Discussions About Marketing, PR and Social Media

"You're On!"

2011-10-18T08:36:00.000-07:00

On October 12, 2011 The Media Huddle, and president Nneka Elliot, hosted "You're On!" A panel discussion for current broadcast students and grads. This event took place inside the Pantages Hotel in Toronto, and featured some of the most prominent faces in Toronto's media.

The influential guests addressed topics on how to land a job in the industry, as well as the obstacles new journalists and entrepreneurs may face during their career. The event was an overall success, and had an amazing turnout!

Take a look at some of the pictures:

Nneka Elliot and Our very own Melissa Cordelia

Nneka Elliot with Catherine McDonald

Panelists

For a full list of pictures from "You're On!", please visit The Media Huddle's facebook page. Be sure to like the page and stay updated on all upcoming events : http://www.facebook.com/#!/TheMediaHuddle

Getting with the times

2011-10-14T13:46:00.000-07:00

In this day and Age it is very necessary to be plugged in at all times. As our blog specifies being present in the world of Social Media is Critical.

Social media has become one of the biggest marketing tools today. From Facebook, to Tumblr, LinkedIn and etc. being present in all aspects of the media is critical in any type of adverising. The facts are it is the most cost effective way to reach out to your audience. Traffic, popularity, and presence is a key way to ultimately Boost your Brand. Online has become the world's #1 networking destination and becoming a social expert, can definitely aid in your navigation to success.

Check out these video's I found on YouTube about social media marketing, there very informative and worth the watch.

Let us know your perspective on social media, how has it helped your brand? do you think its possible for a business to stay relevant in today's world without participating?

"Social media is where people are, and that's where business should be"

RIM's Blackberry Crash

2011-10-14T13:29:00.000-07:00

As all BlackBerry users are aware, the "powers-that-be" over at RIM are in complete damage control after the world wide crash that occurred earlier this week.

Millions of BlackBerry users across the world were unable to access BBM, E-mail, and their Internet over a time period of almost 48 hours. This created obvious outrage and frustration amongst blackberry users world wide. This couldn't have come at a worst time for RIM, because with Apples latest iPhone releasing the same week, many BlackBerry faithfuls are considering to make the "Switch"

Rim CEO Mike Lazaridis released a public apology October 13th explaining "We've let many of you Down"

So what do you think? Has the crash made any of you BlackBerry users want to switch to the competition? Will this apology be enough to prevent RIM from sinking like so many are predicting?

Check out the video below and form an opinion for yourself.

Someone PLEASE help the Twitter Dummies

2009-11-22T10:16:00.000-08:00

"What are you doing" Is the million dollar question Twitter asks its users. Some people get it, some don't. No I don't want to hear your up-to-the-minute movements: "I'm sitting" "Now, I'm standing" I want to hear something interesting, like what you've done to change the world, inspirational quotes, fun meaningful updates.

Well it seems the MP's over there in Ottawa, don't have it down quite right. Liberal MP Michelle Simson recently had to apologize to Tory MP Dean Del Mastro after tweeting the following during a committee meeting: “In committee this morning. M.P. Del Mastro should grow up (not out).” That was followed by: “Gosh, I hate to see a grown M.P. pout. Smile, Dean.” Sweetheart.....noooo! It's obvious the line between acceptable and non-acceptable tweets is blurred. When you're a CEO, or another influential figure you have to be very careful about what you say. Put it this way, if you wouldn't say it to his face, why say it to thousands of other people only to have it bite you in the ass? Sounds simple doesn't it? Yet I'm amazed at how many people STILL don't get it.

I think it's great that politicians want to 'connect' with the outside world; but if you're not answering my questions, like why taxes are going up again, or why this bright idea of an HST tax is rolling out, then I don't want to hear from you.

Is Social Media Too Boring For The Ad Industry?

2009-10-30T10:37:00.000-07:00

While reading one of favourite blogs, Todd at PR Squared mentioned some common topics that come up, when discussing social media with ad execs:

"Advertising Exec: “Thanks for coming by. We know you guys ‘get’ Social Media. We get it, too; we love it in fact — but …”
PR Guy: “But it all starts to fall apart once you get past the campaign level?”
Advertising Exec: “Yea, yea, well, kind of… Don’t get me wrong, we can develop some community-appropriate and rockstar-level creative that helps start the conversations, even get a ton of fans or followers or whatever, but …”
PR Guy: “But then you have to feed that beast, right? You feel this voracious need to fill up the channel with new and excellent content, which is an expensive burden, both financially and creatively.”
Advertising Exec: “Yes, and then …”
PR Guy: “And then you also need to monitor these conversations and engage at a peer level in real-time, and also guide the client in how to react quickly, appropriately, and candidly themselves.”
Advertising Exec: “Yes!! And that’s not what we do.”
PR Guy: “Yep, I get it. You guys craft brilliant campaigns but the ‘relationships’ part feels low-level, mundane, hard-to-do, and fraught with risk as you engage with every Tom, Dick & Wierdo online.”
Advertising Exec: “See? I knew you ‘got it.’”

Todd, I agree with you 100 percent. Coming from the ad world myself, I see where things sort of fall apart when ad execs try to develop s.m. campaigns. Most ad agencies feel building social media campaigns, is all about creating groups, fanpages and running ads on Facebook. Advertising is all about selling things, so the fact that they have to take a new approach with s.m. (i.e. relationship building, community management etc.) it be comes this tedious task no one wants to commit to. I think they're trying to over complicate things. Most can not even being to understand how simple s.m. really is.

Mr. Sub fires BOS after complaints of homophobia

2009-10-29T13:59:00.000-07:00

Just after what, a couple months of winning the Mr. Sub account agency BOS fires the company after claims of homophobia. I remember watching the ad weeks ago and saying "OK......what's the problem?"

Last I checked, clients are supposed to "approve" ALL campaigns before execution, so what happened?If the agency went ahead with a campaign that wasn't approved, and this backlash occurred then I could understand. However, Mr. Sub never pulled the ad after it ran, which means they were fine with it. Only after complaints from the LBGT community did they decide to apologize, and fire their agency for a campaign THEY APPROVED. Clearly the advertising team at Mr. Sub needs revamping. Young team of brand managers I bet...like my old boss use to say "they'll hang you out to dry!

Source Marketing Mag

Excuse The Delay

2009-10-26T19:37:00.000-07:00

It's been a very busy two weeks. I'm responding to various RFP's, and I have a client pitch this week (which I am extremely excited about) so please excuse the delay in blog posts. I will be back once everything has calmed down.

mc

Coca Cola sends top bloggers on world tour

2009-10-21T12:39:00.000-07:00

Coke is launching a social media campaign that will send three bloggers to 206 countries where Coke is sold. Why you may ask? Because the recession obviously isn't affecting them. Also because Coca Cola is all about spreading happiness. What better way than to pay bloggers to write 'happy' things about each country. I'm sure if I travelled the world for a year, all expenses and salary paid, I'd find happy things to blog about too.

Source Marketing Mag

What is Connection Planning and PR 2.0 anyway???

2009-10-16T17:14:00.001-07:00

Do you remember when you told your parents you wanted to become a desktop publisher, or media planner only to have them say "ooh....that's nice." Now that you're an adult and have your own business, you still get those questions: "Ok so what do you do, exactly?"

Since starting my business, and even now that my website is up some questions still linger, so I thought I would explain everything in detail.

Connection Planning: three key elements are involved: target, creative idea and moment of impact. The solution comes from a rigorous understanding of the brand, the market, the consumer, and the world in which the brand exists. Connection planning is more than purchasing media - in fact connection planning campaigns do not involve paid media (i.e. newspaper ads, online ads etc.) It's all about communication, not advertising.

Here's an amazing example of connection planning done for the launch of SCREAM TV:

It's really simple: understand your target, develop an amazing creative idea, and find the influential moment of impact.

PR 2.0 aka social media: the future of public relations is here. Back in the day PR practitioners, journalists and the media controlled the information the masses were fed. Now the masses control the information. We are the new "information shopper". Companies and brands now interact, engage with and listen to the masses. PR 2.0 involves social media. Brian Solis says: "It (social media) is an evolving phenomenon that has captivated some, intrigued others, and is feared and underestimated by many"

Social Media is, at its most basic sense, a shift in how people discover, read, and share news and information and content. It’s a fusion of sociology and technology, transforming monologue (one to many) into dialog (many to many.)

Any more questions? Please don't hesitate to ask :)

Welcome

2009-10-15T11:30:00.000-07:00

Dear loyal readers, if you're reading this chances are you're interested in marketing is some shape or form. I've dedicated this blog to intelligent discussions about marketing, social media, PR, event reviews, client and company updates. I promise to keep everything fresh as the communication world is constantly evolving!

Over the next few weeks I will populate this blog with fresh material, free downloads (everyone loves free stuff right?!) reviews and discussions.

Stay tuned, and stay blessed.

Melissa Cordelia