Our apologies for missing this story amidst all our posts about companies hiring brand journalists to create original “sticky” content: The Walt Disney Company‘s new “Oh My Disney” blog is a perfect illustration of the larger trend.

Excepting the Pixar films, Disney has had trouble establishing franchises in recent years. But the blog’s content capitalizes on the company’s established characters by turning them into sharable themed posts like “It’s Easy Being Green“, a St. Patrick’s Day celebration of the many Disney characters who happen to be emerald in color. Other examples include “15 More Reminders That You’re Great Today“, which features inspirational thoughts from several decades worth of characters, and “Disney Theme Songs to Make You Miss Your Childhood“, which is fairly self-explanatory (though we do like the disclaimer “Read this only if you’re open to adding nostalgic joy to your day”).

It’s a brilliant win-win for Disney: promote the larger brand with original content while simultaneously reminding fans of the older properties that they love (and indirectly encouraging them to buy related merchandise). We have to say, though: a quick glance at the blog’s layout makes us think that BuzzFeed might want to consider demanding royalties.

What do we think of this entry into the original content sweepstakes? And what sort of brands could follow Disney’s lead by creating their own branded blogs?

CNN has received a lot of negative attention over the past 24 hours for its reporting on the convictions of the Steubenville, Ohio high school students who were found guilty of raping a classmate after evidence of their crime was widely shared on social media. Most of the outrage focused on this clip:

Many felt that anchor Candy Crowley and correspondent Poppy Harlow spent too much time speculating about the damage the verdict would do to the lives of these “promising” offenders rather than just, you know, reporting on the news or discussing the gravity of the crime. Casting convicted rapists as “poor young men” whose futures have been ruined is not the best way to boost your network’s reputation as “the most trusted name in news.”

It’s damage control time for CNN.

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This is a very New York-specific story, but it contains a larger PR lesson that we’d like to share. NY1, pronounced “New York One”, is a 24/7 local news channel that is very helpful for those who want breaking news on traffic, subway delays, New York-area politics and more. It also includes some great talks shows, etc. But you get the point.

NY1 owner Time Warner Cable, on the other hand, is definitely one of the least popular brands among New Yorkers (just ask Twitter users and a certain Sir Patrick Stewart about its customer service record).

TWC–facing revenue declines as more customers cut their cords–is currently engaged in a battle with competitor Verizon Fios for market share. In order to convince customers not to switch providers, TWC is rebranding NY1, renaming it “TWC News” and changing the graphics, logos and theme music.

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Confession: we’ve never seen Veronica Mars. Hell, we’ve never even seen Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so maybe we missed out on a few things. That said, we love the concept of the DIY “bring back our show” campaign. It’s no longer a joke: the makers and fans of beloved-but-low-rated shows like Arrested Development, Community and Party Down used word of mouth and the might of the Internet to give their projects second lives. (The last two are still a little iffy, but you get the point.) And in case anyone wasn’t aware, FOX cancelled Seth MacFarlane‘s shameless Simpsons ripoff Family Guy not once but twice before Adult Swim and the trusty Internet brought it back.

The PR message? Compelling content will always have an audience–the challenge is finding those fans, engaging them and driving them to take action.

Now tools like Kickstarter have made the DIY fundraising process easier than ever. Some enterprising guy (who we’ve been is show creator Rob Thomas, duh) decided to use the site/app/etc. to start a “let’s make a movie” campaign, and the numbers tell a very encouraging story: total backers rose by more than 2,000 in the time it took us to write this post! Forbes predicts that the sure-to-be-upcoming feature will be the first film funded entirely by Kickstarter, and we have to agree.

Here’s the video if you’re interested:

No, this isn’t professional PR, but it is a cool idea. And imagine what a campaign like this one could do with a few PR pros at the helm!

Passion, participation, pictures and the popularity of celebrities like Betty White: those are among the key elements for creating a strong fan base on social platforms, according to a panel of digital media executives at Digital Hollywood’s Media Summit in New York on Wednesday.

Community building is high on the list of crucial social media strategies, but it still eludes many brands. During social media’s early stages, some enterprising fans even established brands’ social media presence before the companies themselves got around to it. After playing catch-up, more organizations now are embracing their social communities.

The media and entertainment brands represented on the panel, including WhoSay Media (celebrity publishing platform), DailyCandy (city guides discovery site), Wikia (Wikipedia’s sister site) and Crown Media Family Networks (Hallmark Channel), may have an edge, since they represent hot celebrity assets and focus on fun topics. Still, their tips for creating effective social communities apply across categories:

1. Pictures: “A few pics a week is the secret sauce for having a vibrant community. Our talent wants to be on Instagram”, said WhoSay Media’s VP of talent, Harvey Schwartz. For example, their client Danny DeVito posted amusing shots of his troll feet while sports stars Christiano Ronaldo and Mariano Rivera posed with each other and a certain Mick Jagger shared a photo taken while recording last summer in a Paris studio.

DailyCandy also uses Instagram, sending behind-the-scenes takes during photo shoots. Pinterest is their other favored visual platform. As editor Ashley Parrish said, “Pinterest is about finding hidden gems, since our readers are treasure hunters.”

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We can certainly see why so many clients are rushing to sign with “viral marketing firm” Thinkmodo, which combines the video, social media and promotion trifecta into campaigns like the “Zombies in New York” stunt for AMC‘s mega-hit The Walking Dead. That video clearly didn’t have a script. As for the agency’s newest project, a promo for the upcoming  revenge thriller Dead Man Down, we’re not so sure…

The spot asks viewers “What would you do if you walked in on a murder in progress?” and the movie’s hashtag is #ISawWhatYouDid, so we get the connection–but based on the range of reactions, we hope that a few people in this clip were either in on the secret or didn’t quite realize what was going on.

So was this a real experiment or did everyone have a “script”? Most importantly, does it make you more interested in seeing the movie?

Note to Taylor Swift: if you’re looking to improve/maintain your reputation or get more sympathy from the public regarding your perpetual boy troubles, engaging in bitchy spats is probably not the best way to go about it.

Responding to Tina Fey and Amy Poehler‘s (completely appropriate) Golden Globes joke warning her to “stay away from Michael J. Fox’s son” lest he turn up in thinly-veiled caricature on her next album, Swift dropped this bomb on her Vanity Fair interviewer:

“You know, Katie Couric is one of my favorite people, because she said to me she had heard a quote that she loved, that said, ‘There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women.’”

Yes, those two are such Regina Georges, aren’t they? Oh, and that quote was from former secretary of state Madeline Albright, who doles out wisdom in between her free jazz drumming sessions.

Poehler and Fey’s responses displayed their superior media relations savvy.

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In case you didn’t notice, Hollywood’s biggest studios are suffering from the same problem as television networks: splintering audiences that require more highly targeted PR and marketing campaigns. A couple of facts: attendance rates for middle-aged consumers are stable while members of the all-important teenage demographic are going to see fewer movies now than they have at any point in the past.

More and more Hollywood communications pros, led by marketing agencies like Capstone Global Marketing, are turning to hard data in order to figure out the best ways to promote their movies. This targeted approach is especially relevant in an era that relies on audience engagement and social media sharing by real-world fans who don’t have any personal investment in the success of individual titles or studios at large.

The art of gleaning data from surveys and using it to promote movies is nothing new–in the 30′s, studio execs traveled around the country passing out basic “idiot card” with basic questions in order to figure out which movies members of the public liked most and what sort of changes would attract new viewers. But now the data is more important than ever, and studios are considering using online gaming “communities” to better gauge public sentiment.

What is the most effective way to determine how the public will respond to a particular movie? And how can the promoters who specialize in pushing Hollywood properties to the masses design more efficient campaigns?

We have a feeling the team responsible for promoting the upcoming Disney flick Oz the Great and Powerful cringed when watching this BBC interview with star Mila Kunis, in which she and a very nervous correspondent discuss Jägerbombs, Baywatch, UK football and the art of pouring a pint with no foam.

At the same time, we have little doubt that this was indeed the most interesting interview Kunis gave on her press junket–and it even makes us slightly more interested in her movie. Shouldn’t we all encourage clients to be a little more personable when speaking to the press?

On second thought, we probably shouldn’t…

In case you missed it (because we somehow did!), HBO ran a massive Game of Thrones ad in last Monday’s New York Times. At first glance, this spot may have sent readers ducking for cover or calling out for the nearest sword-wielding resident of Winterfell.

We’d say this promo campaign, complete with fictional stories that ran parallel with the show’s plot points and an ominous dragon shadow splayed across two pages of newsprint, proves that newspaper advertising can still generate some serious buzz when it’s done right.

Of course, HBO isn’t relying on print alone for its major GoT marketing campaign; in a follow-up to the NYT ad, the premium cable giant decided to take the duck-and-cover dragon shadow to the next level by featuring the image on the facade of its own Los Angeles high-rise last Tuesday.

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