The document discusses the evolving landscape of digital public relations, emphasizing the need for organizations to update their websites and embrace social media integration. It highlights trends such as decreasing reliance on Flash, the importance of creating easily navigable content, and statistics reflecting user engagement. Additionally, it covers case studies, including Target's controversy over political donations and Grasshopper's successful rebranding campaign.

1. September 20, 2010 prnewsonline.com Issue 36 Vol. 66 Contents
Digital PR Branding
Pop Quiz Test Your Media Relations Mojo 3
Online Makeover: As Technology Case Study Insects, Influencers Drive Rebranding
Image Patrol Charts Target vs. PG&E
4
6
Changes, So Should Your Web Site Tip Sheet Writing vs. Reporting
More premium content at PR News’ Subscriber Resource Center
8
Public relations agency Cohn set about a total overhaul of brand, “they are
& Wolfe had had it with its cohnwolfe.com, one that would now also part of a growing com- adapted for use, making whole-
Web site. Its bland, static pres- make it stand out from the plex ecosystem of digital and sale changes to a Web site,
ence didn’t quite communicate competition. social properties,” he continues, which often includes cumber-
C&W’s year-old messaging That’s a move that’s which necessitates changes. some content management
that touts the agency as bold becoming common across “A few years ago site visi- and back-end systems, can be
and innovative. “Our site industries and organizations, tors were encouraged to click difficult.
didn’t say that at all,” says Jill says Chris Gee, managing into a site and stay there,” says
Tannenbaum, chief marketing director of Proof Digital Gee. “Today they may stay for CYBER TRENDS
officer at Cohn & Wolfe. So Media, the interactive arm of a while, but they can also go In thinking about making those
the New York-based agency Burson-Marsteller. join a conversation about your changes, however, it’s important
“What’s happening is that brand somewhere outside of to note key trends that have
organizations are starting to the site.” taken hold in the interactive
( DID YOU KNOW? ) reevaluate their Web sites,” says The problem for organiza- world, according to Gee. They
Gee. Because while sites are still tions, says Gee, is that while include:
Seven Things You Will
the digital centerpiece of the today’s social tools are easily Page 2
Learn in This Week’s
Issue of PR News
1. Target’s political donation to Image Patrol BY KATIE PAINE
an anti-gay gubernatorial can-
Target Is Anything But On, While
didate got the company into a
heap of controversy. (p. 1)
Post-Explosion, PG&E Does Its Best
2. If your bounce rate is 70% or
more, you need a better Web
site. (p. 2)
3. A new study of minority As a continuous student of nished by a $150,000 political versial Supreme
consumers shows the need for crises, it still amazes me when donation to anti-gay conserva- Court ruling
companies to develop commu- companies don’t learn from tive Minnesota gubernatorial that allowed corporations to
nity CSR and cause-marketing their peers’ mistakes. When candidate Tom Emmer, I was be treated as citizens. While
programs. (p. 3) the egg recall crisis began this stunned. Up until this summer, Target quickly saw the error of
4. For its rebranding campaign, past summer, I wasn’t at all Target has managed to avoid its ways and issued an apology,
Grasshopper spent nearly surprised to find notorious all the anti-big box controversy in this case, “we’re sorry” wasn’t
$19,000 on the production of a Don Decoster, owner of the egg that plagues its rival Wal-Mart enough.
showcase video. (p. 4) farm currently under inves- by essentially following the Target customers turned to
5. One person gets credit for tigation, in the headlines. He classic crisis avoidance rule: their social networks to get the
popularizing pitching the media ran a scandal-plagued chicken don’t do stupid things, and word out, with nearly 100,000
via Twitter (p. 5) farm in Maine that I covered in if you do and get caught, do people becoming fans of mul-
6. PG&E established a $100 mil- these pages back in 1997, ques- something to make it right. tiple Boycott Target pages
lion victim compensation fund tioning whether the Decoster Through corporate donations on Facebook and some 1.3
after a gas-pipe explosion in brand would survive. It hasn’t and policies, Target has culti- million watching the “Target
California. (p, 7) in fact—the Decoster brand vated a hip, gay-friendly image, Ain’t People” YouTube video
7. Good reporting by PR pros
disappeared shortly thereafter, and the donation was inconsis- (http://www.youtube.com/
makes content more relevant replaced with a series of benign tent with that image. watch?v=9FhMMmqzbD8).
and compelling to target audi- sounding corporate brands. Adding fuel to the fire, the Protestors demanded that
ences. (p, 8) So, when the seemingly donation was the most visible Target either take the money
invincible Target brand was tar- early test of last winter’s contro- Page 6
©2010 Access Intelligence LLC. Federal copyright law prohibits unauthorized reproduction by any means and imposes fines of up to $100,000 for violations.

2. ISSN 1546-0193
Web Site Makeovers
Editor, Scott Van Camp,
Page 1
212.621.4693, svancamp@accessintel.com
Managing Editor, Greer Jonas 212.621.4876 Mobile is booming. “IPads, won its share of Webby awards. From the research came a
Editorial Director, Steve Goldstein, Androids and iPhones Incorporating ideas from goal: Visitors should be able to
212.621.4890, sgoldstein@accessintel.com
Contributing Editor, Jessica Clegg,
are forcing organizations both the agency and Sennep, find information in three clicks
212-621-4626, jclegg@accessintel.com to think about how they the new site certainly pushes or less. The new site divides up
Events & Special Projects Manager, Regina
D’Alesio, 212-621-4940, rdalesio@accessintel.com
develop Web content,” says the creativity envelope both in members’ interests into four
Director of Circulation Marketing, Carol Brault Gee. “Before, our clients design and content, including distinct quadrants, with plenty
301-354-1763, cbrault@accessintel.com would make the Web site the features such as: of cross links, adds Thomas.
Director, Marketing Communications,
Amy Jefferies, ajefferies@accessintel.com
No. 1 priority, with mobile The result? Lots of compli-
Art Director, Tracey Lilly second. Now they’re asking animation videos. ments and numbers that tell
VP/Group Publisher, Diane Schwartz themselves if their CEO will the story (see the table for pre-
212.621.4964, dschwartz@accessintel.com
Division President, Heather Farley
be viewing the site on his “sameness” of communica- and post-launch metrics).
President & CEO, Don Pazour iPad.” tions agencies. But when do you really
PR News ADVISORY BOARD Flash may be fading. “With - know when your brand’s digital
Paul A. Argenti - Tuck School of Business mobile growing, Flash is tive headshots revealing two face needs uplifting—or a
Ned Barnett - Barnett Marketing Communications
Neal Cohen - APCO taking a big hit. There’s a sides of the agency’s culture. transplant? Here are some tell-
Carol Cone - Edelman
Peter Debreceny - Gagen MacDonald
seismic shift in terms of way tale signs from Gee:
Chris Hammond - Wells Fargo we’ve thought about interac- “There’s really nothing
Mike Herman - Communication Sciences
Mike Paul - MGP & Associates PR tive and rich media content,” on the site that’s the same as
Deborah Radman - Senior PR Consultant
Brenda C. Siler - Best Communication Strategies
says Gee. before,” says Tannenbaum. or over, you’re in trouble.
Helene Solomon - Solomon McCown & Co. Social is sizzling. “More That’s because Sennep is used “There’s no value there,” says
Mark Weiner - PRIME Research
Mary Wong - Office Depot sites are integrating social to pushing boundaries, says Gee.
PR News BOARD OF CONTRIBUTORS media, with Facebook ‘Like’ Stuart Jackson, a partner at
Dave Armon - Context Optional buttons, for instance,” he Sennep. “Visitors to a Web navigation tool on your site.
Andy Gilman - CommCore Consulting
Bruce Jeffries-Fox - Jeffries-Fox Associates says. “Content like press site are inherently lazy—they
Angela Jeffrey - VMS
Richard Laermer - RLM Public Relations releases and corporate blogs don’t like to read much,” says offered in Flash. “It will be
Richard Levick - Levick Strategic Comms
Ian Lipner - Lewis PR/YoungPRpros
integrate one-click ‘chiclets’ Jackson. “We wanted to present invisible to search engines,
Katie Paine - KDPaine & Partners to share that content virally. content in easily digestible indexing and mobile plat-
Rodger Roeser - Justice & Young
Lou Thompson - Kalorama Partners This has caused a change in way to get flavor of company forms,” says Gee. PRN
Reid Walker - Lenovo
Tom Martin - College of Charleston
mind-set, as these tools take without making them read
the visitor away from the three graphs of text.” [Editor’s Note: Take the PR
Group Subscriptions - Carol Brault, Web site.” News/BurrellesLuce Social
301.354.1763; cbrault@accessintel.com Customization is king. NAVIGATION Media Management survey
Additional Copies & Article Reprints - “Sites now allow visitors to Making the content easy to at prnewsonline.com/studies/
Contact Dani Rose at 800-290-5460 x.139;
prnews@theygsgroup.com customize content, so they find is another key goal, says survey/50/. For more articles
can dictate what they want Mark Thomas, managing on digital PR, visit the PR News
to see, and when,” says Gee. director of marketing com- Subscriber Resource Center at
munications at the National prnewsonline.com/subscriber_
Published weekly by Access Intelligence, LLC
4 Choke Cherry Road, Rockville, MD 20850 But for organizations like Shooting Sports Foundation resources.html.]
Client Services: Cohn & Wolfe, a change was (NSSF). The Newtown, Conn.-
Phone: 888.707.5814 Fax: 301.309.3847
e-mail: clientservices@accessintel.com
necessary, and a big change at based nonprofit did a stake-
New York Editorial Office: that. Creativity and innova- holder survey about the site, CONTACT:
110 William St., 11th Floor, New York, NY 10038 tion were the hallmarks of the and found that while visitors Jill Tannenbaum, jill.
Phone: 212.621.4875 Fax: 212.621.4879
redo. “For that, we didn’t go liked the content, they couldn’t tannenbaum@cohnwolfe.com;
Subscription/Renewal Coupon to a big digital agency,” says easily find it. “You launch a Chris Gee, chris.gee@proofic.
I want to subscribe to PR News for $797/ Tannenbaum. Instead C&W site, and you notice that it com; Stuart Jackson, info@
year or $1,494/2 years, and receive weekly
issues plus unlimited access to the online turned to Sennep, a small starts to look like a house with sennep.com; Mark Thomas,
premium content and archives. London digital shop that has additions,” says Thomas. mthomas@nssf.org
Name:____________________________________
Title: _____________________________________
Organization:_______________________________
Address: __________________________________ National Shooting Sports Foundation Web Site Makeover—Before and After
City: ______________ State: ____ ZIP: __________
Year-To-Date Monthly YTD
Phone: ________________ Fax: _______________ Aug. 2010 Aug. 2009 YTD 2010 YTD 2009
Email: ____________________________________ Comparisons Difference % Difference
I want to renew my $797 or $1,494 subscrip- Total Visits 359,203 213,611 68.16% 2,934,483 1,833,528 60.05%
tion to PR News. My account number is:
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Charge my Card No.__________________________ Unique Visitors 215,630 114,720 87.96% 1,716,444 1,037,946 65.37%
Exp. _________ Signature: ___________________
Return Visitors 39,265 24,659 59.23% 321,037 208,158 54.23%
Check enclosed (Payable to Access Intelligence, LLC)
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2 prnewsonline.com | 9.20.10

3. Quick Study
CSR Important to Minority Consumers; Orgs Lag in
Measuring Productivity; CMO and Corp Comm Fissure
Do-Gooder Brands: A study firms. Other findings from the Bad Alignment: More
by VanguardComm finds and African-Americans, study include:
that one-third of Hispanic and respectively, agreed that very do not see full alignment
African-American consumers few brands and companies between marketing and cor-
almost always choose brands genuinely care about the state to reach full productivity porate communications, says
because they come from com- of their communities. a survey of CMOs released
panies with strong CSR and Source: VanguardComm of employees from high- by The CMO Club and Hill
cause-marketing programs performing firms said this & Knowlton. Other findings
they believe in—compared to Employee Measurement: include:
just one in five non-Hispanic According to a study of -
whites. Other findings include: high- and low-performing low-performing firms. munications plan helps:
organizations issued by the
The Institute for Corporate many companies don’t track in place report being “fully
and African-American Productivity time to full productivity. -
respondents, respectively, Only about six out of 10 panies that only communi-
agreed with the statement low-performing organizations organizations use this metric, cate on an ad hoc basis.
“companies that make sin- report that employees often and high performers are no
cere efforts to be part of the remain in positions after their more likely to use it than the metrics and rewards systems
Hispanic/African-American productivity has begun to wane. average company.
community deserve my loy- The same is true for only a fifth Source: i4cp Source: The CMO Club/Hill &
alty.” of those from high-performing Knowlton
PR News Pop Quiz: Time to Test Your Media Relations Mojo
Think you know everything there is to know about journalists, publications and media outreach tactics? PR News asked the team at New
York- and San Francisco-based Access Communications, which specializes in media relations, to seriously test your knowledge of all things
media relations. (Answers on page 5.)
True or False Multiple Choice 10. Which topic is not addressed under
the 2009 FTC guidelines concerning
1. The New York Times currently 7. How many outlets comprise the
blogger engagement and the use of
devotes a section of its online site AP Network, the Holy Grail of
endorsements and testimonials?
to NYC citizen journalism. syndication?
a. Definition of endorsement
a. 500
2. The Financial Times has a standard b. False or unsubstantiated statements
editorial calendar copy deadline of b. 30,000
c. Disclosure of material connections
30 days. c. 5,000
d. Historical relationships
d. 15,000
3. In 2009, more than 350 magazines
closed up shop. 11. Which of the following publications
8. Which of the following outlets no longer appears in hard copy?
4. It is not an accepted practice to currently accepts nonexclusive a. PC Magazine
send pitch material to more than embargoes?
one reporter at MarketWatch/Dow b. EE Times
a. TechCrunch c. The Economist
Jones.
b. Wall Street Journal d. CRN
5. CNN correspondents have come c. VentureBeat
out publicly and said they prefer to 12. Which blog has the highest monthly
d. All of the above
be pitched via Facebook instead of readership?
Twitter. 9. Which of the following publications
a. TechCrunch
did not undergo a major redesign in
6. Blogger Stowe Boyd is credited b. Huffington Post
2010?
with popularizing media pitching via c. GigaOM
Twitter. a. Newsweek
b. Bloomberg Businessweek d. Politics Daily
c. Money
d. Fortune
prnewsonline.com | 9.20.10 3

4. Case Study Branding Social Media Media Relations
Grasshopper’s ‘Multi-Sensory’ Campaign Grows by Leaps
And Bounds, Creating Big Buzz Around Rebranding
like an entrepreneur,” explains
Photo courtesy Grasshopper
Company: Grasshopper
Hauser. “It’s always jumping
Timeframe: May - August 2009 forward, and can jump many
Budget: $68,103 times the size of its body.” Plus,
adds Hauser, “grasshopper” is
Grasshopper provides 800 easy to spell and to remember.
and local phone numbers and Once the decision was
other services to entrepreneurs made, the company embarked
across North America. It didn’t on an initiative with three
always have such a catchy goals:
name, though; before May
as GotVMail. Founders Siamak name.
Taghaddos and David Hauser
had long considered that name new brand.
a liability. “It was hard to spell
and it was not a brand name, target audience.
just a product name that we
could never grow with,” says
Hauser. The founders talked launched what it calls a “multi- Bugging your audience: Recipients of Grasshopper’s direct mail piece
about the name since starting sensory” campaign, the major found a culinary surprise inside, along with a link to a video.
components being a unique
decided, this is it, we have to do direct mail piece sent to 5,000 “We had interns take every usually don’t open FedEx pack-
a rebrand,” says Hauser. of the most influential people big news outlet there is, and ages for their bosses—they just
in North America, with a link research people who made their put them on their desks. As for
BIG LEAP to a video about the power of front pages or covers,” says the contents, Butler knew it was
Brainstorming sessions in entrepreneurship. Butler. “We’d also target the a gamble. “Some people could
Whoa. Creating a contact person who wrote the article, be disgusted and offended,
Grasshopper. Why an insect? list of the most influential and who took that person’s but the opportunity to garner
“It was a name we could brand, people in America? Sounds photo.” Repeating this process buzz was too great not to do
no one had really used in the like a tall order. Jeremy Butler, led to a pretty big list. “We also it,” he says. The grasshoppers
past and the more we looked Grasshopper’s director of mar- sent them to every senator, the reinforced the brand and were
into it, a grasshopper was much keting, describes the process: president and tons of “celeb- controversial enough to spark
rity entrepreneurs,” including conversation, added Butler.
P Diddy and Oprah Winfrey. So, a supplier of grass-
Butler adds that they received hoppers was found, and
Don’t Cut Corners, and Other Key calls from national security Grasshopper the company
Online Video Strategies departments asking why they picked a particular type of
targeted every U.S. senator. green-colored chocolate to coat
While phone system designer Grasshopper delivered chocolate-
covered insects to get influencers’ attention during its rebranding COCO CRITTERS packages were sent to the list
effort, the more traditional video component was key, says Jonathan
But how would the team attract of influencers. Once opened,
Kay, the company’s ambassador of buzz. The video, featured on
both the Grasshopper site and YouTube drew on the history of
the attention of movers and targets found a glossy white
entrepreneurship, and suggested that entrepreneurs had the power shakers? A FedEx package bag with an attached hang tag.
to serve as innovators. At its peak, the video drew over 8,000 views would be delivered to each The hang tag had a URL that
per day. Here are some key video strategies from Kay: influencer. Inside the package directed recipients to a landing
Promote the video before the campaign hits. Kay personally
would be a smaller package page, where they could click on
reached out to bloggers a week before the packages were sent. that put the brand name front a video made to inspire entre-
and center—inside would be preneurs (see sidebar for more
Make sure your viewers are quickly drawn in. Grasshopper’s five chocolate-covered grass- on the video). The copy on the
video was not just visually appealing. Carly Comando, who has
hoppers. Yes, real ready-to-eat packaging appealed to the “risk-
written music for the NBA, wrote music specifically for the video.
taking” spirit of entrepreneurs,
Don’t skimp on the production. The video cost Grasshopper Butler and the team knew says Butler. It also urged them to
$18,708 to produce; the company considers it money well spent. that FedEx packages often side- take an unconventional risk and
step office gatekeepers, who try eating the grasshoppers.
4 prnewsonline.com | 9.20.10

5. BUZZ DOES IT just got a FedEx with chocolate
It was at this point in the cam- grasshoppers—should I eat Grasshopper’s Growing Buzz
Appendix B - YouTube Statistics
paign where communications them?” Entrepreneurial guru Exhibit

6. D