We’re now located in the heart of downtown San Jose, the capitol of Silicon Valley, with our office overlooking bustling San Pedro Square. Here’s the view from our meeting room:

Exposed brick, private offices and a mid-century meets zen-like feel to the building have all of us here at LMGPR (especially Woody!) feeling a bit “Mad Men” these days:

Here’s the view from Michael’s office:

And here’s a peek in on Angel:

And Janet… hard at work:

While Sunnyvale had its charms, there’s a certain sense of excitement we get from working in downtown San Jose with all the hustle and bustle around us… not to mention the restaurants, bars and Friday Farmers Market right outside our door! Change is good and the entire office is feeling inspired and invigorated about a fresh start. If you’re ever in the area, stop by and say hi!

Meanwhile, we are proud to introduce Renegade Music Group, an independent record label based in San Francisco producing pop, hip hop, rap and Latin dance music for today’s generation, as the newest edition to the LMGPR client base. The label’s first recording artist Aki Starr is generating serious buzz with the video release of “The closer I get to you” on You Tube:

In its first week, the video went viral with more than 40,000 views. “The Closer I Get To You” is an electro remake of the 1977 hit by Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway and is the first in a series of songs Aki Starr will produce on the Renegade Music label.

Starr is a singer, songwriter, dancer, actor and music producer. He was recently the lead singer on Jorge Santana’s, Gracias Madrecitas and performs with Foreverland, an electrifying 14-piece tribute to Michael Jackson. Starr also played the lead role of Cesar Chavez in a musical adaptation of his life in Let the Eagle Fly.

For Aki Starr… the sky’s the limit and LMGPR looks forward to helping this “Starr” shine!

Check Aki Starr out on:

YouTube

Facebook

Twitter

If you use a Bluetooth headset, chances are you’ve misplaced it at one time or another, or perhaps even lost it completely. And while they may be small in size, the price tag certainly isn’t. With higher end models in the $70-$100 range, losing a headset is a potentially costly loss!

Luckily, our friends at Phone Halo have come up with a solution. The item tracking company has just released “The Phone Halo Bluetooth Headset Tracker,” the first-ever Smartphone app that helps users keep tabs on their headsets.

The app sends out an audible reminder before a headset is left behind and also takes a GPS snapshot of its last location for easier retrieval. The app not only saves consumers time and money, but gives them peace of mind as well.

The Phone Halo Bluetooth Headset Tracker will soon be available for download free of charge through the Apple App Store.

Public Relations become PUBLIC ELATION for ice cream lovers everywhere today as Ben & Jerry’s holds its annual “Free Cone Day.”

Ben & Jerry’s holds the event to thank customers “for their support and to celebrate 34 years of scooping the chunkiest, funkiest ice cream, frozen yogurt and sorbet.”

On the PR front, these types of customer appreciation events go a long way in not only keeping existing customers, but bringing in new ones as well. Customers love free things… and if it’s edible, well, that’s even better. Perhaps the old saying “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach,” should be revised with “the way to a customer’s heart is through his or her stomach!” Something to consider when devising a PR plan…

So whether you prefer Cherry Garcia, Chunky Monkey, Chubby Hubby or just a plain scoop of Vanilla, indulge yourself in a free scoop today.

… and justify the calorie guilt by reminding yourself that it’s free!

They say that as you grow older, the memory is the first thing to go. If so, then we’re in big trouble when it comes to our digital identity!

If you’re like most people you’ve got dozens perhaps even hundreds of usernames and passwords: one for your bank account, one for your PayPal, one for your Amazon… the list goes on and on. Remembering them all can be a hassle and that’s where OneID comes in.

OneID is your new online identity. With OneID, you can say goodbye to usernames and passwords. Instead, you enter your personal information one time when setting up your OneID service account and from there you can sign in to any OneID enabled website with a single click. In addition, you’ll no longer need to fill out your name, email, shipping or billing information when you make online purchases.

OneID is the brainchild of Silicon Valley visionary and serial entrepreneur Steve Kirsch. He came up with the idea after his sister was hacked and asked, “How do I know if it’s safe to log into my bank or PayPal account?” Kirsch sprang into action, creating a new service that stands to change the way people log on to websites forever.

And did we mention it’s secure?

OneID was designed to be unbreakable. People using OneID needn’t worry about identity theft as phishing, key logging, password guessing and malware attacks are useless against OneID’s secure authentication system. To see how it works, click here.

Steve Kirsch calls OneID his “best idea ever.” A bold statement, but consider the source! This is coming from a man who has been at the forefront of technology for more than three decades and has founded several companies including Mouse Systems, Frame Technology, Infoseek, Propel and Abaca.

If Steve says this his best idea ever, we’ll take his word for it!

Click Here to find out more about OneID…

Did you get candy, flowers, a card, jewelry or make dinner plans for your certain someone this year?

You’re not alone!

For a closer look: EggDrop Valentine Infographic

With so many social media outlets out there today, people relatively new to the social media phenomenon may find themselves overwhelmed.

Luckily, Douglas Wray posted “Social Media Explained” to his Instagram. Using a doughnut as inspiration, the role of each social network is explained in its most primitive form. The tongue-in-cheek definitions outline the basic premise for each site so that even a social media newbie can understand.

The photo went viral across Facebook, Twitter, blogs and eventually on major sites like Business Insider.

Is there a PR lesson to be learned here? Perhaps.

Maybe the idea that breaking something down into “the simplest terms and the most convenient definitions” (Thank you, Anthony Michael Hall) can be much more easily understood than a long drawn-out explanation.

As PR pros we sometimes have just seconds to garner the attention of a writer, editor or producer. It is what we say or write in those first few seconds that sometimes determines whether or not our pitch is accepted.

So perhaps we should take the words of Bruce Lee to heart when pitching a story to the media:

“Simplicity is the key to brilliance.”

… or we could just bribe them with doughnuts.

This is becoming a bit of a habit! We’re proud to announce that another one of LMGPR’s alums has been acquired! This time it is Reppler being acquired by TrustedID, a leading provider of credit and identity protection services.

Reppler is a social media monitoring service that keeps your social reputation clean and safe by addressing three critical elements — content, privacy and security. Reppler monitors sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn looking for inappropriate content, malicious links and personal information that should be made private. Reppler also analyzes profiles showing users how they are perceived across social networks.

Reppler and LMGPR began working together in May of 2011. Over the course of the year LMGPR was able to land Reppler in numerous high profile media outlets including Mashable, San Francisco Chronicle, Forbes and VentureBeat. LMGPR also secured a briefing between Reppler and renowned columnist for the Wall Street Journal Walt Mossberg.

Through this exposure, Reppler was able to build its brand recognition and was soon considered “one of the industry’s most advanced reputation management and protection services.”

Reppler is being seen as a natural fit for TrustedID, who up until now has focused primarily on identity and credit theft issues. With the acquisition of Reppler, TrustedID says it will now offer “identity management help across the board.”

LMGPR is proud to have once again helped a client reach the next level. The Reppler acquisition comes on the heels of Motorola’s acquisition of our client Rhomobile late last year. When our clients are acquired, we take great pride knowing that we played a role in helping them achieve new levels of success. It’s what we strive for at LMGPR and we just want to wish Reppler the very best on its new endeavor.

Congratulations to Rhomobile! InfoWorld has chosen Rhomobile Rhodes for a 2012 Technology of the Year Award. The Rhodes framework allows developers to more easily build mobile apps for Android, IOS, Windows Phone 7 and Blackberry devices.

This award is just the latest triumph for Rhomobile. After joining forces with LMGPR in early 2011, the momentum began to build with dozens of media placements including Forbes and Bloomberg News West. The momentum culminated with Motorola Solutions acquiring Rhomobile in October 2011. Now a new year is here and Rhomobile continues to move forward with this InfoWorld award.

We take great satisfaction in seeing Rhomobile continue to garner the accolades it deserves and are proud to have worked closely with Rhomobile to get to this point.

LMGPR would like to introduce you to our newest client: Roamz. The Aussie-based company released its location-based intelligent mobile app at Web 2.0 in San Francisco on October 17^th.

So what is Roamz and what does it do?

Roamz helps users discover the world around them by aggregating and showing relevant information about local places and events in real time.

What does that mean?

Well, let’s say for example it’s Friday night and you’re looking for something to do. You go to Roamz and you tell it where you are and what you’re interested in. Roamz then filters through all kinds of online content including social websites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Foursquare and gives you information about what’s going on at that moment in that area. Roamz doesn’t tell you where to go, but instead let’s you know what’s happening… the rest is up to you.

Another benefit to Roamz is that it includes artificial intelligence that customizes its results to each individual user. The more you use Roamz, the more it learns about you and the smarter it gets! The end result is a unique and customized experience for each person.

And Roamz can be used anywhere! If you’re on a business trip or vacation, simply tell Roamz where you are at that moment and you’ll soon be in the loop about what’s going on. Roamz is designed to make you feel like a local, no matter where you are in the world!

Roamz has received lots of press since its launch. Here’s some of the feedback:

“… what I like about it is how it summarizes the disparate establishments that make up a neighborhood, from restaurants and bars to beauty parlors and art schools and including both ones I know about already and ones I’d never pay attention to otherwise.” – CNET

“The result, ideally, is that you don’t have to be constantly checking your social networks to find out what’s going on, what’s popular or where your friends are checking into right now.” – TechCrunch

 “At first I was hesitant to connect Roamz with my other social media, but after trying it out it really helps give you better recommendations for what you’re looking for.” – The Daily Campus

If you haven’t tried Roamz yet… you should! It’s free and can be downloaded here.

Whether you’re at home or on the road, Roamz is the perfect app for people with busy mobile lifestyles looking to add serendipity to their lives!