Hispanic PR Wire

OK, so I realize this is similar to my post last week, but Hispanic PR is very intriguing to me. There are lots of great links on a site I ran across called the Hispanic PR Wire. One of the newest articles talks about the McDonald's PR efforts amongst latino adolescents. As latino teens tend to be overweight at this stage in life much more than their caucasian counterparts, McDonald's (with Discovery Kids and the NBA) is kicking off a campaign, Es tu cancha or It's your court. With this program, they plan to promote an active lifestyle and also improve basketball courts in latino neighborhoods. Talk about creative PR... I'm lovin' it.

PR Blogroll

Hi Gang,

My friend Suse asked me earlier this week what blogs I read about PR and its related fields. I decided that I should probably tell the rest of the club as well, so without further ado, Jarrod Morgenstern's PR blogroll.

You will notice a box to the right of the screen that is updated on a real-time basis according to blogs tagged as PR that I have noticed. Enjoy their insightful commentary.

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• PR-Squared is great blog of Shift Communications a Boston-San Fransisco agency that provides witty, sharp commentary on Web 2.0 and other disciplines.

• Repman is Steven Cody's blog, the general manager of one of the top NY public relations firm, Peppercom. His blog focuses on reputation management and trend spotting.

• Mike Swenson's blog, Citizen Brand is a great commentary on PR and the importance of building brands. Swenson works at Barkley Evergreen PR.

• Micro Persuasion is Steve Rubel's blog and is the industry standard for PR blogs. He works at Edelman.

What are some of your favorite blogs? (Besides KU PRSSA, of course.)

Kansas City PR Career Day

Save the Date!
Get a Real World Glimpse at PR in Kansas City

Make plans now to join the Greater Kansas City Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America for a real world look at PR in the Kansas City market.

What: “The Ticket to your Future” – Full Admission to Learn and Prepare for a Successful PR Career!

When: Friday, November 3, 2006 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Where: Kansas City Public Library – Central (downtown)
14 West 10th Street Kansas City, Mo.

Why: Learn the skills you need to get your first public relations job, gain insights from top Kansas City media contacts and PR professionals, and be the first to know about local internships and job opportunities!

The day includes:
* Networking, networking, networking
* Internship and Career Fair
* Resume review
* “Day in the Life” panel
* An inspiring keynote speaker
* Hands-on workshop on how to write media pitches, news releases, Web site content and corporate newsletters under the mentorship of seasoned PR pros
* Announcement of the GKC PRSA Writing Contest winner (who will receive a two-week internship!)

Questions?
Contact Renee Robinson at (816) 460-3027

PRSSA minutes

Hi everybody!
Last night was a very beneficial meeting for PRSSA members. Three journalism school students came to speak about their great internship opportunities that they've had. They also took questions from the members and offered helpful tips to those of us who are beginning to look into internships. First off, we took care of a few housekeeping issues such as: Lee Denim Day coming up Oct. 1st through Oct. 6th (if interested, contact either Tyler Klaus or Eric Williams), we also mentioned the Kansas City PRSA day which will be held Nov. 3rd from 9-3 in KC, and the $50 dues for a PRSSA membership are due Oct. 17th. Our student panel was comprised of Anna Zeller, a senior from Minnesota, Sara Miller, a senior from Bonner Springs, KS, and Jackie Schaefer, a junior from Texas. All three students had impressive internships with companies such as Sprint Nextel headquarters in Overland Park, KS, a radio station, Greg Advertising, GQ magazine and Hungry Man, Inc. in New York City. They all three offered great advice regarding internships/interviews and answered numerous questions from PRSSA members! Thank you for everyone who attended last night's meeting & we hope to see you at our next meeting!

See you at tomorrow's meeting...

Come to the PRSSA meeting tomorrow at 7 pm in the Reading Room to hear from a student internship panel. Free pizza as always (and we'll bring enough this time). Also, plan on coming at 6 pm to be a part of the Jayhawk Communications campus campaign for Lee Denim Day which is the first week in October. Great experience for a great cause. Check out the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation online for more information about this annual and national awareness week. See you all tomorrow!

I just wanted to remind everyone that Oct 23 is the last day to register to vote in Kansas; the earlier you register the easier it will be. Registration cards are available at registration tables located on campus and in the Student Senate office, 410 Kansas Union. You can also download the registration card via the Student Senate website and drop it off in 410 Kansas Union. Civic Engagement Week is September 21st to September 28th, so look out for a broad range of activities on campus to get involved with the election process. The state and national elections will be November 7th… don’t forge to vote!

Information from:
Student Legislative Awareness Board
410 Kansas Union
785.864.3710 (office)
slab@ku.edu

1st KSPA meeting

Hi everyone!
My name is Joni Hammer and I am the secretary of PRSSA this year. After every meeting, I will be posting a blog that explains what all was discussed in our previous meeting, along with giving a little preview of our upcoming meeting. Before I begin, I would like to thank all of you who attended our first meeting! We had a great turnout and we're hoping that you all will find this organization just as beneficial as we do and continue to come to our meetings!
At our meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 5th at 7:00 p.m., all of the officers introduced themselves and Jarrod Morgenstern (our president) gave an overview of what exactly PRSSA is and what we do. We also had a guest speaker, Patty Noland, come to our meeting that night. Patty Noland is the Career Development Coordinator in the J-school, she's also our PRSSA supervisor. Patty discussed the numerous benefits of becoming a PRSSA member and explained what exactly PR is. Our next meeting will be Tues., Sept. 19th in the reading room of Stauffer-Flint. Our speakers for the night will include a board of KU students who have great stories regarding their PR experience. As always, there will be free pizza and pop! :) Hope to see you all there!
~Joni Hammer, PRSSA secretary

Fundraising

Hello PRSSA!

This year has gotten off to a fabulous start! We have a fairly decent budgeted amount of money for the year, however fundraising is always a necessity. I'm currently investigating possible sources of fundraising, however if anybody has any brilliant ideas that they'd like to share, by all means let me know and we can definatly look into them. Otherwise, I'll keep you posted about upcoming fundraising events that we can take part in. Have a lovely evening and I'll see you all next tuesday!

Megan Penrod

Women and Minorities in Getting Jobs in Sports

I don't think women and minorities should get jobs just because they are women or minorities. I feel like my competition for getting a job is going to be against women and minorities because employers will be wanting to hire just because they need or want a woman or a minority.

A woman or a minority should get the job if they are the best person for the job, not because the employer simply wants diversity!

Black Coaches Association Helps Diversity Problem in Major College Football.

The article can be seen here.

The Black Coaches Association is encouraging African-American coaches to file a Title VII complaints. They also said that if they needed to, they would back the coach.
This is a great job of standing by your client and gaining credibility. This will help the alternative populations mentioned above get more job offers in PR because it shows that they know what's best for their client.

The only way to really hit the alternative markets is research, research, research. It will also be important to hire members of these markets. Not only that, but smart ones, who really know people.

"If you can't get the best research, get the best you can get." Prof. David Guth

Anything is better than nothing.

Tyler

Hey everybody! Here are a few J-school events coming up this month you might be interested in:

-TONIGHT- Sept. 12: Matthew Rose of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation will speak on the "Future Transportation Crisis" at 7 p.m. in Lied Center. Burling Northern Santa Fe is a railroad delivery corporation, focusing on speed, agility and resourcefulness to help expand the global marketplace for goods and services such as cars, coal, clothes, and games. The School of Business will sponsor the lecture by the chairman, president and CEO of the rail corporation.

Sept. 13: Study Abroad Fair on the fourth floor of the Kansas Union! It starts at 9:30 a.m. and goes until 3:30 p.m., serving as an excellent tool to meet contacts and get the internship process rolling.

Sept. 18: If you're a newly admitted freshman then come experience and learn about the J-school at 5 p.m. in the Resource Room 210 S-F.

Sept. 20: Multicultural Scholars can meet with Ron Smith, the deputy copy chief at The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Be in 104 Stauffer-Flint at 4:30 p.m.

Go and check some events out, get involved...

and please, have fun!!

Does PR translate?

With the latino population on the rise, we're likely to see more and more advertising and PR geared toward the Spanish-speakers of the country. I'm interested to see what your thoughts are surrounding Hispanic public relations. We don't talk about it much in the J-school, so I'm interested in discussion on the topic. Last month, General Mills announced their new marketing strategies targeting Latinos and African-Americans. For Latinos, a magazine with coupons, Betty Crocker recipes and lifestyle articles will be published called Que rica vida. They estimate a circulation of about two million. On [foodnavigator-usa.com], they say that "Latino buying power is forecast to reach around $1 trillion by 2010." In the past couple of years, I've become more and more aware of the diversity that surrounds us. I think there will be a huge future in this seemingly small sector of PR...

If you're looking to broaden your horizons, be sure to check out Sara's posts to the blog on Sundays to get information on opportunities abroad and upcoming J-school events.

Wikipedia and PR

Today, I want to take a few minutes to write about Wikipedia in terms that future marketers want and need to know.

Wikipedia defines itself as "the online encyclopedia that anyone can edit."

It's kindof a big deal. According to Alexa, Wikipedia is among the top 20 most visited Web sites. Steve Rubel, VP of Edelman, recently wrote in his blog Micro Persuasion that Wikipedia is more popular now than the New York Times, The BBC, and CNN.

Wikipedia isn't just an upstart Web site anymore.

Wikipedia, while seen as an encyclopedia more than a news medium, it is without a doubt a huge influence for consumers. As public relations practitioners, we must be aware of our clients reputation in both traditional media and alternatives like Wikipedia.

This is a powerful social media that can reach consumers more efficiently and effectively than pitching reporters and editors. We, with the Wikipedia community, are enabled to tell our story from our perspective on this massive encyclopedia.

This does, however, come with a few complications. Wikipedians have problems with commercial use of Wikipedia. Don't even try to run promotional pieces as articles for the encyclopedia.

What you can do:

Make sure your client is mentioned on every list.
Add your client's Web site under relevant topics.
Link additional articles to your client's article.

Here is an example:

My name is Jarrod, I represent the Widget Workshop where we make the fastest unicycle on the planet. I created an article called the "Z1 Skimmer" that shows some of the features, costs, comparisons of my unicycle. I also put it on the lists of types of unicycles in the world. I did a quick stub about Widget Workshop with a link to relevant news articles and company Web pages.

Thus, the "Z1 Skimmer" has been wikified. Check out this to see what I did this summer. It needs some work, but it is a start.

What do you all think of Wikipedia? Is this a fad? Will it die out?

BBQ this Saturday

Hey Everyone,
Don't forget about the Pre- Game PRSSA BBQ this Saturday (09/09/06) at 1020 Illinois from noon-4p.m. Come party with PRSSA! It will be a great time to meet the officers, socialize with other members, and find out more information about the club. It's an informal occasion, so just come by... eat some good food on us and head on down to watch the Jayhawks beat Louisiana Monroe at 6pm. Rock Chalk!

Once again:
This Saturday -
1020 Illinois -
noon-4pm

Hope to see you there!

IABC Conferece

There is an exciting opportunity for students coming up in a few weeks!
The IABC Southern Region Conference will be held in Kansas City Sept. 24-26. More than 200 professionals nationwide will gather for some great professional development.

The conference is offering valuable resume critique and one-on-one time with professionals - you won't want to miss this! For students, there are a couple of unique opportunities related to the conference:
An opportunity to be paired one-on-one with a professional for a personal discussion about career advice, resume critique or finding their first job; A session geared specifically for students to learn about the different opportunities available in the communications professional; A session about "Interviewing Bloopers and Resume Faux Pas;" Valuable networking time with professionals from across the region; and Excellent programming to supplement their day-to-day education.

The cost for students is $210 for the full conference, and $105 for a one-day registration. Please note that the special student session is not listed on the program, but will take place Monday afternoon, Sept. 25 from 4:30-5:30 p.m.
KC/IABC has allocated $500 in student scholarships. We will be awarding five students $100 in scholarships to attend either one day or the full conference. To apply for a scholarship, students should complete the attached form, describing in 200-500 words the reason they are deserving of a scholarship, and e-mail it to Sara Miller at srmiller@ku.edu by Sept. 8. (WHICH IS FRIDAY!) All entrants will be notified of scholarship decisions by Sept. 11.

Resume and Cover Letter Critique: All students interested in receiving feedback on their resumes and/or cover letters should submit them to Sara Miller by Monday, Sept. 18. Students do not have to be members of IABC to take advantage of this opportunity -- they just need to be excited about the profession and about the opportunities that are out there for them.
Sara Miller is very happy to organize a group and provide transportation - the more the merrier!

Contact Sara if you have any questions at srmiller@ku.edu
cell phone number: (913) 484-5410.

Also, visit the Conference Web site for more details http://southernconference.kciabc.org/

Great Sports PR by NIKE

I think it's important to realize that football is going to compete with baseball for America's national past time. The NFL is cleaning up their act and there is so much more money and emphasis to be placed on football because Americans love it so much. It will never get to be as big as soccer/futbol, but it will be "America's futbol."

Back to PR, Nike's new commercial that will be airing this football season supposedly proves that "Football is Everything." This is a great example of great PR to promote their equipment. Nike has always had great commercials in my opinion. This one will set the bar for other sports PR work. They also released a great multimedia press kit. It's also important to know that everything in PR is going to be multimedia and integrated just like all journalism is turning that route. PR follows what everyone does because it's their audience. Check Nike out at this website:
http://www.prnewswire.com/mnr/nike/25382/

Sidenote: Kansas does not have very many professional athletes or talents. This is because we do not obsess over any one thing like Texas and football, canada and hockey, or Europe and soccer.

Beginnings

Welcome to the PRSSA blog for the University of Kansas! I'm very excited to begin the semester. We plan on posting new and interesting angles on a variety of public relations and strategic communications topics nearly every day.

Today, we are talking Katie Couric who is also getting set up with her new "beginning."

According to the Washington Post, a CBS employee in the publicity department visually doctored photos of the new anchor in a promotional photo just prior to her taking the reins of CBS news on Sept. 5.



That's some serious photoshopping work. That is wrong on so many levels. One, CBS did a great job in making Katie's job of appearing to be a serious journalist much harder with this in the wings. Two, this sends a terrible message from CBS that could possibly compromise their integrity and public trust. It says, If we don't like the story, we'll just fix it a little bit. Not a great way to start a fifteen year job.

I think Katie handled this better than anyone though, saying, "she liked the original photo better because 'There is more of me to love.'"

What do you think? Is this that big of a deal? How did Katie react? Does compromise CBS evening news?

Personal Background: I am currently the president of the KU chapter of PRSSA. I am also serving as one of two Journalism Student Senators. I am majoring in Strategic Communications at the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications. I plan on working in the agency PR biz. Last summer, I was a marketing intern at the Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City.

Please feel free to send me anything you find interesting or want me to talk about either via e-mail [ jarrodm(at)ku(dot)edu ] or via del.icio.us .

Edit: Props to Steve Cody, managing partner and co-founder of Peppercom, a New York based public relations shop, where I saw this story. His blog, Repman, is among the best of all agency principals. Truly a must read.