I love you, Buzz Marketing

The front page of the Wall Street Journal today, features a story titled “Fellow Graduates, Before We Greet the Future, a Word From My Sponsor”. It details a marketing campaign for the movie “I Love You, Beth Cooper” funded by Twentieth Century Fox. The idea was to generate attention for the film by having a high school valedictorian reveal her crush in her graduation speech, just as the protagonist does in the film. So, Kenya Mejia from Alexander Hamilton High School in L.A. said “I love you, Jake Minor” and subsequently cashed a check for 18-hundred bucks.

While There was some local “buzz” about whether it was ethical to pay a student to market a movie at a school sponsored event, it didn’t translate into any monetary benefit for the studio. The film basically bombed.

Buzz marketing is taught in MBA programs around the country as a way of generating attention for a product with a specific consumer market. Maybe this campaign would have been more effective if it included more students around the country or a contest of some sort. There was also an opportunity for Fox to get buy-in from the school or schools. Grant money could certainly be useful for educators while budgets are being cut in this tough economic time.

But there is also something to be said for actually being buzz worthy. Alicia Potter reviewed the film for the Boston Phoenix. On July 8 she wrote: “Hayden Panettiere provokes many emotions as the title object of desire in Chris Columbus's dreadful teen romance. Love is not one of them.”

Bottom line, if the product is lame to begin with, a little bit of buzz isn’t going to make a difference.

--Francy Ronayne is an account supervisor at Solomon McCown & Company. She can be reached by email at fronayne@solomonmccown.com.

How WBZ is using social media to enhance its mission

This morning the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce hosted a seminar called “Building Your Online Brand Through Social Media.” One of the panelists was Stephanie Miller, the Director of Digital Media at WBZ .

By using primarily Twitter and its own internal blogs, WBZ has been able to redefine its mission by using social media as a stethoscope, to help them really listen to the pulse of what Boston media consumers care about. Using social media, WBZ has started bringing viewers into the news-making process instead of only covering the stories the station deems newsworthy.

Think of the words associated with social media: chat, poke, follow…

What WBZ noticed and capitalized on is social media has created a conversation among and across groups. And in that conversation, everyone is a newsmaker. In order to be a part of this sweeping trend, WBZ launched “Conversation Nation” and its “Declare Your Curiosity” campaigns, in addition to continuing Jon Keller’s widely read political blog Keller@Large. Both campaigns encourage viewers to talk about issues or questions they care about. WBZ responds both online and in its broadcasts.

There are a lot of very general tips on how to most effectively use social media. WBZ is a great practical example of a company that was able to improve its core product and promote its brand by joining the conversation already happening in the social media sphere.

--Francy Ronayne is an account supervisor at Solomon McCown & Company. She can be reached by email at fronayne@solomonmccown.com.

Madoff’s penthouse placed on the market

Bernie Madoff’s Upper East Side Manhattan apartment has been placed on the market, just a few weeks after he was sentenced to 150 years in prison. While all proceeds from the sale of the penthouse will be donated entirely to his Ponzi scheme victims, the government couldn’t quite oblige broker Brown Harris Stevens’ offer to disregard any sort of commission charges from the sale because the government prohibits pro bono contracts. However, the broker is insistent on not profiting from this high-profile sale, (estimated to be in the $7 million range according to the article) and still plans to donate a large percentage of their commission charge back into the victim’s relief fund.

It’s a good PR move.

---Nick Fasulo is an account coordinator for Solomon McCown & Company. He can be reached by email at nfasulo@solomonmccown.com.

Don Chiofaro's New Harbor Garage

Don Chiofaro is a bold developer looking to enhance the Hub’s new jewel of a park -- the Rose Kennedy Greenway -- with his new Harbor Garage proposal. And he's also one of our clients.

Both today’s Globe and Herald have coverage on Chiofaro’s plan, outlining his goals to create a more engaging Boston Harbor that isn’t left sitting behind boxy buildings and generating foot traffic along the Greenway in order to maximize its usage. Yesterday Chiofaro’s International Place hosted its annual summer tenant event, which brought droves of people to the Greenway during the lunch hour to enjoy music by Sherry Allston Reeves, formerly of The Shirelles. The event served as an exemplary model of just how special this part of the City can be if its used and developed accordingly.

You can learn more about the Rose Kennedy Greenway at www.RoseKennedyGreenway.org.

---Nick Fasulo is an account coordinator at Solomon McCown & Company. He can be reached by email at nfasulo@solomonmccown.com

Re-measuring credibility in the media

How is Twitter changing public relations?

The New York Times’ Claire Cain Miller explores how PR professionals are increasingly bypassing traditional media toward popular Tweeters and bloggers, some of whom have hundreds of thousands of followers they can spread a message to in an instant – no small feat at a time when newspaper print schedules seem arcane and circulations are plummeting.

Indeed, digital media is often breaking news and driving the news agenda. One anecdote Miller provides is about the growth of Flickr – a successful photo sharing site. The public relations firm representing Flickr seemed to have it pretty easy; as word spread about an acquisition from Yahoo!, the news organically began popping up on a few blogs, then a few more, and then enough to attract the eye of Business Week. Just like that, a well known magazine was begging for an exclusive.

But it’s not all that easy. The challenge with a digital public relations effort revolves around distinguishing who or what site is credible and accurate. We must know “hundreds of writers, bloggers and Twitter users instead of having six top reporters on speed dial.”

---Nick Fasulo is an account coordinator at Solomon McCown & Company. He can be reached by email at nfasulo@solomonmccown.com.

Not so sustainable housing in Shanghai

The city of Shanghai is booming, but one bad building can spoil the whole party. This week it was learned by the world that a cost cutting action may have been the reason for the collapse of this nearly finished 13 story apartment complex, which left one construction worker dead.

Ironically, city construction authorities had praised the developer’s work in this area of Shanghai back in 2007, but clearly they're not living up to that acclaim now.

The purported reason for this collapse? Workers dug an underground garage on one side of the building while a heap of soil grew up to 10 meters high on the other, according to an investigation team.

--Nick Fasulo is an account coordinator at Solomon McCown & Company. He can be reached by email at nfasulo@solomonmccown.com