Don’t Hate Me Because I Love My Kindle

I have considered myself a committed reader of print materials. Books, newspapers, magazines—I love to hold them in my hands. Hypocritical, I know, because I consider myself environmentally conscientious. The fact is, paper kills trees. But the line has to be drawn somewhere. I am all for reducing carbon, still I drive a car. I’m supportive of eliminating plastic waste in landfills, still I buy some liquids like juice in plastic containers. And as much as I adore trees, I love a hardcover book.

I feel good when I buy a hardcover book or magazine for supporting the publishing industry—the plight of newspaper, magazine and book publishers worries me; I can’t imagine a world without them. So what I’m about to say will show I really am a total hypocrite.

I love my new Kindle.

I never thought about buying a Kindle for myself, but when my friend Eliza received one as a gift, I was secretly envious. Then last week my husband gave me one. He worried if I’d like it, but I found I was surprisingly excited about the prospect of loading up multiple books and sitting on a plane, a whole library on my lap. I also love the idea of being in Paris and reading The New York Times without schlepping across the city looking for a newsstand that sells it.

Reading the Times on Sunday is one of my favorite pastimes. But in Jackson Hole, I have to drive to Pearl Street Bagels to shell over $7.50 for a copy. Home delivery doesn’t exist and mail delivery arrives three days after publication. Some Sundays I forget, and by Monday all the Sunday papers have been sold. Sometimes—like today—I just don’t feel like driving in the snow to pick up a copy.

But wait, I have a Kindle. I decided today was the day to take the plunge. I opened the box and starting reading the instructions. It took one phone call to register it to my Amazon account and the next thing I knew The New York Times was in my lap!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not advocating doing away with print. The world has a place for both Kindle and print versions of the venerable newspaper. And my husband, prince that he is, also gave me a mail subscription to the weekday Times for my birthday. Now I can use the version that best suits me. Sitting at an airport to catch a flight, the Kindle will be very convenient. On a lazy Sunday afternoon, I’ll read the print version purchased at the local bagel shop. But if I don’t feel like driving in the snow, there’s always home delivery by Kindle.

Out with the Old, In with the New: Looking ahead to PR 2010

As we near the end of 2009, I’ve been looking back over how many things in public relations have changed in the short space of a year:

Out:
Media kits – often a folder with printed copies of news releases, photos, brochures, etc.
News releases – news presented in a single-page pyramid format, double-spaced, boilerplate at the end, printed and mailed to media
Images on glossy paper or CDs
Swag – clever (and sometimes) expensive gifts for media to introduce company and products in hopes of persuading them to feature your product
Mass distribution of emails – let’s face it, many people on your media list aren’t there anymore
Static websites that are essentially online brochures
Big PR with interns doing the frontline work
Long-winded pitches
Any kind of puffery
Flash
Tiger Woods
Paper or Plastic?

In:
Online media rooms
Blogs
(Short!) personal emails
Websites updated regularly with fresh content
Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn
Digital photos and Flickr
SEO
Personal phone calls
Handwritten notes sent via snail mail
Green offices with recycled paper, recycling, Kleen canteens, real plates and silverware  http://www.prleap.com/pr/134628/
Boutique PR with principals communicating from Twitter on up
Communicating your key message in 140 characters or less
Authenticity
Understatement
Taylor Swift
Reusable shopping bags with Teton County’s Bag 2 Differ initiative

There’s no longer a debate about it: PR as we once knew it no longer exists.  Even as we’re forced to bid adieu to beloved print venues like Gourmet, Budget Travel and National Geographic Adventure.  (and the relationships with journalists developed over years) , new opportunities and venues—like the everpresent social media options—continue to grow and expand.  We must be able to react quickly in public relations to stay current on the many new tools available to us—and be ready to let go of old standbys that have outlived their usefulness. 

But that’s what makes our work exciting and interesting.  Just think about the forests sacrificed to old-style public relations campaigns dependent on paper media kits, news releases, and envelopes—Internet publicity is a much greener way to go, and the real-time responses and opportunities that online communication offers are exciting, forcing us to stay open and nimble. So much has changed, and yet there’s no sense we’ve reached an “end” point—it all feels more like a beginning.  Who knows what 2010 will bring?  Send us your thoughts, predictions and “in” and “out” ideas for PR in the coming new year.

From Bags to Boobies: 6 WordenGroup Picks for Holiday Green Giving

"These green gift ideas are udderly fabulous!"

The Holiday Season is a time for making lists, so I asked WordenGroupers for their recommendations on favorite eco-friendly holiday gifts—you’ll find their picks below:

Eco-friendly goodie bag:  You can’t have too many canvas totes—say “Happy Holidays” and encourage being a social change agent one simple action at a time with Ecobags. Add a nalgene bottle and organic fruit for the perfect gift.

Adopt a polar bear: Give the special people on your list an adoption cards for wolves, penguins and blue footed boobies via the World Wildlife Fund. You’ll be helping to preserve the earth’s wild places and species.

Galapagos eco tour:  Guaranteed to get a response—Natural Habitat Adventures Family Galapagos Adventure promises the whole family 11 carbon-neutral days seeing conservation work from the inside with a family-oriented trip to the UNESCO World Heritage in Danger-listed islands.

Green gift wraps: For those gifts that just need wrapping, why not use Earth Presents 100% recycled and recyclable wrapping paper inspired by  the artwork of students with special talents and special needs (a portion of proceeds benefits WVSA’s School for Arts in Learning).

Heifer International:  One of our annual favorites, give the gift of self-reliance to a family in a developing country by buying farm animals from the eponymous heifer to a “knitting basket” combo of llamas and sheep to the stocking stuffer-size gift of a flock of baby chicks (only $20).

We trust the Alternative Consumer blog for great green ideas year-round, so we have to credit them for this unique handmade repurposed find—gorgeous and comfy “sock slippers” made from all those socks that somehow emerge from the drier mate-less (value tip: send in a dozen of your old singleton socks for a 15% discount!)

And for more WordenGroup holiday faves, check our list of only-in-Jackson-Hole gift ideas.  Need more planet-saving suggestions?  Visit the recent TreeHugger holiday gift guide.

Googled: The End of the World as We Know It

The highly anticipated book Googled: The End of the World as We Know It by Ken Auletta was published last week to much fanfare.  Auletta’s piece in The New Yorker last month gave us a behind-the-scenes look into the digital monolith.  After reading Auletta’s New Yorker piece and reviews of the book (I bought it but haven’t yet finished it) along with coverage of the Google book lawsuit,  the question is: Is Google good or evil?

According to Google’s founders, it was intended to make the world’s information available without favoritism.  It’s slogan, “Don’t Be Evil,” is a banner of Google’s corporate approach, described by some as striving to be a utopian culture founded by Page and Brin who believe that if people have better information they will live better lives.  “Let’s  produce this technology and things will work out.”

Isn’t having the world’s information available on our computer screen good?  Isn’t being able to shop online convenient?  Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have access on your computer to the world’s library? Not according to book publishers, writers, traditional media companies, and even some consumers who have complaints against Google.

Traditional media companies hate Google for giving away content—plus magazines and newspapers are angry that Google search and Google news link to their content without paying. Traditional media again takes issue with Google’s advertising tracking tools because traditional media can’t offer the same tools.  Some consumers are concerned about the amount of personal information Google has access to, accusing them of being Big Brother. Writers sued Google over Google Books stepping on their copyrights, and book publishers say Google will monopolize the digital rights to all books ever published.

Is Google good or evil?  Personally, my life is much richer thanks to Google.  Research is at our fingertips without going to the library. I can buy my daughter recital shoes online instead of driving two hours to a specialty store in Idaho Falls, and I can look at my business’s competition easily by searching online.  Maybe I’ll eat these words, but right now I think Google is good.  One thing is sure. It’s here to stay.

Will Google Squash Social Media Optimizers? (or Can Twitter Get Your Website Banned?)

Brad Stone wrote a fascinating column about “social media optimization” in his PING column in Sunday’s New York Times. Everyone knows what Search Engine Optimization is—right? The little game that companies play to try to manipulate search engines, often paying tens of thousands of dollars to improve their rankings.

Now with Facebook and Twitter delivering powerful audiences, a new movement of “Social Media Optimization” is developing. Big business is at stake: the more visitors a site receives, the more ad revenue it can generate. To increase visitor numbers,  websites and blogs are adding prominent links to Twitter and Facebook inviting visitors to “share this with your friends.”  Many sites are overrun with links and icons that make it easy for readers to post content to their favorite social networking sites.

The result is that by actively inviting themselves to the party, these brazen websites are increasing their traffic numbers significantly.  And we all know that Google frowns upon such shenanigans, punishing abusers with the words that strike fear into the heart of anyone on the Internet:  banned websites.  Only five percent of websites have been “banned” by Google, but they reach this status by violating Google’s fairness principles.  The two most common ways to become a banned side is by buying and selling links and by using keyword spam.  For a good lesson on the subject visit Banned Websites.

Website visitor numbers have become very important in the world of shaping consumer opinions and actions.  In the “old days” of even a couple years ago, traditional media reached “influencers” by delivering their products to an elite group of trendsetters—I once worked for a newspaper where we delivered fresh issues of the newspaper with coffee to some of the city’s movers and shakers for special marketing campaigns.  Now people receive their news in real time, so the delivery vehicles—social media networks and the Internet news gurus—are much more important.

It’s too soon to tell, but will Social Media Optimizers invite the wrath of Google?  Stay tuned and in the meantime, of course, feel free to share this blog with your friends!

Backyard PR: Sometimes the best ideas are closest to home

One of my favorite parts of my job is getting to share where I live with others (okay, it helps that I live in Jackson Hole, Wyoming).  And while WordenGroup PR works with clients throughout the Rocky Mountain West (and even one, Olympic Lodge, on the Northwest’s Olympic peninsula), I’ve enjoyed building relationships with clients closer to home over the years, and representing great local institutions like the Jackson Hole Fall Arts Festival – not coincidentally going on right now, as you’ll have noticed if you follow our PRCred Twitter account – and the National Museum of Wildlife Art.

Marybeth Bond author of 50 Best Girlfriend Getaways visits National Museum of Wildlife Art

Last week I had the pleasure of giving travel expert and author Marybeth Bond (of GutsyTraveler ) a tour of some of the arts festival doings, including a visit to the museum, where I pulled out my camera and created a Twitpic of her in front of the dramatic totem pole, while the incredibly energetic and uber-organized Marybeth pulled out a copy of her book 50 Best Girlfriend Getaways in North America for inclusion in the picture (talk about being PR ready!).  And later this week I’ll be tooling around town with Mountain Living magazine editor-in-chief Christine DeOrio – in town to check out some incredible New West architecture examples by Jackson’s own Ward + Blake Architects, as well as to partake of the end-of-the-week fall arts festival fun.

I was also reminded of this “locavore” approach to PR by another client, Natural Habitat Adventures, based out of Boulder, Colorado: Though known for its wildlife ecotours to remote destinations all over the planet, NatHab set forth with its first run of a brand new tour this week, Wild Colorado – its first time sharing the amazing Rocky Mountain territory within hours of its Colorado offices.  And that tour is one of four new-for-2010 tours that explore the U.S., as NatHab finds itself remembering to take advantage of domestic opportunities in response to a trend by American travelers to look to their own U.S. backyards (and giving a big boost to national parks – including our Jackson Hole neighbor Yellowstone, with a record-breaking number of visitors this year – along the way). Meanwhile, another client, the Wyoming Inn, is also tapping that national parks interest with a new package tied to fall elk bugling in Grand Teton National Park

With the idea of “going local” being such a hot topic these days, we in public relations might take a little time to consider if we might be missing any opportunities to develop clients close to home (time on your hands? consider offering some pro bono work to a local nonprofit), and/or to suggest opportunities our clients may be missing in their own local arenas.  Because when it’s time for new big ideas, sometimes – as Dorothy so eloquently put it in “The Wizard of Oz” – there’s no need to “look any further than [your] own backyard.”

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The Psychology of Thrift – PR’s new normal?

 

Just a year ago, consumerism was in high gear and our travel-industry clients were getting great press with high-end offerings like elite custom lodging packages, unique concierge services, and anything that smacked of exclusivity.  Luxe was in.

Then quite suddenly, as lifestyle and travel editors were forced to adjust to the rapidly disintegrating economy (and pity the poor magazine editors, working six months out), everything changed.  Suddenly the watchword for travel stories – and life as we know it, really – became “value.”  And America slid with remarkable enthusiasm into an era where deals & discounts are king.

Writer Claudia Parsons talks about the change in perspective in a recent article in the Denver Voice, “Consumer Cutoff,” where she quotes journalist Lauren Weber, author of an about-to-be-released history of thrift in America titled “In Cheap We Trust.”   According to Weber, thrift is part of our national character, grounded in the hard work and simple living embraced by the Puritans.  From Parsons’ article:

            The trillion-dollar question is whether the recession will mean a fundamental shift in consumer behavior. Journalist Lauren Weber, who spent several years researching her book on thrift, doubts it.

            “Like most Americans I assumed that we were once a thrifty nation and we’ve become profligate,” she said.  “It’s not true at all. We’ve cycled through this virtue of thrift over and over again in our history.”

While we wait to see if Weber is right, the reality of dealing with our neo-thriftiness doesn’t have to be a death knell for business.  In fact, discovering and communicating true “value” in the products and services we promote can only be a good thing for everyone involved.

In travel, for instance, the idea of increased value is often tied not just to price but to sustainability – companies like ecotour provider Natural Habitat Adventures  that have proven track records of improving destination communities and supporting conservation efforts fit a “value” message that has legs in the face of combined economic and environmental crises.  Likewise, a “discount” or “deal” has more meaning – and thus better public relations potential – when it’s integral to the company’s mission, as with NatHab’s “Climate Change Stimulus Plan,” which offers a significant discount on select trips where tourism dollars are crucial to local economies and ongoing conservation initiatives for species threatened by climate change.

That connection between “value” and “values” holds equally for businesses that make life easier for traveling families, a segment of the travel industry that’s shown more resilience.  When canvassed recently about doing business in the downturn, executives from the travel company coalition Adventure Collection stressed that “their travelers continue to believe in the value of travel and the importance of connection and family on their journeys.”

Similarly, lodgings like the Wyoming Inn in Jackson Hole combine a family-friendly destination – in its case, easy access to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks – with complimentary comforts like free laundry facilities, airport and around-town shuttle service, and hearty breakfasts and snacks.  Those little things that make life easier (and help keep budgets in check) add up to authentic value for traveling families.

As dollars tighten, authenticity matters more both to consumers seeking economic relief and to editors trying to provide the most value to their readers.  As we all struggle to re-prioritize our lives and businesses, puffery and hyperbole ring false and items once coveted for high price tags alone are forced to prove their worth or founder under newly critical eyes (aided by Internet tools like blogs and Twitter that further democratize the process of determining real value).

And maybe in turn, marketing and PR people grown jaded through the “more is more” years can become reenergized, reinventing their business through the expression of real value that appeals to the spirit of Yankee thriftiness in all of us.

Guest blogger Anne McGregor Parsons is an associate with WordenGroup Strategic Public Relations

Palooza Celebrates the Love of Learning

 

WordenGroup’s principal Darla Worden is in Paris this month, immersing herself in an intensive French language class – along with a good dose of art, culture, pastries, cheeses, wines–and an ongoing quest to find the city’s best Crème Brûlée. Her experience is a fine example of how education can be life-changing, expansive and fun – the underlying message of last week’s Learning Palooza and Locavore Luncheon sponsored by the Vail Symposium. I attended as the guest of the our good friend and client Rob LeVine, GM of the Antlers at Vail hotel and president of the Symposium’s board. Here he is with Carrie Marsh, the Symposium’s lovely Executive Director:

Carrie Marsh and Rob LeVine

Representatives from organizations including Slow Food, Gore Creek Flyfisherman, Colorado Fourteeners Initiative, and Jack Rabbit Hill presented Colorado-focused educational topics at tables throughout the Donovan Pavilion. As we sampled a creamy soup made from Colorado Olathe sweet corn at the Slow Food booth, I spoke with Magda King, the Antlers hotel’s Conference Services Manager. She told me briefly about her upbringing in Ecuador; when a co-worker commented about Magda’s fluency in five different languages, she said modestly, “We didn’t have much money growing up and my parents often said, ‘All we can offer you is a good education.’ “

It was a fitting start to an event celebrating learning, which also recognized members from the 10th Mountain Division and included comments by Marsh, Vail’s mayor Dick Cleveland and his wife Kathy Langenwalter. Foods of Vail prepared a terrific luncheon from Colorado ingredients, like this tender range-fed Colorado steak accompanied by mashed potatoes and crispy onions:

Who among us will ever be happy with typical rubber chicken banquet fare again?  But I digress…

Colorado state senator Michael Johnston gave the keynote address. A Vail native, Johnston attended local schools before earning degrees from Yale and Harvard; his particular passion is education reform. He began by reading a stirring passage from his book, “In the Deep Heart’s Core” which details his experiences as an English teacher in one of the poorest school districts in the nation.

Colorado Senator Michael Johnston

Johnston is also the principal of the outstanding M.E.S.A. School in Thornton, and he told us about Colorado’s participation in the “Race to the Top,” a competition created through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that will provide financial support in the way of grants to the top ten states that demonstrate their commitment to improving education systems. Johnston’s zeal for the issue is infectious, and his talk made me vow to get more involved and pay greater attention to the isssues around our state’s pressing educational needs.

The Vail Symposium’s slogan is ”For the Love of Learning.” and I bet every attendee of this inspired event left feeling the love–enlightened, energized–and full. Did I mention that the finale of the meal was a dessert of warm Palisade Peaches topped with some sort of marvelous crumbly topping and served in martini glasses? Sorry…I meant to photograph it before I inhaled it.

Meanwhile, across the world our colleague Darla Worden studies French every day in a tiny classroom at Lutece Langue. “I feel I’m using a part of my brain that has been sitting on the couch and watching ‘Seinfeld’ reruns for years,” she writes. Fortunately for all of us, at the end of the day there is the delight and satisfaction that comes from learning–and in Darla’s case, the possible reward of a perfect dish of  Crème Brûlée.

~Eliza Cross

P.S. The nice folks at Slow Food USA provided the recipe for the wonderful Colorado Corn Soup they served at the luncheon, and I’d be happy to share it; just send an e-mail to eliza (at) wordenpr (dot) com.

Guest blogger Eliza Cross is an associate with WordenGroup Strategic Public Relations

Land of the “Free”

Malcolm Gladwell reviews Chris Anderson’s new book “Free: The Future of a Radical Price” (Hyperion; $26.99),  in The New Yorker.   Anderson, the editor of Wired,  is the author of the 2006 best-seller “The Long Tail.”

According to Gladwell, “Free” is essentially an extended elaboration of Stewart Brand’s famous declaration that ‘information wants to be free.’  The digital age, Anderson argues, is exerting an inexorable downward pressure on the prices of all things ‘made of ideas.’ Anderson does not consider this a passing trend. Rather, he seems to think of it as an iron law: ‘In the digital realm you can try to keep Free at bay with laws and locks, but eventually the force of economic gravity will win.’ “

Barry Diller in Bloomberg News takes the opposite argument.  Diller, chairman and chief executive officer of IAC/InterActiveCorp, said Web users will have to pay for what they watch and use, joining the refrain of media moguls who say an era of free Internet content is ending.

The ironic thing is that Diller’s comments appear on Bloomberg.com –which is free.

Is There a Recipe for Marmot?

Yesterday I sat at Valley Bookstore in Jackson Hole signing copies of The Rusty Parrot Cookbook with my friend/coauthor/associate Eliza Cross . We had anticipated that few people would show up for the book signing, which was hardly a PR coup in terms of advance promotion: The weekly newspaper had planned to cover the event—but an editor apologized for forgetting to include it in the paper. Instead, they offered to make it up on Saturday with three mentions. Eliza and I searched the paper twice and finally found one two-sentence entry in the  free daily paper. Meanwhile, a series of ads the bookstore had placed were so dark that the book title was not visible—the image looked more like a purple stamp of some sort than a book cover. Plus, it is summer in Jackson Hole, and sunny, so naturally people are out fishing, kayaking, hiking, biking—no one stays inside in the summer.

Why would I torture myself like this?To prepare, I checked out Jane Sutton’s “Book Signing Horror Stories” post on her “Jane’s Ride” blog, to build some “Well, at least it can’t be that bad” bravado – and appreciated the advice from the quote she opens with: Do not seek to have events happen as you want them to, but instead want them to happen as they do happen, and your life will go well.” -Epictetus.

Still, when Eliza and I arrived with a plate of cookies we’d made from a recipe in the cookbook, the bookstore staff couldn’t have been nicer. They had purchased a bucket full of iced wine and soda, and a magnificent bouquet of pink peonies (in July, no less!) graced our table. They kindly indulged us when we asked to move our table from outside the door to inside in the air conditioning. Eliza and I agreed on a plan that if no one bought a book, we ourselves would buy Christmas presents in the store to save face for the investment the store had made in us. We braced ourselves for two hours sitting stoically behind a table with books piled high, people maybe stopping by to grab one of the cookies and move on to chick lit or Jackson Hole trail guides. But it was 87 degrees outside, sweltering, and people streamed into the store seeking relief from the heat. During the first hour we sold a copy by telephone (someone from out of state who couldn’t be here) and then our friend (and IT guy extraordinaire) Toby Byrum bought a book, followed by more friends and family–including Tom Ward and Kathy Reedy, Ken and Emma Cohen–and other folks we didn’t personally know. Toward the end of the signing two men from Tennessee stopped by the table. “Do you have a recipe for cooking marmot?” one man asked. “A marmot chewed through my backback strap and I want to get him!”

At 4:00 we left the bookstore feeling good about the day. And if anyone has a good recipe for Marmot, please send it in.