What does HTC stand for, anyway? “Hold This Cat,” perhaps?  Could it be “Hipster Troll Carwash?” Or maybe, “Humongous Tinfoil Catamaran.”

These are just a few of the possibilities suggested by HTC’s new spokesman, Robert Downey Jr., in the company’s just-launched “Change” campaign, the tagline for which is: “Here’s to Change.”

See what they did there?

New ads featuring Downey Jr., who has signed a two-year contract to be HTC’s “Instigator of Change,” will debut first on YouTube on August 15th and will also appear on television and in pre-movie spots. The first few ads will be mostly dedicated to playing out some of the far-fetched interpretations of the HTC acronym (yes, “Hold This Cat” will actually be a thing), while later spots will focus on HTC products like the One smartphone and software features like BlinkFeed, Video Highlights, and BoomSound.

The “change” comes roughly six months after HTC retired its “Quietly Brilliant” tagline, and is the company’s first attempt at refreshing its brand since doing so. HTC has invested a great deal in this rebranding, and says that the accompanying social media campaign is the largest it has ever crafted. Read more

Our lives are non-stop — we hear it all the time. If we’re not in a meeting, running an errand, cooking dinner or squeezing in a workout, then we’re probably on our smartphones either planning these things, doing them virtually, or posting about them on social networks. We, as a society, have forgotten how to be still.

Enter Amstel beer and its own take on the smart vending machine trend — stand perfectly still for three straight minutes and this harbinger of serenity will reward you with a free beer. The message is pretty clear: take a break from your hectic life with an Amstel. Simple, yet perfectly on point.

If this sounds like an easy way to earn a free beer, take three minutes of your Friday and try actually remaining perfectly still (no checking Facebook, no fidgeting, no phone calls) without getting antsy — it’s harder than you’d think! But it is rewarding (even without the free beer).

Here’s the associated commercial out of Bulgaria:

The woman at left is beautiful. She’s also an engineer. And as LinkedIn recently learned the hard way, those two things are not, in fact, mutually exclusive.

Toptal, a small developer networking platform, had featured this image in its ads for engineers, which appeared on LinkedIn. After “many LinkedIn members complained” about the image, the tech giant pulled the ads, telling Toptal that the promos could be run again once the picture in question had been replaced by “different images, related to the product.”

In other words, LinkedIn assumed an inherent disconnect between the image of a beautiful woman and a tech career like engineering.

Outraged by LinkedIn’s decision, CEO of Toptal, Taso Du Val (who I am proud to call a former classmate), wrote a scathing blog post, titled: “In Defense of Female Engineers.” In the original post, Du Val wrote, in part:

“Today was a disappointing day at Toptal. We saw extreme sexism within the tech community, from an industry leader and advertising partner that we work with quite extensively: LinkedIn…Are they seriously siding with people who complained to LinkedIn that our female software engineers are offensive?…these (and others) are our real engineers that we have signed contracts with. And even if they were only stock photography, who cares? The point is, they’re perfectly fine and represent normal professional people. Our male versions are no different. They’re male engineers, smiling, some with glasses, some without; the whole idea LinkedIn had was just ridiculous.

The fact of the matter is: members of the tech community (LinkedIn users) saw it as impossible that our female engineers could actually be engineers, and a leader of the tech community (LinkedIn) agreed with them. Unfortunately we’re banned from showing anything except 100%, all male software advertisements from now on and so, that’s what you’ll be getting. I’m disappointed both on a personal and professional level. I expect better.” Read more

Marking another evolutionary step in the dynamics between the public and the ways we consume information, Nielsen has released its first survey measuring the impact of Twitter on TV audiences, and vice versa.

The study didn’t unearth any groundbreaking revelations. That’s the funny thing about studies meant to mine us, the public, for information: We’re not surprised by the things we do. The data from Nielsen’s “Twitter Causation Study” reveals that 29 percent of the time Twitter does in fact “meaningfully” affect TV ratings, particularly unscripted programming such as reality TV shows and sports coverage.

Anyone who has ever live tweeted the Oscars, the Super Bowl, or America’s Got Talent knows the appeal of being able to riff on funny, inspiring or entertaining moments of spontaneity. It’s fun, and the perfect example of how our lives constantly involve multitasking. We facebook the stuffed flounder at our favorite restaurant. We instagram holding hands with a lover. And, yes, we tweet while watching TV.

That’s just where we are. As PR professionals, our job is to figure out where all of this is going. So it’s smart to measure how social media and TV are evolving together, particularly since TVs are basically morphing into computers. Will Twitter mean that crowdsourcing is the future of successful programming? Or is there any future at all for TV? Just where is all of this heading?

Any ideas?

M Booth PR’s blog Word. went live this week with a Google Glass edition, filling a Pinterest board with clips and commentary that’s entirely Google Glass created or related.

Lauren Martiello was the firm’s “Google Glass Explorer,” and she visits everything from gardens in the skies of NYC (above) to art exhibits and the workspaces of various creative types. Check it out for yourself and see what you think.

I also had the chance to take Google Glass for a test run and found it to be a bit too much. I get the hands-free nature of it. But do I want to have a device on my face and a screen in my peripheral vision in order to achieve that hands-free-ness? Not really. Of course, technology has a way of becoming necessary once it’s out in the world for a bit and its utility is fully sussed out. As for PRs, you can probably get a few cool stunts out of it. Clients would certainly be happy.

If you have thoughts on Google Glass do share. After the jump, ICYMI, Google’s own clip about the experience of using the device.

Read more

Vending machines are no longer just logo-covered boxes that trade coins for products. Over the past few months, we’ve covered everything from Hot Wheels’ tweet-powered vending machine to Coke’s slender, patriotic, and peace-seeking ones.

Now, coffee roaster Douwe Egberts has equipped one of its java-dispensing machines — which resides in a busy South African airport — with facial recognition software, enabling it to recognize when a person yawns. When a sleepy traveler approaches the machine, he or she is given a complimentary cup of joe.

The catchphrase attached to the accompanying campaign, created by Joe Public, is simply: “Bye bye, red eye.”

Forget blocking Facebook…a yawn-detecting coffee dispenser might just be the office productivity-booster the world’s been waiting for!

Ever get onto the commuter train after a long day at the office and rest your head on the window glass, letting the hum of the window’s vibration lull you into a trance? Well next time you plan to snooze while leaning up against a subway window, you may be in for a surprise: rather than the familiar buzzing sound, you might hear a message being transmitted directly into your skull via the vibrations. Should this occur, we assure you you aren’t hearing ghosts or being secretly recruited to be the next 007; you are simply experiencing a new form of advertising brought to you by BBDO.

The ads, which are completely inaudible until your head touches the glass, work by using a process called bone conduction. What’s that? Well, we aren’t scientists, so the simplified explanation is this: you don’t only hear sound through your ears — sound waves also vibrate through your skull. It’s the same phenomenon that causes your voice to sound different inside your own head than it does to the rest of the world. Small transmitters attached to the windows send out high-frequency vibrations, which are picked up not by your ears, but by your very bones.

In other words, these ads effectively transmit their messages directly into your head. Read more

In an effort to engage younger travelers (i.e. “millennials”), Marriott Hotels is undergoing a re-branding, and is launching a new multi-year global marketing campaign created by Grey NY.

The goal of the effort, called “Travel Brilliantly,” is  to amplify the brand’s dedication to leading the future of travel. In a release, the company states that it aims to appeal to “the next generation of travelers, who seamlessly blend work and play in a mobile and global world.”

At the heart of the campaign is the idea that a hotel is not actually bound by its four walls. Instead, the focus is on celebrating how the global travel experience is a mind-opening, inspiring life event that cannot be measured in miles or contained within brick and mortar. “This is not a hotel,” the advertising states, “It’s an idea that travel should be brilliant… It’s not only about where you’re staying. It’s about where you’re going.”

Compelling though this romantic and existential view of travel may be, the company is backing up its message with tangible changes, including re-designed lobbies and public spaces to better accomodate “the next generation of travelers who blend work and play, demand style and substance, and require technology.” The hotel chain is also introducing new concepts designed for the new mobile worker including Workspring at Marriott, Red Coat Direct and Workspace on Demand. Read more

PR experts know that trust is the emotional and intellectual equivalent of gold. It takes brands enormous amounts of time, energy and money to build trust with the public.

For technology brands Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Yahoo—brands that customers entrust with their personal information and private thoughts—cultivating and nurturing that tenuous but critical bond with the public is imperative to survival. Make no mistake: these tech brands are worried about the fallout from the recent controversy over the National Security Agency’s rampant surveillance program.

This is an epic public relations story. Americans understand the need for security and want the government to do everything within its legal powers to ensure our families, culture and values are safe. But our society’s values also demand an uncompromising respect for personal privacy and human dignity. Amid this volatile clash of priorities are the technologies that exist between the public and our families, friends, jobs, bank accounts, personal vices, political views, religious beliefs, sexual preferences and our very individual humanity.

Upon learning that the U.S. Government, via a program named PRISM, monitored foreigners, citizens and residents—really, who else is there?—via information provided by the popular aforementioned tech brands, the public took a huge mental step back. It’s like we all a came home early and found our spouse’s underwear on the kitchen floor. This is completely unwanted and unexpected information, but we’re hoping a simple explanation will restore our faith in the relationship. Read more

Big agency news today as LEWIS PR announced that it acquired Davies Murphy Group (DMG), a Boston-based PR firm with 65 staffers, as of May 31. DMG has offices abroad (UK and Germany), and focuses on B2B technology clients across the spectrum, from startups to larger businesses.

The acquisition, according to LEWIS, raises the firm’s annual global revenues up to $45 million and US revenue up to $20 million* and pushes the staff total up to 420.  This marks the third acquisition for LEWIS in five years, following Page One PR in the UK and Leeds United in Antwerp.

Read more