weekend

I've had a mini vacation from school and I've been relaxing, maybe a bit too much. Thursday and Friday were snow days and I didn't really do anything productive. I stayed at my boyfriend Sean's house with his sister. We were drinking beers and playing Junior Scategories and Clue. I've never played Clue before, I liked it. I didn't win though. I called out of work Thursday and I actually went on Friday. I closed that day. I didn't do anything on Friday night. It was pretty boring. Sooooo Saturday night my friends from South Jersey were supposed to come up so we could all go out, but they didn't end up coming for some silly reason. Me and some of my friends went to a bar called Thatchers in Pompton Lakes. BUT there was a line to get in, it was ridiculous. So we left there and went to Sunset bar and grill in Lincoln Park. There was some band playing and a bunch of old heads. It was a fundraiser. I got some beers and had some shots. All in all, it turned out to be a great night. I tried patron cafe for the first time and it was delicious. I came back home and played super monkey ball with friends. Then I work up 15 minutes before I had to be at work and surprisingly I was only a minute late. So now it's Sunday night and this day is dedicated to homework. I'm so ready for spring break!!! OH, and I just got Jimmy Fallon tickets. YES THE ROOTS. :D
no work tomorrow, just school. so much homework, guess i gotta go do it nowwww!

bad pitch blog

After looking through the bad pitch blog very thoroughly, I think it may be one I start to read all the time. I read many different types of blogs, and I did enjoy this one because it talks about pr so much. I am actually interested in a lot of the posts. I really enjoyed the post about NBCs terrible decision to boot Conan off the network. It goes into a lot of details about the story and how NBC didn't make the right choice. Also, it mentions that they didn't think about how WE would feel about getting rid of Conan. and boy..am i mad about that. Another post I liked was the one that went in depth about getting a job in PR and all the different challenges that comes with it. The blog explains so many different aspects of finding a good job and how to answer interview questions. This post was helpful to read because it really went through all the basics of getting that dream job you've always wanted. I also enjoyed the "You belong in PR if..." post and you don't belong in PR if... I enjoyed this blog and I definitely will visit the site again.

Kevin Smithhh

Oh, how I adore Kevin Smith and SOME of his movies. I couldn't believe this story when I read about it. I thought it was crazy that they actually told him he couldn't fly because he was over weight. I don't believe that Southwest really handled it well. It makes them look bad because he says that he's flown with them several times before this, and there was never a problem. So why the sudden problem now? Southwest says that the passenger has to fit safely and comfortably in a seat. So why did they tell Smith to get off the plane? Who knows.. He swears he fits fine and he could get the armrests down. I don't think he'd lie about something like this. First off, I don't think he should've been kicked off at all because there are plenty people bigger than him that travel on Southwest, I'm sure. In another article I read, it said Southwest had given Smith a $100 voucher and an apology. Kevin Smith made it into a war through twitter. About 200 updates made about the whole ordeal. This is where he went too far. I mean, okay okay you got kicked off a plane, but do you need to make 200 updates about it? Southwest used their own blog and twitter to retaliate and explain exactly why they did what they did. So that was a smart move on their part. So overall, I think this story is getting blown out of proportion and could have been settled without this crazy public relations war.

Recent Publicity Stunts

I can't remember too many publicity stunts that have happened lately, but I do remember three that stick out in my mind.
The first was the famous MTV stunt at the Movie Awards, I think? Well anyway, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. It was the moment when Sacha Baron Cohen, who as that point was Bruno, landed on Eminem in the crowd. Many people really believed this, but it soon came out that it was a stunt. Eminem looked really angry so he played the part well. I guess he wanted to seem like a badass or something by walking away after. It ended up working out for MTV because lots of people gave in to it. I thought it was pretty silly, but still funny. Bruno got his movie out and he people saw him differently cause he "messed" with Eminem.
The next stunt is the boy in the balloon. What could I say about this one. This family is crazy. It was believable at first. I thought it was ridiculous. Then the kid had to go and say "I did it for the show" It was great. I'm happy this family had to come out and say they were lying. I don't think they should have taken the stunt that far because the authorities were involved. I mean come on, they were already on wife swap. do you really need to be on TV again.. AND what kind of a name is falcon? The stunt was working for a bit, but went terribly wrong, and I'm glad it did.
The last stunt I can remember was one that is done by an Improv group. I think they have them all over in different cities. The one I remember was the group went to Grand Central Station and randomly broke out into synchronized dance. AND, i am such a sucker for synchronized dancing hahah. I absolutely loved this stunt and it definitely got the groups name out. The group is called Improv Everywhere if you guys wanna check it out. I want to participate in one of their "missions" as they call it.
Well, that's it for now! BYE!

Publicity Stunts

The Taco Bell stunt was truly a good April Fools joke. They got so much media coverage and half a million dollar revenue increase. They sure do have a sense of humor, but not everyone liked the idea. I think it's an ingenious idea and it really worked in favor for their company. The ProShade stunt was an interesting idea to say the least. ProShade, knowing that their offer would never be accepted, tried anyway. The news would spread and soon enough everyone would know their company name. Next is the GoldenPalace. I actually recall hearing some news about a grilled cheese with the Virgin Mary on it. I had no clue an online casino had bought it. It worked for them because they got a lot of media coverage. This is strange news, but that's exactly what attracts people to it. The Burger King stunt was another April Fools joke. This one wasn't as clever as Taco Bells and I don't think it's a good stunt, but it worked for them because people actually believed the ad. The SonicYoga stunt is interesting because it could have went terribly wrong. They did what they needed to do and somehow got away with it. Since they made the one video, four more have come after so it definitely worked for them. DC Comics was just a clever way to get comic book readers to go out and buy the death of superman because they knew that would sell millions. Of course, they couldn't kill off Superman so they had a Return of superman. I'm not too sure this stunt intrigues me. Maui beverages, giving themselves a more laid back and chill persona was a good way to go. The Meow Mix was a clever idea, but I don't think it's too interesting. Half.com was a good stunt, but it I think it failed because they didn't go through with what they said they would do. Pokershare.com had a great idea because people love free gas, food, and music. It worked well enough to happen again in LA. Snapple's stunt was just an epic fail. They could've had something great there, but should've though of the consequences. JMP creations was a good idea at first and I'm sure the audience loved it because they thought that was supposed to happen, but it failed miserably. Vodafone was just a terrible idea to begin with. The company was obviously going to get in trouble. Sure it got the name out there, but they had to pay a hefty fine. I think the Sony idea could've been pretty cool, but graffiti is illegal so it didn't really work. It's true that Oprah got most of the publicity for Pontiac. I didn't even know that it was their stunt, i thought Oprah was just crazy and liked to give things away.
So overall, there are plenty of publicity stunts that works and some that go terribly wrong.