Sunday, May 10, 2009
Crisis Research Continued
Yes, last blog ever! At the beginning I thought I would focus on the whole town now I want to switch gears and write my paper on more of the VCSU side of things along with the city combined. The continued research has been easy to come buy since I live in the small town of Valley City. The first thing I conducted was to lay out a time line for Valley City. The river was anticipated to flood when we got hit with two back to back blizzards at the end of March. The first sandbagging efforts where held at sandbag central on March 23rd. The volunteer fire fighters and other units where dispatched to help sandbag all day. From then on the sandbaggin siren blew into April asking for help. It was predicted to get to 22 feet of water and the prediction was pretty much dead on. Clay dikes where built 24 feet to hold the 22 feet of water back. After these where built some had breeches buy the country club and the softball diamonds southwest of town. A few days after mandatory evacuations where put in place for the dissabled and elderly. I myself was evacuated from my partents house before getting ready to sit down for Easter Sunday dinner. A few days later on Aprtil 16th VCSU classes were cancled and put online for the remanding semester. Yippy! no more chemisty 5 days a week or ever again! The sewer system backed up a day later. People were urged to leave and portapotties were installed through out the town a day after that. A week and half later the water started to decline, already meeting its crest the tuesday before. Things have started to quite down now. During the rest of my research I found the major spokespeople who have dealt with this entire situation. Another thing I doing is telling the flood from my prespective. How, I thought it was handled and if things could have been done any better or differently.l
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Valley City Flood
For my research paper I decided to focus on Valley City since I was born and raised there and have been through the flood from start to finish. I saw this flood culminating, oh right around the end of December when it relentlessly dumped the most snow I've seen since 1997 through Febuary. The two blizzards in the middle of March didn't help either. When you can't get anywhere to go ice fishing because your four wheel drive can't make on the ice or out to where the fish are biting you know your going to have a wet spring. Valley City defenitely got that.
Lets see how did I get my information about the flood first hand? Well there where many sources out there relaying information thats not hard to do in a small town. How I first found out that the flood was going to be bad was looking at fargo's case. I heard about that when I was spring breaking in Florida on The Weather Channel. Then realizing we lived in a valley on a town built next to a river I realized...Oh no, where gonna be the next Fargo except worse. After the first blizzard pandamonium was creeping in with sandbagger sirens, VCSU email anouncements, KOVC, the Times Record and that crappy valley new channel shouting all sorts of calls to fight the flood. These outlets all played a particular role in the crisis communication channeled throughout Valley City. The main spokesperson of course was the Mayor Mary Lee Neilson and many other spokespersons where out there for the Corp of Engineers and Valley City Public Works and others. These spokes people where heard through mostly KOVC, the newspaper and the public access channel.
In my research project all of the major crisis communications will be covered including who said them, how they where sent out, and why they were important. Also much of the catastrophies that plagued this poor town for several weeks will be looked into on how they where handled with the crisis communication side of things.
Lets see how did I get my information about the flood first hand? Well there where many sources out there relaying information thats not hard to do in a small town. How I first found out that the flood was going to be bad was looking at fargo's case. I heard about that when I was spring breaking in Florida on The Weather Channel. Then realizing we lived in a valley on a town built next to a river I realized...Oh no, where gonna be the next Fargo except worse. After the first blizzard pandamonium was creeping in with sandbagger sirens, VCSU email anouncements, KOVC, the Times Record and that crappy valley new channel shouting all sorts of calls to fight the flood. These outlets all played a particular role in the crisis communication channeled throughout Valley City. The main spokesperson of course was the Mayor Mary Lee Neilson and many other spokespersons where out there for the Corp of Engineers and Valley City Public Works and others. These spokes people where heard through mostly KOVC, the newspaper and the public access channel.
In my research project all of the major crisis communications will be covered including who said them, how they where sent out, and why they were important. Also much of the catastrophies that plagued this poor town for several weeks will be looked into on how they where handled with the crisis communication side of things.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Swine Flu, Swine Flu, watchya gonna Do!
In this month’s blog we are supposed to blog about different stories involving crisis communication in public relations. I decided instead of focusing on the flood crisis we’ve been having in south eastern North Dakota to go off and find another story about something besides the raging waters of the mighty Sheyenne and the Red River. So, procrastinating as I have done throughout my entire life I found a gem of a story from usatoday about swine flu. Yes, bacon is back and pork has left the fork with a deadly outbreak in several U.S. states. Pig flu is a respiratory infection similar to the flu, except only three cases were reported in history before the outbreak, and they don’t know how it spreads. . The United States has declared a public health emergency over swine flu, “don’t worry there are no cases declared in North Dakota, thank god we’ve been through enough.” However there has been officials reporting 20 different cases in New York, California, Texas, Kansas, and Ohio. Eight students from Queens New York have been diagnosed with the pig flu after spring breaking in Mexico, “glad I went to Florida.”There have been 81 cases throughout Mexico including 20 deaths there from the pig influenza.
When the United States health officials declared an emergency this enabled them to stockpile and move 12 million doses of Tamiflu to the states with confirmed cases. This is a prime example of crisis communication by acting fast and getting the needed supplies. Another example the government has put in place to avoid more out breaks is setting up a strict border patrol protocol, so border guards can inspect people and ask them if they are sick and find people who look under the weather. Health authorities expect the disease to spread and Richard Besser, acting director from the center of disease control said “We are responding aggressively.” This statement reassures people health authorities and the government are on the case and not to worry.
However, since pig flu is a new threat and doesn’t usually spread to humans it may be starting to cause a pandemic throughout the globe. Cases have been reported in from Canada to New Zealand and officials around the world are worried Mexico didn’t relay information about the many cases they have already encountered to other nations. Now that the word has spread about pig flu many different governments are taking precautionary actions like Mexico, which has canceled church services and shut down food outlets. Pork bans may also be put into place throughout Mexico. Only time will tell if this turns into a global epidemic like sars and the bird flu, which disappear from news papers just like the pig flu will. I always found that weird when something like this breaks you never hear about in the following months or what the status of the outbreaks are. Well maybe that’s because effective crisis communication is implemented to help stop it, just a guess.
When the United States health officials declared an emergency this enabled them to stockpile and move 12 million doses of Tamiflu to the states with confirmed cases. This is a prime example of crisis communication by acting fast and getting the needed supplies. Another example the government has put in place to avoid more out breaks is setting up a strict border patrol protocol, so border guards can inspect people and ask them if they are sick and find people who look under the weather. Health authorities expect the disease to spread and Richard Besser, acting director from the center of disease control said “We are responding aggressively.” This statement reassures people health authorities and the government are on the case and not to worry.
However, since pig flu is a new threat and doesn’t usually spread to humans it may be starting to cause a pandemic throughout the globe. Cases have been reported in from Canada to New Zealand and officials around the world are worried Mexico didn’t relay information about the many cases they have already encountered to other nations. Now that the word has spread about pig flu many different governments are taking precautionary actions like Mexico, which has canceled church services and shut down food outlets. Pork bans may also be put into place throughout Mexico. Only time will tell if this turns into a global epidemic like sars and the bird flu, which disappear from news papers just like the pig flu will. I always found that weird when something like this breaks you never hear about in the following months or what the status of the outbreaks are. Well maybe that’s because effective crisis communication is implemented to help stop it, just a guess.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Chris "da Beater" Brown in PR crisis!
Chris Brown a young up and coming R&B pop star has landed himself in a public relations crises. On the night of February 8th Chris Brown was alleged to be in an domestic abuse altercation with his girlfriend another young popstar named Rihanna. Both have several chart topping songs on the air and several endorsement deals. After the distress call to 911 from Rihanna, Brown turned himself into the Los Angeles police department later that night and was charged with two felony count of assault and criminal threats.
Now Brown has found himself in some major PR hot water. This couldn't have come at a worse time for Brown who had signed a lucrative endorsement deal with Wrigley’s doublemint gum in August. The Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company has decided to suspend their current advertising campaign with Brown. The company told the public that they want to wait until the situation is resolved before they start re-airing the commercials. Brown also took his own nomination and invite to the Nickelodeons Kids Choice Awards.
Chris Brown has also gone on to hire a crisis PR firm from Los Angeles called Sitrick & Company to handle his situation. Sitrick is considered an expert in handling these kinds of Cases. Sitrick has dealt with high profile celebrities such as Halle Barry who had a hit and run incident, Mel Gibson’s drunk driving incident, and Rush Limbaugh’s oxy-contin addiction scandal. The Sitrick PR released a statement on Brown’s behalf. Many video news releases with the same statement have been released on many entertainment and news channels. This shows the strategy Sitirick is using by addressing the issue as soon as they were hired they assessed the situation and released a nice concise statement covering what they could. The only problem is they may have been hired to late because much of the public media were upset that he hadn’t release a statement earlier like the day after the altercation occurred. The PR saga still continues with many segments being done on the story along with one I even saw today on Oprah. However, things could be looking up for Chris Brown because on Oprah they showed pictures of the young couple together at a party after the aftermath of the domestic dispute. Many topics about abuse where covered each putting a different spin on the story. Tyra Banks who was a guest on the Oprah special said Brown’s mother was beaten when Brown was a child, which she thought may stem such an outburst of violence from the young singer. This special may help Brown out in the long run. If you were a crisis PR firm how would you handle this situation?
In my opinion if things do blow over for Chris Brown he could always get an endorsement deal with Hawaiian Punch. Sorry, I just had to do that, I have no remorse for abusers and neither should the public! I also think Tyra Banks had the worst show ever and I’m glad its canceled what a lame excuse to hit a woman.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Kellogg's burnt out with Micheal Phelps!
After looking through everyone’s blogs I noticed nobody took the chance to look at the PR crisis that Michael Phelps has created, however A-Rod did get touched upon. So I decided to read an article in the NY Marketing and PR examiner stating that Kellogg’s has dropped all ties with Phelps.
Unless you have been living under a bridge smoking doobies you probably already know by now that Michael Phelps was photographed smoking marijuana out of a bong at a University of South Carolina frat party. This picture was published in Britian’s News of the World newspaper. When the picture hit the web, Phelps was hit by a barrage of PR “pot shots”. Soon after the photo was revealed to the public, Kellogg’s cleared Phelps from their cereal boxes. However, Speedo is still a very proud and stout supporter of Phelps’.
The question is this a good public relations move for Kellogg’s? It certainly is. I think it was an easy decision for Kellogg’s to drop its association with Phelps because Kellogg’s target market has predominantly been children ages 5-18, whose cereal is purchased by their concerned parents. The last thing those consumers want is a figure who validates the use of marijuana on their children’s breakfast table each morning, no matter how many gold medals he won. Phelps has suffered some damage to his image, but only time will tell whether or not he can put this incident behind him (as he did with a drunk driving conviction six years ago). Other sponsors such as Rosetta Stone, IBM and Speedo are willing to look beyond the indiscretion, and focus on the future. These corporations reflect the idea that the people of America have a very short attention span. When 2012 rolls around and Michael Phelps wins another heap of gold medals, everyone will forget all about these matters. The only time it will be mentioned in the future may be at the beginning of the 2012 Olympics right before Phelps wins his first gold medal.
I also think Michael Phelps handled this very well unlike Alex Rodriguez. Phelps addressed the public said it was a mistake and that he will never do it again and that was his statement. A-Roid on the other hand is in the process of dragging his Personal PR staff work for a long time.
Unless you have been living under a bridge smoking doobies you probably already know by now that Michael Phelps was photographed smoking marijuana out of a bong at a University of South Carolina frat party. This picture was published in Britian’s News of the World newspaper. When the picture hit the web, Phelps was hit by a barrage of PR “pot shots”. Soon after the photo was revealed to the public, Kellogg’s cleared Phelps from their cereal boxes. However, Speedo is still a very proud and stout supporter of Phelps’.
The question is this a good public relations move for Kellogg’s? It certainly is. I think it was an easy decision for Kellogg’s to drop its association with Phelps because Kellogg’s target market has predominantly been children ages 5-18, whose cereal is purchased by their concerned parents. The last thing those consumers want is a figure who validates the use of marijuana on their children’s breakfast table each morning, no matter how many gold medals he won. Phelps has suffered some damage to his image, but only time will tell whether or not he can put this incident behind him (as he did with a drunk driving conviction six years ago). Other sponsors such as Rosetta Stone, IBM and Speedo are willing to look beyond the indiscretion, and focus on the future. These corporations reflect the idea that the people of America have a very short attention span. When 2012 rolls around and Michael Phelps wins another heap of gold medals, everyone will forget all about these matters. The only time it will be mentioned in the future may be at the beginning of the 2012 Olympics right before Phelps wins his first gold medal.
I also think Michael Phelps handled this very well unlike Alex Rodriguez. Phelps addressed the public said it was a mistake and that he will never do it again and that was his statement. A-Roid on the other hand is in the process of dragging his Personal PR staff work for a long time.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Oh no! I just blogged all over!
Looking around on different sites on the net, I found an interesting story about the famed infomercial product the Snuggie! Apparently, it is selling like hot cakes with over 4 million orders all ready sold throughout our great nation. This makes me wonder how Shamwow is doing. But anyways, I thought for my first blog ever,I would try to figure out how this is selling so well and look at the Snuggie groups PR tactics.
After reading the article from http://www.usatoday.com/life/lifestyle/2009-01-27-snuggie_N.htm and seeing the commercial on the TV a number of times and laughing at the product, I couldn't believe from reading the article that it sold around 4 million. This thing is ridiculous. It's a blanket with sleeves, but for some reason a moron like myself can't come up with a better invention than the snuggie. Putting that aside, lets dive deep into the PR realm of the Snuggie.
How did they sell 4 million already? Its only been on TV for less than three months. Here is how I see it, they say one size fits all, everyone in the family can use it, and on top of all that you get a free reading lamp at an incredible 15 dollar value!
Ok, lets figure this out. Who is always cold and loves to read? Well, in my family it's my 95 year old grandma Betty. Snuggie is targeting old people because they are always cold. Every time I go into any old person's place the thermostat is cranked up, summer or winter.
Not only is the snuggie targeting old people, it is also targeting people who are too lazy to through a blanket on and off of themselves (this includes me). Now, lets go over this snuggie's target audience. Old people, readers, and lazy cold people(I like to call these people couch potatoes in the fridged Midwest).
Another reason I think the Snuggie is doing so well is because the economy. I now blame everything on the economy, just like every one else. I failed my first chemistry test this semester. Guess who's to blame....THE ECONOMY! People buy the Snuggie because there heating bill is so expensive and with the horrible economy the Snuggie saves bundles of money on heating cost.
The Snuggie's commericial is pretty lame, but funny. Everyone looks so happy doing various activities on the commericial. The truth is everyone wants to be warm and happy, especialy around our parts. What other Public Relation tactics do you think the snuggie is using to get people buying it?
After reading the article from http://www.usatoday.com/life/lifestyle/2009-01-27-snuggie_N.htm and seeing the commercial on the TV a number of times and laughing at the product, I couldn't believe from reading the article that it sold around 4 million. This thing is ridiculous. It's a blanket with sleeves, but for some reason a moron like myself can't come up with a better invention than the snuggie. Putting that aside, lets dive deep into the PR realm of the Snuggie.
How did they sell 4 million already? Its only been on TV for less than three months. Here is how I see it, they say one size fits all, everyone in the family can use it, and on top of all that you get a free reading lamp at an incredible 15 dollar value!
Ok, lets figure this out. Who is always cold and loves to read? Well, in my family it's my 95 year old grandma Betty. Snuggie is targeting old people because they are always cold. Every time I go into any old person's place the thermostat is cranked up, summer or winter.
Not only is the snuggie targeting old people, it is also targeting people who are too lazy to through a blanket on and off of themselves (this includes me). Now, lets go over this snuggie's target audience. Old people, readers, and lazy cold people(I like to call these people couch potatoes in the fridged Midwest).
Another reason I think the Snuggie is doing so well is because the economy. I now blame everything on the economy, just like every one else. I failed my first chemistry test this semester. Guess who's to blame....THE ECONOMY! People buy the Snuggie because there heating bill is so expensive and with the horrible economy the Snuggie saves bundles of money on heating cost.
The Snuggie's commericial is pretty lame, but funny. Everyone looks so happy doing various activities on the commericial. The truth is everyone wants to be warm and happy, especialy around our parts. What other Public Relation tactics do you think the snuggie is using to get people buying it?
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