Sunday, July 26, 2009

Lookin' Spiffy

The first time I saw my little sister was through a pane of glass at the hospital. After several days of burned grilled cheese, Dad had finally brought us to the hospital to see our Mom and The Baby. Back in 1979 Moms still stayed in the hospital for several days after giving birth--and big brothers and sisters got to wave at the newest family member when the nurse held her up.

We loved her. So much so that Mom used to put her in the playpen to keep us from bothering her. For years I had a scar on my cheek from where her baby fingernail scratched me away from her personal space.


Over the years my brother and I, like siblings throughout history, teased and tormented our little sister. One of our favorite "insults," though, started quite innocently. We were dressing for some occasion and our parents said, Susan, don't you look spiffy.

I NOT SPIFFY! came the reply. We laughed and laughed over this. And, of course, called her spiffy as much as possible.

Susan is all grown up and married now. Happy birthday to a fellow Bobcat, wonderful aunt and spiffy little sister.



Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Multi-Media Pig Show Report

Welcome to the only place on the internet where mad communications skilz, almost unbearable maternal pride and swine come together. It's the first ever Multi-Media Pig Show Report®.

Welcome to our report from the National Swine Registry Summer Type Conference. Where else would a Multi-Media Pig Show Report begin but the pig barn at the Expo Center in Louisville, Kentucky, where the pigs were very happy. Aren't they cute when they're sleeping.

Oh, and this little one is cute too. Shhh don't tell Grandma S. that she's in your computer--she won't like it!

Back to the report... Todd showed pigs, Ryan showed pigs and Justin won first place with his poster all about pigs. The end.

But wait! I promised you a Multi-Media Pig Show Report and I don't disappoint. We have next our first-ever Bringing Home the Bacon video production, starring Ryan and featuring jerky photography and jumpy editing by yours truly.




Wait! There's more! If you act now, I'll throw in the complete photo montage on Flickr, a $24.99 value--yours FREE!



If for any reason you haven't enjoyed your Multi-Media Pig Show Report, just return it for a full refund. Minus shipping and handling.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

PR Idea of the Week

Egads! Before I become a complete Mommy blogger (not that there's anything wrong with that), I thought I would get back to the third element of this blog and share an interesting PR campaign.

The marketing/PR/social media team at Discovery Channel has hit a home run in promoting Shark Week--by "killing off" most of the nation's TV bloggers. Put down your logo folder and back away from your USB drive PR people, because the press kit for Shark Week includes mangled surf shorts and a customized obituary for each recipient.

Here's a photo that's been shared on multiple blogs with the contents of the kit received by James Hibberd, blogger for The Hollywood Reporter.

There are several good blogs deconstructing this campaign but by far the best quote--and best takeaway from this press kit--is from Hibberd's blog.

"I love it, I think it's great," says one PR executive at an unrelated company about the Discovery campaign. "And the reason I love it is because you're writing about it."

It DOESN'T MATTER that the headline of Hibberd's story is "Creepiest network marketing effort ever?"

Peter Ha from CrunchGear, who also suffered a tragic shark-attack death at the hands of Discovery, similarly photographed and documented his experience with this press kit. And Sling went as far as to offer their free suggestions for other shows who might be looking for edgy press kit concepts. (I know it's a cliche but I literally LOL at the one for Hoda and Kathy Lee.)

A few years ago (a few months ago?) if you asked journalists at a media panel what they think about getting clever PR stuff in the mail, they would mostly say that they don't like it and you should just email them a solid story idea. BUT the definition of journalist has changed as well as the opportunities to go viral by appealing to vanity (Pepsi told recipients of their campaign they were among the top bloggers in the nation), and the fact that people are looking for cool stuff to post online.

You have to think that there had to be naysayers at Discovery who thought that the obituaries were tacky or that the bloody shorts were too scary, or that they shouldn't be promoting shark attacks since they are so rare and it undoes years of science education--all good points.

But if their goal was to get blog hits and people talking blogging and tweeting about Shark Week--then they were a big success.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Princess Cousins

Once upon a time there was a little girl named Morgan who had a cousin named K who lived on an island far, far away. One day K came to Morgan's farm to visit her. They rode bikes together, went to the "buzam" (museum) together, and dressed just alike.

Morgan has been beside herself with excitement about the arrival of her cousin K. She just concluded her visit tonight and both girls cried--which could also be explained by the late hour and some driveway induced boo-boos.

Both girls are a dangerous combination of sweetness and grit that had them both dressing up for church and then climbing on bikes to cruise the gravel driveway before we left.

Once K decided that her uncle's church softball game warranted a cheerleading outfit, Morgan was happy to concur, leaving both girls to root for a perennial loser, poisonous nuts (buckeyes are poisonous, did you know?) and the local Presbyterian church.

K is the subject of many bedtime stories and a role model who never says bad words, never bites her playmates and always wears panties to bed. Between our stories of her heroics and her fabricated virtues, K has been elevated to almost a legend at our house. I hate to say it but the in-person time they had this week may have been disappointing for Morgan--her hero turned out to be a very cute but very normal five-year-old girl.

Morgan and K will be reunited this fall at Disney World, where reservations are in order for them to dine with multiple Disney Princesses. The Princesses, who all live at the big castle, by the way, can take over as Morgan's heroes and K can go back to being what she should be--a wonderful friend.

Appointment Pooping

  NOTE: If you do not want to read about my healthy bowel movement, well too late you just did. I recently became you-better-get-a-colonosco...