SXSW

 I have never seen the city of Austin so alive.  In broad daylight 6th street was cramed with Austinites and out of towners alike.  Live music drifted out from every bar and free merchandice was being passed out like candy.  World reknown artists such as Eminem, The Shins, 50 cent and Skrillex played along side underground local bands.  The festival spread all over downtown and posters, logos and advertisement was rampant on every corner.

SXSW is a PR dream.  The festival is sure to generate fond memories so associating ones brand with such an occasion will help make a lasting impression.  At Chiddy Bang I was pulled over by a concert goer who proceeded to pour my Vitamin Water (it was free, of course) all over his iphone.  I was amazed and shocked as he told me about his product which uses nano technology coating to protect any electronic device.. starting at only $80.  If that doesn't get a consumers protection, I don't know what would.

I ate free Salt Lick barbeque, drank all the free vitamin water i could handle, and even got free popcicles.  It was a battle ground of who could stand out and get their name out there.  I would say the most over the top thing was the dorito stage where Snoop Dog performed.  It stood out and was a centerpiece in conversation.

In the Eye of the Perceiver

In marketing, public relations, and advertising perception is everything. Suppose an advertiser uses a sweet Golden Retriver in order to illicit warm fuzzies for a product. And now suppose that the viewer watching the ad is grieving due to their own Golden Retriver being hit by a car.... this does NOT bring warm fuzzies but instead illicits a sadness that is now associated with the product being advertised.

My perception is that this dog is CUTE!

Communicating, rather it be from a marketer or a PR practitioner, is a risky buissiness. A person's perception is caused by all the events that have happened in a person's life. Communicating is a dance in which you sweep in and tip toe around. You have to be engaging without being overbearing, and interesting without being offensive. You never know when what you may say may strike a nerve and must always be ready to recover from these mishaps.

Some ways to avoid this is to KNOW who your talking to! Do your research to minimize the possibility of offending. You want to be peceived in the best light possible so even though you can not predict every bad topic, you can do your research and know what the client is interested in. If you falter in a conversation or hit a snag, a smile and an apology will do wonders. Always remember that you are talking to another human being!

While Golden Retrivers are usually a safe bet, the truth is that you will never know a person's life story and thus how and why they perveive a message the way they do. Be careful with your words because they are your trade.

Festivals and their Bad Rap

YES. I go to music festivals. NO. I don't do drugs. These days everyone thinks that if you listen to dubstep and electronic music you do drugs. That is not true! The music is on another level, the beats are so catchy and stimulating that every concert is a mind blowing experience in itself. From a PR standpoint however, these festivals are a nightmare.

You see in the media that teenage overdoses at these concerts are a reoccuring thing. These kids go to the festival in fuzzy boots, a thong and a bra and take drugs instead of appreciate the music. Not everyone at these concerts are ravers, but these unfortunate deaths have caused this misconception.

Insomniac Events is a bit of a PR nightmare. The company made a whopping $33 million from their events last year but also sent more than 200 teens to the hospital. 2 years ago in Los Angeles a 16 year old girl used a fake id to get into the venue and overdoesed on ectasy and died. It was a tradegy and many wondered how Insomniac let this happen. Artists walked off stage a year later at EDC festival in Dallas when 2 teens died and over 30 were carried away in ambulances for heat exhaustion.

These concerts can be called modern day Woodstock Festivals and it will be interesting to see if Insomniac will survive the lawsuits and controversy. I hope for their sakes they have a team of PR gods by their side. As for me, I am there for the music and I know there are many like me there for the same reason.

Check out these links to Insomniac Events and leave a comment on your opinion of these Rave Festivals!

Nocturnal Wonderland
Electric Daisy Carnival

Adverelations? =/

Any PR major will be quick to correct anyone that says " Isn't public relations and advertising.. uhhh, like the same thing?" NO!

Advertisers sell alcohol and cigarettes to teens, give young girls self esteem issues, and give us the need to buy products we don't well... need!  But public relations oh no, we save puppies and raise money for charities.  We are heroes for companies in their time of crisis.. we are no advertising majors!

Advertisers, they want your money!

PR kids just want to save puppies!

But as adament as PR majors about their field, it is hard to ignore all the courses that begin with ADV we have to take...

We had to get a B or higher to get into the college of communication in ADJ 318J... it claimed to be for PR majors too but we weren't fooled.

Next ADVERTISING research!  Couldn't it have been called PUBLIC RELATIONS research?  And most obvious of all is the Advertisng Planning class we all have to take in which we... wait for it... DO AN ADVERTISNG PLAN BOOK! We learned to buy ads and use guerrilla tactics to draw in vulnerable consumers.  It was very un-pr of us.

ALSO!  There is a graduate program for advertising here but not one for public relations.  If that is favoritism I don't know what it!

So for all thoes public relations majors at the University of Texas it is time for us to mobilize and become a force around campus.  We are no advertising majors! We are better. We are PR!

Chris Brown: talent or trouble?

The Grammy's this year stirred up quite the controversy!  Almost everyone is aware of the Chris Brown/ Rihanna incident that happened a few years ago.  The questions stands, Was Chris Brown deserving of the Grammy he received, and more importantly, should he have been allowed to perform.

Looking at this from a Public Relations stand point I believe the answer is crystal clear... no.  Although he may have deserved the Grammy because that is based soley on talent, I believe he should not have been permitted to perform.  By having him perform the people who put on the award ceremony were giving him their endorsement.

Chris Brown is not someone I would want my children to look up to.  The domestic abuse incident alone is reason enough, but to top it off he is known to tweet  negative and offensive comments.  I guess the question stands whether performers should be judged solely on their talent or on their merits and ethics as well.  Rappers receive street cred for going to jail and are worshipped all the same. 

When it comes to talent, NO ONE can deny that Chris Brown has it in spades.  But for me personally and from a PR perspective, anyone who is abusive should "Run It" right out of the industry...

I hate research.

It is a skill that is hard to master and yet vital to a public relations major.  It is the process of taking the responses of a study and crunching numbers to reach conclusions.  Personally, I prefer having a conversation with a person rather than crunching them into an excel spreadsheet. 

Corporations are paying top dollar to get inside the consumers mind.  Research is becoming more and more a part of the public relations field because at the end of the day, companies want quantitative data to reassure them that the vasts amounts of money they are spending is warrented.

When I envision myself in the corporate world as a PR major I conjure up images of crisis communications and writing speeches for top CEO's.... but the truth is that I will most likely be sitting at a desk interpreting data and... ugh... number crunching.  In order to make it to the top you have to put in your time as an unpaid intern doing really boring tasks.  And yup, that includes research.

Social Media's Role in Politics

In our modern society social media plays a daily role is people's lives.  Facebook especially allows us to post our thoughts, promote events, and like particular brands, music and movies.  But how much does social media effect government policies?


Two recent events have showed just how much sway social media and sites such as Google and Wikipedia have on public policies.  When the SOPA bill was looking like it was going to be passed in Congress it was the influence of the internet that shut it down.  Protests on social media sites as well as superpower sites such as Wikipedia drummed up millions of signatures and emails protesting the bill.  It was met with such an outcry that the bill was never passed.

Weeks later the power of the internet was again displayed during the Komen Fiasco.  The immediate outcry on Twitter, Facebook, blogs and forums caused the organization to reverse their decision to pull donations from Planned Parenthood.


Social media is beginning to reach its full potential in politics by not only gaugeing public opinion but also for drumming up support for political candidates.  Social media is not just for teenagers anymore, it is a powerful tool that literally is changing the face of politics in the United States.


For more on social media's role in the goverment click on this Washington Post Article