Some Lessons From College Are Useful After All…
Sitting in my senior year journalism class, the last thing any of us wanted to do was take our weekly Associated Press (AP) Style test. Our first thought: If we always have the book on hand, why do we need to have these tests? Quickly following: Why do these tests have to be on Monday mornings? But we kept at it, every week, racing to flip through the book looking for the correct use of effect versus affect and whether a number above ten should be spelled out or not.
When one particularly painful test was given the morning after the Super Bowl, and a friend only managed three correct answers, we were ready to swear off the AP Stylebook for life (to this day he claims that it was the late night before the test that was to blame).
Yet, here I sit, more than five years since these tests, with my AP Stylebook sitting on the shelf above my desk for easy access. AP Style has not only found its way into my professional life, as one can assume when working in public relations, but I’m almost embarrassed to say I’ve started noticing style errors in my life outside of the office. (Note: Not all publications use AP Style, and some have their own style guides.)
Is that magazine article using a serial comma? Did that author capitalize a job title after the person’s name? Sometimes I’ll point these errors out to my boyfriend and he’ll pretend to be interested in my style-hunting skills. I’m like Roscoe the bed bug sniffing beagle for AP Style.
You may ask: Who cares about something as small as a capital letter or % versus percent? Why do we bother following AP Style, or any style? At Articulate, we not only follow AP Style but also have our own Articulate style for the formatting and look of our documents. Why? Consistency. In the world of writing, consistency can equal brand quality. If you come to expect the quality of how a certain document from Articulate will look, then this high expectation becomes a part of our reputation. The same applies to writing. If a company releases consistently styled announcements or a newspaper follows the same style throughout, this becomes a part of their brand and reputation.
Of course, I did not understand this as I sat in that classroom at Fairfield University years ago taking my AP Style quiz, but I am now thankful that these exercises helped form the foundation for a knowledge set that helps me to this day.
By Ashleigh B. Egan
About Face: A Movie is Just Another Turning Point for Facebook
If you are like me, the anticipated arrival of the “The Social Network” movie about the creation of Facebook has given you a very tangible way to realize what happens when suddenly 500 million people are paying attention.
As someone who has grown up with Facebook, signing on as a college sophomore in the Fall of 2004 (the year it became available to every college student outside of Harvard) it’s astonishing how social media and networking have undergone major shifts in usage since then: from social to professional; exclusive to global; fun to consequential; private to public. I thought it would be interesting to survey some peers who have been along for the ride from the beginning.
The following are thoughts from peers who work in different facets of media and marketing and their opinions on the movie:
- “I think the movie looks awesome. I’m curious to see what Hollywood does with the recent heat they’ve gotten for privacy breaches. I’m also a little surprised that they went with a produced film versus a documentary, which may have given a more ‘down and dirty’ view of the social magnate. When’s a movie about the Google guys coming out?” – West Coast Blogger & Web Editor for online social media sites who is fluent in every social tool out there
- “It looks great; I think they’ll capture the interest of pop culture and the nerds here. Just like they’ve done with their platform.” –New York Media Buyer using who uses Facebook for work and social life
- “The movie looks interesting. Mostly I find it interesting that those who are on Facebook (and I actually know a ton of people who aren’t anymore), use it at so many different levels with varying levels of involvement – it’s astounding how versatile the platform has become.”— Non-profit Congressional Director who uses Facebook purely as a social outlet
What’s interesting to me is that although there is a general consensus that the movie looks good, each of these reviews remark on Facebook’s changing culture in a pretty neutral way, by people using Facebook in different ways. It seems to shed light on the evolution that we as early Facebook users have undergone with the platform.
Another observation was that although most everyone seems interested in the movie, it’s regarded with tremendous skepticism so much so that they deem it cannot be a worthwhile movie plot. “I’m embarrassed to say this looks good, but it can’t be,” replied several peers in unison. Even Mark Zuckerberg has said that he doesn’t plan to see it. Perhaps, for many users, Facebook can’t shake its amateurish social vibe long enough for any of them to take it seriously.
Obviously, the dramatic artistic license of Hollywood will no doubt have a great appeal and repulsion for Facebook users and non-users all over and the fact is that social media is evolving still. A Nielsen survey released on August 2 reported that the amount of time users spent on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social sites grew from 16 percent to 23 percent this year. My guess is that it continues to grow and change and Hollywood’s attention will attract more of the masses.
\’Social Network\’ Trailer 2 HD
By Margot Connor
The Articulate Amazing Race
The Articulate Account Foundation and Account Execution teams participated in the PRSA New York Amazing Race last month. Yes, in the heat and humidity of Manhattan.
Courtney, Margot, Isa, Bess and I traveled through midtown looking for various landmarks relating to media. While I can’t say that we completed all of the 25 or so tasks assigned to us during the scavenger hunt, we did learn a few things:
• People immediately assume you’re a tourist group when you’re all wearing the same t-shirt.
• When you preface a request with “I know this is strange, but it’s for a scavenger hunt,” you’ll typically get what you’re asking for.
• There is a Jamba Juice in the Time Warner Center. (Thanks Isa!)
• I am terrible at taking arm’s length pictures with my iPhone.
While we did not win the Amazing Race, it was a good way to spend a summer afternoon together, learning more about your coworkers than is discussed on a daily basis in our cubicles.
We did manage to get one decent, although slightly blurry, photo. Many thanks to the worker at the newsstand in the Conde Nast building for taking this picture with us, and earning us a few points!
By Ashleigh B. Egan
Beauty and the Beast: The Marriage of Image, Content and the Future of Media
“Blogs are often called the ugly stepchild of the media,” said Tina Brown, editor in chief of the popular news aggregator site The Daily Beast, at a recent media relations conference. “But they aren’t. You just have to look for quality.”
Brown herself is an expert at marrying content with images: She was editor of The New Yorker from 1992 to 1998, where she brought the prolific portrait photographer Richard Avedon on staff, launched Talk Magazine, a brief but star-studded monthly glossy and wrote the New York Times bestseller The Diana Chronicles on the late Princess Diana.
It would be hard to argue with Tina’s perspective that the web has always been designed by nerds, not with the visual instincts of an editor. At least not until now, that is. Using The Daily Beast as a reference point, Brown points out that blogs now have both the beauty and the brawn to elbow out traditional media. This is all well and good in an age where having the right information at your fingertips – regardless of who printed it first – is what’s most important to an audience. (One great example Brown mentioned during her talk: Does it really matter to a reader that Rolling Stone broke the story of the recent McChrystal scandal instead of TIME?)
For those of you like me, who worry not just about how our news is distributed but what those trends are doing to the failing ecosystem of print media, Brown has a challenging question. “Are some of the wounds newspapers and magazines currently suffering from self-inflicted? If a publication is owned by a major media conglomerate that squeezes the money out of editorial, then who is at fault?”
It’s hard to say. And while I’m not sure there’s a happy ending in the future of print media, we can be certain of one thing: the bloom is off the rose.
By Isa Loundon
Apple: A Dream Client, or a Tempest in a Teacup?
The iPhone 4 was released last week. Maybe you've heard of it-it's a new phone created by a small California start-up called Apple? I hear they’re up and coming in the stock market these days.
Unless you’re in self-imposed exile in the deepest reaches of Antarctica (in which case, you’re most likely not reading this blog, but I digress), you’ve heard about the newest version of Apple’s “game-changing” iPhone. Though I’m still attached to my rusty, trusty 3GS, I popped into the Upper West Side store (past the line of devoted followers that was snaking around the block, all waiting to get a new iPhone in their hot little hands) to check it out, and I have to say, it’s no slouch of a mobile device. With a front-facing camera for video chat, a gorgeous screen with incredible resolution, and other little tweaks to improve its aesthetics, the iPhone 4 is pretty sweet.
If you’ve heard of the iPhone 4, you’ve mostly likely caught wind of that tiny little antenna problem that cropped up after its release. After the iPhone became generally available, online message boards were flooded as Apple users angrily complained that their sleek new devices had poor reception and would randomly drop calls.
What would Apple do? This was the phone that was supposed to “change everything. Again.” Like many others, I’ve always been fascinated by Apple’s marketing and advertising strategies. I won’t lie – the FaceTime video that Apple created, which has already racked up 1.8 million hits, had me clutching a Kleenex. I wondered if something as a mass recall was imminent: after all, Apple had practically sold the iPhone 4 as an essential component of everyday life. If you listened to Apple’s spin, it seemed like without the iPhone, the average American would be nothing, a shell of a person: peanut butter without jelly, salt without pepper, Tom Cruise without Scientology.
So I was rather shocked when Apple brought in the big guns, and Steve Jobs himself told consumers to do…absolutely nothing. In an email to an iPhone 4 user, the notoriously blunt CEO certainly didn’t sugarcoat the issue, and told consumers to “just avoid holding it that way” or to use a case to prevent connectivity issues.
I slapped my head in amazement. Had Steve Jobs just told the general public that by holding the phone in order to use it, as a phone, that they were doing something wrong? I was ready to camp out in my apartment, thinking that the iPhone 4 consumers were ready to take to the streets with torches and pitchforks. But besides the fact that accessory makers winged a hallelujah to the sky for Steve’s product endorsement, the rest of the public actually seemed…puzzled. It seemed that users weren’t as angry or frustrated as they were bewildered by Apple’s response. Somehow, Jobs had successfully diffused much of the vitriol that users had previously displayed immediately after the phone’s release.
Though not everyone can get away with such an abrasive response, I realized that the CEO’s complete and utter confidence in his product and his willingness to directly address the issue served Apple well.
We’re fortunate at Articulate to work with clients who know their products and brands inside and out, and while we provide lean communications services to reinforce their messaging and positioning, they give us great material to use. It’s refreshing, efficient and fulfilling to work with folks who deliver that same level of industry know-how and conviction in their solutions and offerings.
Now, if Apple could just make a device that would vet ed-cal opportunities, I’d be all set. And hey, Apple? If you need a stellar PR firm, give Articulate a call.
By Courtney Hart
BP Struggling to Contain the Oil Spill Damage, both to the Environment and their Brand
Recently, I read a report that BP, in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico, was spending $10,000 per day for advertisements on several search engines for terms such as “oil spill” and “gulf spill.” This was an attempt to ensure that their website, outlining their response, would be at the top of the results page for people seeking more information on the developing story. While it is not an uncommon practice for companies to purchase ads on search engines for terms that describe their services or offerings, I found it interesting to see this tactic used in crisis communications in an effort to have greater influence over a conversation.
The strategy is an interesting one, innovative yet questionable in its ethics from my standpoint. On the one hand, it is a primary focus of PR to ensure that a company stays deeply involved in the discussion surrounding it and its industry. This has been a problem for BP since the explosion and subsequent oil spill began in April. Their PR efforts have struggled to find a voice, perpetually drowned out by the constant (but in my view, deserved) scrutiny from the media. By purchasing advertisements on search engines for related terms, BP is trying to force its perspective into the forefront in an effort to salvage its brand. In that sense, it is simply good crisis PR strategy.
However, the move can also be seen as BP trying to deceive the public and control the news that people are receiving. This feeling of mistrust is well-founded, as through this disaster BP has not always appeared entirely forthright to the public. The worry of BP deceiving people is also real, as some studies report that many people have a hard time distinguishing paid advertisements from unpaid search results. So, since some individuals may mistake BP’s voice for that of third parties; therein lies the questionable ethics.
Regardless of what one thinks concerning the ethics of the matter, this aspect of BP’s PR strategy offers two big lessons that all companies can learn from, even though they may likely never face a crisis situation such as the one at hand. First, it is vital that companies stay involved in industry conversations. In this case the method is debatable, but for most companies this can be achieved through proactive media campaigns, thought leadership, analyst relations, etc. Second, this situation shows the importance of SEO. With so many people getting their news and information from search engines, being a top return for relevant search queries is essential and proper SEO can help in achieving this goal.
By Bess Hammitt
Summer Party 2010 Photos
As promised, we now have some great photos from the Articulate summer party to share with the world:
http://davidgg.zenfolio.com/p342447588
Many thanks to our photographer, David Gardiner Garcia, and for everyone who came to the party!
Articulate Summer Party: The True Start of Summer
Last night was great for many reasons. It did not rain (contrary to Al Roker’s prediction), I had no problem getting a cab on the way home and the latest season of Top Chef started. However, my favorite reason is that last night was the Articulate Communications summer party. Every year, we bring together our employees, clients and friends of Articulate for a bash on the roof deck of 230 Fifth.
This was my first year attending the Articulate summer party, and I was not disappointed! With a staggering attendance of 145 (our most well-attended summer party ever!), we got to spend some social time with one another, without being separated by cubicle walls. We shared apps and drinks with clients and their loved ones, saw old friends from the industry, and I even ran into a fellow NYU master’s alumnus.
Why do we hold these parties every year? Yes, it’s fun to go to dress up, go to a nice venue and socialize. But, the real reason is so we can get to know our clients and potential future clients at a deeper level. There’s a certain surface-level relationship that you can have via e-mail and weekly update calls. The real relationship begins when we escape our office and have some face-to-face time. We begin to understand one another even better once we move past the purely work relationship and venture into a social environment.
We care about our clients as both professionals and as people. It’s just as great to share some really good coverage as it is to hear that a client has gotten married or had a baby. As our relationships grow, we begin to see how each other ticks and we can work better professionally. Balancing work and play is important to us at Articulate, and if we can have fun while getting to know our clients better, then it’s a win-win!
So thank you to everyone who attended and made this year’s party a success! Pictures are coming soon!
By Ashleigh B. Egan
Growing by Leaps and Bounds – and Babies!
In 2010, I am proud to say Articulate is growing. So far, we’re on target to be up 50 percent over 2009, and it speaks to the great team we’ve got here and the long-standing relationships we’ve built along the way. But there is another metric for growth of which that I’m perhaps even prouder: The growth of the Articulate family.
It’s hard for a small business to not feel like a family sometimes – the good and the bad, the comfortable relationships and the dysfunction, we’ve got it all. But the birth announcements and Christmas card greetings on the Articulate refrigerator are my favorite reminders of the family we’ve built.
• Megan Garnett’s daughter Siena, just born this February – her mom’s return to work last month was not a moment too soon.
• Bonnie Biggee’s third child and first daughter, Paige, born in March – sons Ryan and Ethan and dog-bro Leo are all smiles, and we’re still trying to coerce Bonnie into moving back to Manhattan from the wilds of Connecticut.
• Shulamit Gershenson’s son Eitan and daughter Gaia, all moving to Florida – though it’s hard to imagine Shulamit there.
• Jennifer Buchhalter’s son Harrison and daughter Marley – Mom Jen is going like gangbusters internally at Cisco up in Boston.
Articulate the business is healthy and happy (most of the time!), and I’m delighted to report the same thing for all the Articulate babies!
Our new Articulate addition, already making an appearance on the blog, Siena:
By Laura Grimmer
Social Media and Small Businesses
While social media adoption is on the rise, many small
business-to-business companies still view it as a marketing vehicle reserved
for large consumer brands or too vast a medium to be tackled effectively by a
small entity. A recent study by the Center for Media Research and the University of
Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business looked at the relationship between social media
and small businesses and found that the technology adoption rates in the U.S.
have doubled in the past year from 12 to 24 percent and that one
in five small business owners
are integrating social media into their business processes.
With economic uncertainty causing executives to tighten
marketing budgets, social media can be a highly effective and cost friendly
marketing tactic and customer service tool used by all businesses. In fact, 45% of
the small businesses surveyed in the
of
study believe their social media initiatives will pay-off financially in 12
months or less.
At Articulate
Communications we encourage clients to embrace social media as a fully
integrated component of their strategic communications program. If social media is adopted with a targeted,
strategic approach aimed at delivering the right message, to the right audience
and the right time, a small business-to-business company can see immediate
return. Here’s how:
·
Low cost
– It’s free to join LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc. Social media is filled with inexpensive or
free tools that marketers and public relations practitioners can use to engage
with key constituents, energize the client user-base and promote product and
corporate news. The manpower required to
write 140 character Tweets or post a question to a LinkedIn group are minimal –
even on a small business budget.
·
Improve
customer service and encourage word-of-mouth referrals — Happy, vocal
customers are always an effective sales tool.
By cultivating these relationships online and establishing a two-way
dialogue with customers, businesses can shrink the emotional distance between
the company and the consumer. By
actively listening, observing and participating in social networks, companies
can not only use social tools to sell directly to consumers but to help
consumers sell to each other by turning their most active customers into advocates
and encouraging them to take action i.e., product reviews, shared stories,
general word-of-mouth activity.
·
Engagement
with target journalists and analysts – Journalists and industry analysts
who follow your company are probably entrenched in social media – in fact, most
media outlets today feature blogs penned by beat reporters and columnists.
Companies can gain valuable insight into their market and competition through
monitoring what journalist and analysts are saying. Further, PR practitioners are given a direct
view into the story development process.
Often, journalists will use social media tools like Twitter to solicit
expert commentary and secure interview subjects.
In today’s 24-hour news cycle,
journalists don’t have time to seek, schedule and then wait for interviews to
happen. They need real-time sound bytes and commentary when news breaks and are
increasingly turning to blogs and micro-blogging sites to gathering this
information. For this reason, it’s
important for companies to realize the importance of establishing a corporate
blog as a primary thought-leadership tool, and for PR counsel to use the blog
to support media outreach efforts and press release activity.
·
Dissemination
of news and events – Want to distribute a new white paper? Educate users on
a new product upgrade? Tout new Web content? Drive Webinar attendance? For
announcements that might not warrant a traditional press release, social
networks offer a venue to promote corporate and marketing activity and
distribute information users crave.
By embracing social media, companies can meet their near
and long-term business goals by keeping costs low and focusing on where social
media tools and tactics can add the most value.
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