Healthy chips in a healthy bag

SunChips has launched a campaign to promote their new bag made by plants so it's fully compostable. Every 10 ½ oz. SunChips package is designed to fully break down in just 14 weeks when placed in a hot, active compost bin or pile.

The newer bags are louder than the previous bags SunChips made. The new plant-based materials used have different sound properties that makes the bags a little louder.

SunChips has also started using solar energy in their plant in Modesto, California. This process eliminates the use of fossil fuels. The Modesto plant is the only plant out of eight that uses solar energy.

Solar collectors track the sun from morning to night capturing as much energy as they can. Then the energy is transferred into heat, which helps SunChips produce 145,000 bags of chips every day.

Learn more about SunChips.

Tiger Woods Addresses Media

Tiger Woods finally speaks out in front of a crowd of pre-selected media, family, and friends last Friday, apologizing for his "irresponsible and selfish behavior." The event was live-streamed online, and many have commented on his avoidance of the media.

"Every one of you had good reason to be critical of me," he said. "For all that I have done, I am so sorry." He went on to say that he and his wife were "discussing the damage caused by my behavior," but that "will remain between the two of us." He also pleaded to the media and paparazzi to leave his family alone.

Communications professionals criticized the event, saying Woods should take questions from media. "He can't hide behind this façade. He's got to do the real thing," Nick Ragone of Ketchum told the New York Post. People also used Twitter to comment during and after the event.

As a public relations professional how would you have handled his situation?

For the rest of the article please click here.

Blockbuster's New Technologies

The movie rental store Blockbuster is fighting competition and financial losses with new technologies. Blockbuster is battling against Netflix and other competitors by allowing customers to have movies mailed to their homes if the desired film cannot be found in the store. Blockbuster is also incorporating DVD rental kiosks, streaming videos over the Internet and memory cards that hold downloaded movies to increase sales.

Blockbuster is scheduled to report 2009 financial results in February and expects a net loss for the year of as much as $193 million. Several top executives were recently laid off. In comparison, Netflix added more than a million customers in the fourth quarter and reported a profit of $116 million for 2009.

Click here to read more about how Blockbuster is attempting to increase its name and business.

Domino's Turns Ketchup-Cardboard Pizza Into "Oh Yes We Did!" Pizza

Most companies and brands do not aim to point out their negative aspects but Domino's did. Not only did Domino's choose to break a cardinal rule of advertising - don't quote your customers cruelly dissing you product - but they also succeeded in bringing positive attention to their new product. Domino's took a risky shot in their PR tactic but came out on the better side. Their bluntness and ability to connect with their past, and unhappy, customers created a campaign that made a mark in public relations history.

Along with facing the ugly, Domino's put a humorous spin on their campaign. They were able to laugh at themselves and show the public that they were willing to change to meet, and go above, expectations - smart move! The catch to this campaign is that their was "no pressing need" to defend or fix themselves, but a perfect time to pull out a sneaky and genius public relations move.

The public will always judge and Domino's took advantage of the judging by placing their critics in their commercials, along with insulting quotes. The public ended up favoring the "we messed up" campaign and Domino's carried themselves to a better place. Whoever said revealing the bad will not be good, is wrong when it comes to Domino's "Oh Yes We Did!"-Campaign.

Dominos "Pizza Turnaround" Commercial

Hannah Albrecht
Monday, February 22, 2010

White's Gold Medel Tarnished by Coache's Language

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/NBC-catches-Shaun-White-coach-having-vulgar-cha?urn=oly,220425Sean White's gold-medal winning was tarnished when NBC cameras recorded vulgar statements from White's coach, Bud Keene.
The NBC network recorded some inappropriate language between White and Keene before his last victory medal run. Obviously excited for the win, Keene spoke without thinking about the being captured on live footage and subsequently used some R rated language. NBC announcers Patt Parnell and Todd Richards apologized for the offensive language, blaming the energy running through White and Keene. But who should the blamed, the network or Keene? The conflict of whether Keene should be held responsible or the network, is the big question. Keene is not under obligation to clean up his language unless he is being interviewed by a network. The conversation was also between one grown man talking to another and was not directly spoken to the audience of 25 million.

Tiger's PR Run Begins

The first photo of Tiger Woods since November 21, 2009 surfaced on Wednesday. This image, taken by Sam Greenwood, is thought to be one of many planned PR events that Tiger will be participating in during the next few weeks. His team announced early on February 17 that a one-way press conference would take place on Friday. The photo surfaced just hours after that message was sent out.

With all his corporate sponsorships, Tiger must remain in control to secure these connections for the future. He also has a marriage and an entire sport that he has to support.

Tiger has been hiding out for months but now is the time for he and his public relations team to take control of the situation. The question is, will it be too late?

Source

Jay-Z disses 'We Are the World' remake

After deputing the remake of the hit '80's pop anthem 'We Are the World' at the Olympic opening ceremonies, rapper Jay-Z stirs up controversy over whether or not the song should have been altered. The legendary song, originally written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, was redone to benefit the Haiti earthquake relief effort.

"I know everybody is gonna take this wrong: 'We Are the World,' I love it, and I understand the point and think it's great. But I think 'We Are the World' is like [Michael Jackson's] 'Thriller' to me. I don't ever wanna see it touched," Jay-Z told MTVNews.com Saturday night at the 2 Kings dinner in Dallas.

Critics agree with the rapper. The Washington Post characterized the song as "horribly oversung," and critics from the New York Times wrote, "Lil Wayne, you're no Bob Dylan...as a piece of work, [the song] has all the pitfalls of a Hollywood remake." Clearly Jay-Z isn't the only one with strong objections with the current make up of the song.

Read More

Fashion Week's Latest Trend? Plus-Size Models

The semiannual New York Fashion Show is giving something new to look at - plus size models. While women who are size double-zero and zero are still flocking the runway, size 12 women are stepping into the spotlight. While size 12 isn't tiny, it is still smaller than the average American at size 14.

"One of the things that's happened is that as the general population has gotten bigger and bigger, the models were getting smaller and smaller and smaller," Robin Givhan, fashion editor for The Washington Post, tells NPR's Renee Montagne.

Although plus-sized women are hitting the runway, there still remains a large gap between what the fashion industry and average Americans consider plus-size. With extraordinarily tiny women portraying beauty and fashion, when does plus-size, in a profoundly overweight population, become just as distressing unhealthy an image as emaciation?

Read More Here.

Car Giant Toyota Slammed For 'Easygoing' Attitude To Recall Crisis

Accelerator problems on the Toyota Prius has initiated a global recall of the car. However, the company's response was "slow and poorly executed" and Toyota should take their PR practices more seriously.

Toyota CEO, Akio Toyoda, was keeping his head low for two weeks after the crisis broke when he finally expressed remorse on behalf of the company. This was also when they finally released an explanatory video in the US and UK, an effective response, but it may have been too late because public perceptions could already have formed.

The late responses to the accelerator crisis may have cause irreparable damage to the company's image of being the maker of the safest and most reliable vehicles.

Read more here.

Avatar increases 45% in Ticket Sales on Fandango after receiving Oscar Nominations

Ticket sales for Avatar increased by 45% after receiving nine Academy Award nominations.

Avatar is also already the the top ticket-seller in Fandango's history.

Many Fandango users also pleased at the fact that the Academy Awards have expanded their category to allow more popular films to compete.

Note: Fandango ticket sales on Tuesday, January 26 (6:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. PT) – before the nominations were announced – in comparison to Fandango ticket sales on Tuesday, February 2 (6:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. PT) - after the nominations were announced.

For more information about Avatar and Fandango, click here.

WHATAVALENTINE

A little tight on cash this Valentine’s Day? Whataburger is celebrating cupid’s favorite holiday by offering a sweetheart deal for couples featuring their Patty Melt Whatameal.

From 5 to 10 p.m. on Sunday, February 14, any couple can purchase a Patty Melt Whatameal, which includes fries and a drink, and receive a second Patty Melt Whatameal free for dine-in service. Customers can even send a special e-vite from www.whataburger.com to ask their Valentines to join them for "I Love Patty Melt" night.

Countless customer stories of romance under the orange “W” inspired “I love Patty Melt” night. Rich Scheffler, Whataburger Restaurants, LP Group Director of Marketing said that the promotion is a way to thank customers for sharing their stories.

"We've heard so many great Whataburger love stories from our customers, and our 'I Love Patty Melt' promotion is our way of thanking them for sharing their stories and hopefully inspiring some new ones," said Scheffler.

Click here for the original article.

Oscars Double the Number of Candidates

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has decided to add five more candidates to Hollywood's top prize, doubling its previous number, in an attempt to boost the show's ratings.

Increasing the number of films presented for the top categories allows room for beloved fan favorites to be recognized. If more of the popular, high grossing films are acknowledged, more people will tune in to see if their favorite film will win.

IPhone Skype over 3G:'Real Soon Now'

A new upgrade coming soon to the IPhone will allow Skype over AT&T's 3G data network. VoIP calls have been possible through other apps but Skype had been holding their VoIP capabilities back in order to increase call quality. Although the capability has already been available through other apps, it is believed there will be major implications of a major player breaking into the mobile 3G VoIP market. Some predict the introduction and growth in popularity of VoIP could completely change calling plans. Click here to read the full article.

Celebrity Endorsements at the 2010 Grammy Awards Skyrocket!

GreenLight, a global media licensing, talent negotiation and rights representation consultancy, released the results of its annual GreenLight Ad Gauge of the 52nd annual Grammy Awards, revealing a 150% spike in ads featuring celebrity endorsements.

The Grammy Awards is the largest music event every year. The 2010 analysis reveals that after a pulling back from celebrity collaborations in 2009, brands are once again partnering with celebrities and using pop music to maximize brand awareness and forge emotional connections with consumers.

Target, T-Mobile and MasterCard were just a few that used celebrity endorsement and music in their ads this year. The many celebrities using their start status are the Black Eyed Peas, Pearl Jam, Nick Jonas and Eric Clapton.

Click here for the entire news release.