lmgprlounge

A screenshot from Colheita Feliz, published by Mentez.

Here at the Loughlin/Michaels Group, we love working with interesting and innovative companies. For the past month and a half, we’ve had a great time running a special campaign for Latin America’s largest social gaming publisher, Mentez. Mentez is a household name in Latin America, but was virtually unknown here in the U.S. We helped change that.

Our story starts in mid-July, when we got a call from Insight Venture Partners, a Manhattan-based VC firm that had heard about our team through one of its other investment companies. Insight called us up and asked, “What do you think about online games in Brazil?” We were intrigued.

The team jumped into research mode, using Google Translate to read through Mentez’s Portuguese-language website, its Portuguese-language social media, and Portuguese-language news coverage. We were able to get a pretty good handle on the Mentez business model: The company takes successful online games from the U.S. and China, and makes them succeed in Latin America and Brazil, through translation, localization, project management, alternative payments, branding and cross-platform promotion. We quickly developed a game plan, and successfully presented our ideas to the executive team.

Once they were on board, we had a busy month ahead of us. We ironed out our strategy, media targets and campaign objectives. We wrote an interactive press release (and had it translated into traditional and simplified Chinese), rewrote much of Mentez’s English-language website copy, coordinated a customized media training session with the company’s top three executives and an executive from Playdom, and secured an exclusive interview with Dean Takahashi from VentureBeat.

On launch day, the office was a flurry of activity. Donna came in over the weekend and decorated the office like it was Carnaval — with gold, purple and green streamers and beads on every desk. Takahashi’s article published on schedule, and we immediately sent out customized pitches to the editors on our short list, telling them that Mentez’s executives were available for interviews. Just in case you’re interested, click here to read the press release we sent out.

The launch went according to plan, exceeding our predetermined metrics for success. We secured 15 original articles, notably in VentureBeat, Inside Social Games (twice), Inside Facebook, The Social Times, Gamasutra, Red Herring and Dow Jones VentureWire. Oh, and more than 200 mentions on Twitter.

They wanted to make a splash, and they did a cannonball. Mentez reports that early responses from the campaign have been positive, with queries from curious game developers in the U.S. and China interested in partnering with the company. You’ll be hearing a lot more about Mentez, Brazil and social gaming in emerging Internet markets this year. We’re happy to be part of that push.

As PR professionals, we’re always up to try new services designed to improve the effectiveness of our communications.  We use mobile phones, email, audio services, video, desktop conferencing and traditional meetings.

All of these a la carte solutions are great, but there hasn’t been a one-stop solution that’s been a breakaway favorite… until we met the folks at ViVu.tv.  For the first time, you have unmatched audio and video desktop communications for less than the cost of three Starbucks’ coffees.   The company’s VuRoom service is so easy to install and use that a child could do it. We’ve had video chats with individuals in Asia Pacific, Europe and the U.S., smoothly as watching TV.

VuRoom is ideal for up to 8 users but the beauty of ViVu is their engineers also created the first multi-video conferencing services for major events and meetings.

On July 28, the  8th annual AlwaysOn & STVP Summit at Stanford 2010 used ViVu’s VuCast videoconferencing platform to reach more than 10,000 attendees watching online. ViVu streamed HD-quality video of the two-and-a-half-day summit, which featured more than 100 speakers, representatives from the region’s most innovative companies, eminent technologists and influential investors. ViVu showed off some brand-new technology itself — the industry’s first live videoconferencing platform over the iPad.

Check it out here: http://alwayson.vivu.tv/portal/archive.jsp?flow=342-113-4226&id=intro

We encourage you to sign up for VuRoom and use it in place of phones, email, etc.  It will truly facilitate your business dialog, reduce your email and build better relationships. And the next time your boss tells you to host the annual customer, sales or tradeshow event…..try VuCast and you won’t look back!

Time magazine recently published a list of the Best Blogs of 2010. The selections range from humorous blogs designed to lighten your mood, to ones discussing serious issues, such as climate change and public policy.

Over the last few years, blogs have grown immensely in popularity and have changed the landscape of public relations. Blogs have opened the door to anyone with Internet access having the ability to write about their views and opinions. Thus, bloggers are now viewed by many as being just as essential to the practice and processes of public relations as journalists.

The LMGPR team recognizes the growing significance of blogs and their writers. We make a point to read and review blogs daily to stay up-to-date with what the public is saying. Below is a list of LMGPR’s favorite blogs. Some are related to public relations and technology and some are just for fun! Enjoy!

The Proactive Report: The Proactive Report is written by Sally Falkow, a social media strategist. It explores social media tactics, as well as online public relations strategies and how technology is changing communication.

PR at Sunrise: This blog, with its inspirational theme and design, chronicles the author’s random thoughts on the ever-changing landscape of public relations. The challenges of the industry are discussed, as well as how to improve pitching, tactics and the state of your agency.

Brian Solis: Brian posts updates and thoughts about the uses and advantages of social media. Posts cover different ways that organizations are using social media, as well as tips and tricks to use it to your own advantage.

TechCrunch: TechCrunch, a mainstream technology blog, provides product reviews and company profiles to the masses. Michael Arrington founded this blog in 2005.

Mashable: Mashable is another mainstream tech blog which focuses on the Internet and its everchanging landscape.  Founded by Pete Cashmore in 2005, Mashable has recently been called by Bloomberg one of the world’s most profitable blogs.

All Things D: All Things D (Digital), a blog of the Wall Street Journal, provides up-to-date news and reviews about a variety of tech and digital products and companies.

Passive-Aggressive Notes: This blog spotlights the humorous reality of human conflict. Readers submit notes that have been written to them or to others which deal with issues in a passive-aggressive manner. Notes posted on this blog cover topics ranging from parental concerns to bathroom sanitation to buyer’s remorse. Note wars are also common. This hilarious blog gets an A+ for showing us how silly people can be.

PostSecret: PostSecret takes contributions from all readers of secret messages written on postcards. This blog provides a forum for people to confess their true feelings, dreams and secrets without risking their identity being revealed. The blog is self-described as an “ongoing community art project.”

Have you ever read a press release that had your eyes glazing over and your mind elsewhere by the end of the first paragraph? Unfortunately, we all have, and we can blame overused buzzwords and marketing speak for these literary travesties.

I recently read an interesting article on Adam Sherk called “The Most Overused Buzzwords and Marketing Speak in Press Releases” that called out the worst of these overused terms. We see these words so much they have virtually lost their meaning and effectiveness. So next time you settle in to create a press release, expecting to inspire the industry and motivate journalists everywhere to write an article, keep these words in mind, but off the paper.

So here are the 15 most overused buzzwords and marketing speak in press releases, based on the number of times they appear in releases currently archived on PRWeb. Check out Adam Sherk to see the full list of 86 words.

Which words are you tired of hearing?

1. Leader (161,000 mentions)
   
2. Leading (44,900 mentions)
   
3. Best (43,000 mentions)
   
4. Top (32,500 mentions)
   
5. Unique (30,400 mentions)
   
6. Great (28,600 mentions)
   
7. Solution (22,600 mentions)
8. Largest (21,900 mentions)
9. Innovative (21,800 mentions)
10. Innovator (21,400 mentions)
11. Award winning (11,800 mentions)
    
12. Exclusive (11,000 mentions)
    
13. Premier (10,700 mentions)
    
14. Extensive (10,500 mentions)
15. Leading provider (10,100 mentions)
    

The Associated Press Stylebook is the Bible for American journalists and publicists. It is the fundamental guide for grammar, punctuation, principles and practices of journalism writing and reporting.

Book editors master the Chicago Manual of Style, and some of us have been fortunate enough to learn both.

Learning the individual quirks of these style guides can be daunting, but it’s essential to know the ABCs and the XYZs with your peers and the industry. In fact, our founder, Donna Michaels, has her original AP Stylebook circa 1980 and arms all her employees with their own copies. Over the years, the AP Stylebook has added .com, popular slang and socially-correct guidelines but for the most part grammar, style and punctuation remain unchanged. The key chapters in the Stylebook are Business Guidelines, Sports Guidelines and Style, Guide to Punctuation, Briefing on Media Law, Photo Captions, and Editing Marks.

The AP Stylebook was first published in 1953. For many years it was titled The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual. In 2000, the guide was renamed The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law. In recent years, the title used on the cover has been simplified to The Associated Press Stylebook.

Regardless of the title, the AP Stylebook is as classic as the Betty Crocker Cookbook, but with the garnish of Julie Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

Move over AP, there’s a new cook in the news room and it’s Yahoo!

Yahoo has released “The Yahoo! Style Guide: The Ultimate Sourcebook for Writing, Editing, and Creating Content for the Digital World.” The guide is not intended to replace the AP Stylebook, but instead serve as a guide for good writing, both online and off. According to the Yahoo! Style Guide the hyphen in email goes away. Similarly, the AP recommends the phrase “smart phone,” while Yahoo! says that’s just one word, and so on.

Yahoo’s guide also offers lots of practical advice and articles about issues, such as how to appeal to an online audience, making your site accessible to those with disabilities, search engine optimization, creating content for mobile devices and what makes a strong headline.

In our opinion, the new Yahoo! Style Guide is a good addition to mastering the AP Stylebook, but is not a replacement. To test your AP Style IQ, go to http://www.newsroom101.com/NR_exercises/AP1/.

Dyyno, Inc. today introduced the first free Facebook application for businesses that want to produce, distribute and monetize video for marketing and promotional efforts. The Dyyno Facebook video application is an extension of its online video distribution platform that businesses can use for the social networking site. The Dyyno Live Video Streaming App on Facebook offers a free, scalable and easy-to-use solution that allows businesses to offer high-quality live streaming and on-demand video through Facebook.

Enterprises and SMBs can now monetize video assets by utilizing in-stream advertising and subscriptions. Businesses can now share video assets on Facebook while staying in control of the video content by not having to upload the video to Facebook. Enterprises and SMBs can create an external Dyyno channel in the cloud and control their video content outside the social networking site. With more than 400 beta users of the new application on Facebook, and more than 100,000 registered users of its platform, Dyyno is rapidly accelerating the use of live video on the internet.

For more information about Dyyno’s announcement check out the press release located here.

Dyyno Social Media:

• Check out Dyyno’s free video application on Facebook
• Watch a video sound bite on how to use the Dyyno Facebook app
• Connect with the Dyyno team on Facebook
• Read the Dyyno blog
• Find us on Twitter
• Visit the Dyyno video library
• View Dyyno’s recent TiE50 Award win

If you’ve been following Bay Area news lately, you may be aware that the city of San Jose is facing a major budget deficit. Mayor Chuck Reed and the San Jose City Council has asked all city employees to take a 10 percent cut in wages and benefits. If the unions representing these employees refuse to accept these cuts, layoffs will occur in all departments.

While the deficit and layoffs are troubling enough, perhaps some of the most troubling aspects of this issue are the messaging tactics being used by the leadership of City Hall to turn the residents of San Jose against the city employees. These leaders have painted a picture, particularly through the use of the San Jose Mercury News, of city employees as being greedy for not wanting to surrender 10 percent of their salaries and benefits. At its core, their main message conveys that because so many in the private sector have suffered due to the state of the current economy, it’s only fair that those in the public sector should have to as well.

At the center of this storm are the San Jose Fire Department and San Jose Police Department, who have been blasted recently for their retirement packages and health benefits, which many members of the City Council are now claiming to be excessive. Due to the message that has been projected to the public about these employees, many citizens are beginning to turn on them. For example, a letter to the editor was recently submitted to the Mercury News claiming that when a citizen sees a library in San Jose closed due to the dismal budget, they should “thank a firefighter.” Also troubling were the calls to a local councilman from several citizens who witnessed a fire being fought in temperatures as high as 90 last week (a blaze that sent two firefighters to the hospital for heat exhaustion). They claimed to be concerned to see a group of firefighters drinking water in the shade and laughing after they had fought the blaze. Apparently, these citizens forgot that in such weather, cooling your body and staying hydrated are important…even for firefighters.

In light of the recent smear campaign launched by the city against its own employees, we’ve compiled a list of “Dos and Don’ts” to abide by if ever you find yourself at the heart of a smear campaign:

Do plan your messaging tactics before going public: Like any other public relations campaign, a solid core message must be developed and revised before launching. Resist the temptation to strike back quickly with your response to the allegations against you. You will lose credibility with your target public(s) if you are poorly organized and you may potentially risk contradicting yourself.
Don’t mention the other party in your statements: Despite what may be your first instinct, do not respond to an individual or organization’s claims by using their name(s) in a public forum. This is what turns your defensive tactics into an offensive attack against those smearing you…and makes you just as bad as them.
Don’t strike back: When your reputation is hurt, it is difficult to fight the desire to refute claims by pointing a finger back at your accuser. Still, it is important to handle the situation maturely and rationally by not retaliating by sending a smear campaign back in the other direction. Keep calm and focus on restoring your reputation…not on ruining theirs.
Do stick to the facts: Presenting facts that are untrue in your counter messaging will only hurt you in the end, not your opponent. Present the truth, to avoid losing credibility in the eyes of your target public.
Do find allies: Your message will be more convincing if you have the support of others behind you. Find as many organizations, politicians, or other relevant individuals as you can to stand behind you. They say to stand up for what you believe in, even if you’re standing alone. This is true, but it sure is a lot easier with some friends by your side.
Do use alternative/creative methods: Depending on the situation facing you or your organization, a variety of methods may be appropriate to counter the claims of the smear campaign. Do not limit your methods to just one. For example, in addition to posting their side of the argument on their website, Every Second Counts, the San Jose Fire Department has taken to going door-to-door in San Jose neighborhoods to alert the citizens to the current situation they are facing, and the City Council’s plan to make severe cuts in their department.
Do expect more attacks: After fighting a smear campaign, you may feel at one point like you have fulfilled your mission, but you may not be out of the woods yet. Never let your guard down and always act with integrity. This will give your opponents less material to work with. Also, have statements prepared to counter any future attacks. The better prepared you are, the faster you may be able to crush any new attacks.
Don’t take it personally: As difficult as this is to accept, a personal vendetta is not at the center of the majority of public smear campaigns. These campaigns are typically launched for someone else’s political or social gain. While it may be easy to feel like insults and accusations are aimed to hurt you, they are actually aimed at helping the opposing party. Keep your cool, respond with respect, and leave it all behind when you go home at night.

The Loughlin/Michaels Group loves games — from casual games and social media games to competitive games.

This year marks the 16^th anniversary of the E3 Expo. It’s hard to believe, but E3 is a teenager now. This week, the red carpet of the gaming industry converges at E3, (June 15-17) which attracts approximately 45,000 attendees. The big boys of the gaming industry — including Nintendo, Sony, Sega and even Microsoft — embark on promoting their catalog of games. You’ve all seen the dog playing poker photos, well this is the event where the big dogs come together, collaborate, negotiate and partner.   This isn’t a show where gamers and the general public can walk the floor and collect freebies in a tote bag, it’s the who’s who of the gaming industry and a dynasty that rivals the opening bell of the stock market. In fact, the games introduced at E3 will likely push the economy forward.  It’s as hot as fashion week in NYC in the fall.

At Vatorsplash Spring, we met the founders of MYeGamer: www.myegamer.com.

MYeGamer is a community site for the game fanatic who wants to collaborate, meet up and share gaming expertise. MYeGamer is the source.  When we met the founders, Jordan Trabue and Andrew Littlewood last spring, they had us at hello.  Our friends at MYeGamer play about 150 hours of games a week. Their service will provide competitive and novice gamers a one-stop portal for news, education and meeting up with gamers. If match.com was designed for connecting singles, MYeGamer was designed to connect to avid gamers.

They are avid gamers, they understand the urge to log on, play highly interactive games at a global level.  They understand that although major gaming companies will create games for revenue, the diehard gamer plays for the passion, excitement and satisfaction.  They are avid players of Halo, Starcraft, Call of Duty and social media games like Farmville, and Mafia Wars.

The E3 2010 Gamers choice awards based on the most votes can be seen here. The highest rated game is Star Wars: The Old Republic, followed by Halo Reach and StarCraft II. The top ten games can be found here.  The top games continue to be the top games because gamers like them. They are stealth, fun and competitive.

We applaud MYeGamer. They’re helping make sense of the gaming industry and they’re experts at what’s hot and what’s not at a global level. Whatever your game of choice, we like to think that MYeGamer is the one-stop shop for gamers to meet, greet and play!

We recently read a blog post titled “Does Your PR Firm Need a PR Firm?” by Mike Melanson. Melanson’s main point was how hiring a PR firm can be tricky, especially for start-ups, because if you trust your new brand to an agency who isn’t going to educate the public correctly, that obviously isn’t a good start for a very new company.

Melanson discussed some techniques that some PR agencies have adopted including carpet bombing strategies and email bombing. After reading the post I decided to give a little lesson on PR best practices to inform readers how the LMGPR team does media relations.

Public relations is essentially developing relationships with the people you want to educate. By developing these relationships, you are able to influence these people to feel, act or believe a certain thing. If the essence of PR is developing relationships, I sincerely doubt spamming someone with irrelevant emails is going to develop that relationship or be very influential at all.

Sure, we understand that perhaps the more people you email the better chance you can get one of those people to listen, but that media contact may not be the best fit for the company you represent. I could email every editor in the world, but that won’t help my tech client if the only interview I schedule is with an editor who covers baseball.

The trick to media relations is remembering what the purpose of the outreach is from the beginning. You are helping your client establish relationships with the media contacts that will help that company influence their targeted audience.

In order to establish that relationship, it’s important to remember that not only can you send an email, but you can pick up the good old fashion telephone and try giving them a call. We understand that not all editors want to be called and prefer email, but that just shows we are researching these contacts before we make outreach because we want to build on those relationships. We are not just emailing to email, or calling to call. Everything we do for media relations is with a purpose and has a strategy. The end result is building those relationships with the key influencers in the industry so our clients can become influential as well.

So the best advice we can give others regarding PR 101 best practices for media relations are:

1. Think like an editor, put yourself on the other side of the desk and know that you are not the only PR person contacting them
2. Do your homework and know what they cover, what their interests are and build a positive relationship
3. Don’t send a generic pitch; customize each pitch based off your research
4. Correspond with editors based on their personal preference. Some like emails, others like phone calls and some even prefer Facebook
5. Be respectful of the editor’s time

The bottom line is, in order to develop a favorable relationship with media and/or analysts, you need to be prepared and you need to have a strategy. And no, email bombing is not an acceptable strategy.

Some other key sources for learning PR 101 are:

• PRSA
• PR Week
• PR News
• Bulldog Reporter

One of the fastest-growing Twitter accounts this month has been @BPGlobalPR, a satirical account making fun of BP and the company’s public relations disaster in the Gulf Coast. The big question on everyone’s mind – and no doubt, on the minds of BP’s lawyers – has been the identity of the writer, an environmental activist with a sharp wit and twisted sense of humor.

That writer stepped forward this week, identifying himself to the bloggers at Street Giant only as “Leroy Stick.” In a 1,046-word letter to the media, he rips into BP’s PR response, and gives us all a lesson in PR and branding in the digital age. Here are some of the highlights from his letter, and our take on Stick’s position.

Stick: “I started @BPGlobalPR because the oil spill had been going on for almost a month and all BP had to offer were bulls**t PR statements.  No solutions, no urgency, no sincerity, no nothing.  That’s why I decided to relate to the public for them.  I started off just making jokes at their expense with a few friends, but now it has turned into something of a movement.”

Our take: Crisis management is difficult for any company to execute, even more so when your company is facing the single worst oil spill in human history. Stick is absolutely correct: BP’s public relations campaign should have been honest and sincere from the start.

Stick: “I’ve read a bunch of articles and blogs about this whole situation by publicists and marketing folk wondering what BP should do to save their brand from @BPGlobalPR.  First of all, who cares?  Second of all, what kind of business are you in?  I’m trashing a company that is literally trashing the ocean, and these idiots are trying to figure out how to protect that company?”

Our take: BP’s brand name isn’t being destroyed by a satirical Twitter account like @BPGlobalPR; people already have negative feeling about the brand themselves, and the account is simply packaging those feelings in a relatable way. We’ve heard that BP might want to shut down @BPGlobalPR – that would simply heap fuel on the fire. The other side of the coin, of course, is that BP shareholders have collectively lost billions of dollars on Wall Street over the last 30 days and BP is in a lot of trouble. The stakes are very high for this company, and there probably isn’t a lot of room for humor at BP’s headquarters right now. Shares of BP were trading around $60 a share on April 20, the day the oil rig caught fire. Now they’re trading under $40 a share – a 35 percent loss in value.

Stick: “Do you want to know what BP should do about me?  Do you want to know what their PR strategy should be?  They should fire everyone in their joke of a PR department, starting with all-star Anne Womack-Kolto and focus on actually fixing the problems at hand.”

Our take: Amen.

Stick: “So what is the point of all this?  The point is, FORGET YOUR BRAND.  You don’t own it because it is literally nothing.  You can spend all sorts of time and money trying to manufacture public opinion, but ultimately, that’s up to the public, now isn’t it? You know the best way to get the public to respect your brand?  Have a respectable brand.  Offer a great, innovative product and make responsible, ethical business decisions.”

Our take: And now, we get to the meat and potatoes. Stick hits the nail on the head: The Internet has changed the game. Your company’s brand is a fluid object. You spend money crafting the direction of that object, but ultimately it’s owned by the public. Activists like Stick will continue to co-opt the world’s brands and impose their own spin on them. Companies need to adapt to this new reality, by creating brand campaigns that recognize the importance of social media and the power that a single voice can have on their product perception.

And now, a handful of the best of @BPGlobalPR:

-       “Thousands of people are attacked by sea creatures every year. We at BP are dedicated to – bringing that number down. You’re welcome!”

-       “On the bright side. This endless oil leak has given Americans the chance to ponder the concept of infinity. Expand your minds people!”

-       “Jesus walked on water and soon you can too! (Please pray for BP, we’re losing a lot of oil).”

-       “The good news: Mermaids are real. The bad news: They are now extinct. #bpcares”

-       “New solution: Everybody drive your cars into the gulf with your gas caps open! You’ll get a full tank and we’ll only charge $20 cash!”

-       “Just got the concession call from Exxon Valdez. They were great competitors and remarkably evil about everything. #bpwins!”

-       “OMG This isss ridciulsus. playing a drinking gamee where we drink a shot everytme we seeee an oily birdddd!!! LOL! so wasted!!11 #pbcares”