. Cash can be impersonal; it’s what you give your gum-chewing babysitter, the anonymous man behind the register, or the angry super who fixes your toilet. So we’re guessing Apple didn’t expect this type of blowback from the public.

But it happened.

Despite shaky signs that the economy, and life in general, are poised for an upswing, brands must remember that the public is still overly sensitive when it comes to relationships. Apple has always enjoyed a strong, loyal and profitable relationship with the public. In return for Apple products and services, we’ve showered the brand with ongoing seemingly limitless fortunes. So when Apple went public with plans to reward whoever was lucky enough to download the 50 billionth app from its store, the public reacted a little indignantly. The reward was $10,000 in App store cash.

The public felt Apple was being cheap. The comments below are from this article on CNN.com.

Jonny: “What the hell are you gonna do with 10k to spend in the damn App Store?! Give me 10k in cash!” Read more

“Mount Gay is made with a rhythm and style that hasn’t changed in 310 years” according to Erin Newby, head of strategy at Radical Media, the brand’s agency charged with its repositioning. Sir John Gay introduced the rum in Barbados in 1703 (B.C.), that’s before cola, or even ice. So the liquor had to stand on its own merits rather than being part of a mixed cocktail.

Newby appeared on a Creative Week panel along with Mount Gay’s global brand director and others from Radical Media’s team on Tuesday in New York to discuss the repositioning strategy and launch of its Black Barrel product. The multimedia effort included new graphics, print ads, video and redesigned website that brought the brand’s history to life. Their brand ambassador program is now spreading the word about Black Barrel.

Strategic evolution: Mount Gay’s earlier print ads featured product shots with the tagline “the rum that invented rum”. The agency tapped further into the brand’s history as the world’s oldest rum, which became a natural strategy, Newby said. The new line, “There’s a time and a place” captures the brand’s provenance and its slow double distillation process in copper stills. Mount Gay’s M.O. is “rum is ready when it’s ready, not before.”

Competition: “Everyone else focuses on flash and beach scenes”, said Justin Wilkes, Radical’s president of media and entertainment. Their biggest competitors include Bacardi and Captain Morgan. Added Fannie Young, Mount Gay’s global brand director. ”We wanted to position the brand in a more premium space.”

Read more

While children are finicky regarding their toy and game preferences, their fascination with everything digital remains constant. Ever since iPads were introduced, parents have had to share their tablets with their offspring or buy them separate devices.

The latest digital toys were on display at Timetoplaymag.com’s spring media showcase event in New York on Tuesday. They feature QR codes, 3-D, augmented reality and gaming, which are similar to those found in grownups’ devices. Digital toys like these could also serve as background props for agency creative brainstorming sessions.

• Scanimalz: This newly launched line of plush interactive animal characters from Scandinavia is for boys and girls aged 5 to 10. They’re collectible, and include a series of colorful characters. Customers buy the Scanimalz mobile app and each character separately. Then they scan a QR code to unlock, play with the character and earn Scantz points.
• Drip Drops: The brand’s Color the World app transforms pre-schoolers’ mobile devices into coloring books. It incorporates 3D animation and augmented reality and also features different characters. The app enables users to turn the items being colored inside out and flip them around. They can also take photos and share them with friends on social media.
• ArtSee Studio: This recently introduced “art creation studio” is for kids 3 years and older, and comes with an app, an iPad case that serves as an easel and a toolkit with a stylus, rainbow crayon for drawing and several colorful stamps. Proud parents can either save their kids’ masterpieces, print or share them on social platforms.

Perhaps if similar creative digital tools were available during former President George W. Bush’s childhood, he might have discovered his penchant for painting earlier in life and gravitated to a career in art instead of politics.

There was a day when the public feared technology because we felt it would enable the government to spy on us and grant corporations access to our private lives. But thanks to Domino’s Pizza’s latest marketing gimmick, the Big Brother the public fears may actually turn out to be, well, us.

Domino’s has installed a live webcam feed in a Salt Lake City, Utah, store so that online customers can watch their pies being made live from scratch in real time. As PR professionals, we are constantly clamoring about the importance of transparency and the inevitable perils that result from a lack of it. Transparency builds trust, brand loyalty and is the foundation of solid brand-consumer relationships. But is this taking transparency too far? Read more