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Turn up your speakers, click “HD” and watch this game trailer for the hotly anticipated PC shooter, HAWKEN. Don’t tell us you’re not a gamer, we don’t care. Just watch the video.

How cool was that??

OK, we’ve got something even cooler. Check out the latest trailer. Makes you want to be a gamer, doesn’t it?

The high-impact visual effects from Rogues Gallery make these game trailers stand out in a way that few other videogame trailers do. The indie producers and developers of HAWKEN were smart enough to focus on cinema-worthy trailers and Rogues Gallery’s photo-real Computer Graphic make us drool for the game. We’re biased because we’re proud to work with Rogues Gallery, but we think their visual effects are stunning and we rarely see this level of integration of photo-real effects and live-action shots.

Rogues Gallery has also created impressive work for the likes of Nickelodeon, Beats by Dre and Toyota. They specialize in bringing focused, determined creative teams to create high quality effects to enhance films, commercials, game trailers and more on the kind of budget that doesn’t make you have to take out a second mortgage.

Go visit Rogues Gallery’s website for more of their impressive work while we watch this trailer for the hundredth time.

 

For start ups and small businesses without a staff hundreds, social media can seem intimidating. There’s an overwhelming array of social media tools that are rolled out almost everyday, let alone getting to master the most popular social media platforms like Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook. Startups, just as much as household brand name companies, need a good handle on what’s being said about their brand. Below are three user-friendly social media tools start ups and SMBs can use to monitor what’s being said about them that won’t kill a tight budget.

Hootsuite Pro: Hootsuite Pro is great for brands wanting to build their social media presence on Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, and LinkedIn. It has a very basic interface-letting users schedule posts and track activity with their Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn accounts. Multiple profiles on all of these platforms can be maintained with individual streams under one account. Future posts can be scheduled days or even weeks in advance. Customized social media analytics reports let users measure viral Facebook posts, trace web conversions to social outreach, and see how many times your brand is mentioned.

The cost is a mere $9.99/month for a basic Pro account.

Facebook Insights is an analytics tool that’s integrated within a Facebook page. Admins can access these free analytics of a brand’s Facebook page at any time. Facebook Insights gives admins important insights into which kinds of posts are more successful (more photos versus articles for example), how many people became engaged by the post (70 people clicked and viewed that cool cat photo), and how viral that cat photo became (the percentage of unique viewers who have created their own story, or “shared” the story on their own wall). All of this valuable information can help admins determine which types of posts (contest,photos, articles, videos) to post more of, so that they can draw in more Facebook fans.

Twitscoop: Twitscoop is a Twitter tool that integrates users’ Twitter accounts, so users can combine regular features of sending/receiving tweets and finding friends along with more specialized features: tracking mentions of their brand, receiving automatic updates, and ability to background search favorite topics. Twitscoop is an easy, cost-effective way of being able to track mentions of your brand as well as other brands, topics and friends you’re interested in on Twitter.

There are plenty of viable yet cost effective social media tools that are available at your fingertips. Don’t feel pressured to use an expensive service simply because your company has the budget or because “everyone else is.” Explore these tools mentioned and others to make sure that your company’s social media needs and image are maintained in a way that you have control over.

For an even better, detailed article on nearly every social media monitoring service out there, bookmark Jason Falls’s comprehensive article on Social Media Explorer.

By Courtney Lee

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend an event held by real estate listing service Trulia for public relations professionals, called Journos and PR Pros: Friends or Foes. This event had a panel of four well-known journalists: Kara Swisher (AllThingsD), Doug MacMillan (Bloomberg/BusinessWeek), Scott Budman (NBC News and Host of Tech Now!), and Shayndi Raice (Wall Street Journal). Each of them had their brains picked about their pet peeves working with PR professionals, tips on the best way to pitch a story, and what PR professionals should do to get their attention.

Pet Peeves with PR Professionals: Each member of the panel mentioned how much they hated spam pitches that weren’t targeted specifically to them, especially since they get about 200 emails in their inbox when turning on their computer in the morning. Think about it-spam pitches are like the infamous Nigerian spam email, promising the receiver money if a fee was sent to them.

Embargoes on information were another pet peeve, Kara Swisher emphasizing that embargoes could go to trash box heaven. Shayndi Raice on embargoes, “Once I see them, I stop reading. Wall Street Journal has a policy that if we can’t use all the information, we won’t use any of it.” Embargoes are like someone whispering, “I’ve got a secret but you can’t tell Person X.” If you can’t relay certain information, don’t bother including it at all.

Best Ways To Pitch A Story: In order to capture attention from a major publication like Wall Street Journal or Bloomberg BusinessWeek, be sure to 1) have a unique, interesting subject line, 2) name drop, if possible, in the subject line, 3) wrap the company news/pitch in a trend, and 4) know what the outlet you’re pitching covers.

According to Doug, the key to emailing him is: if he knows you he’ll prioritize you. Second priority would be if you had an interesting subject line. A newsworthy subject line that said “Mark Zuckerberg leaves Facebook for new start-up in Silicon Valley” would be sure to draw his attention. You definitely want the person you’re emailing to click on your email-you can do that by inserting good keywords and making sure that one sentence/phrase in the subject line would be of interest to them.

Shayndi Raice from WSJ strongly emphasized the importance of wrapping company news in a trend. None of them were interested in company news alone, but if that company were part of a trend affecting a region, they would be able to pitch that story.

If you represent a tech startup like Square, you could mention that Bay Area entrepreneurs and small business owners are turning to mobile credit card solutions like Square and Intuit, that make it possible to run their companies efficiently, with low overhead.

Major publications such as WSJ and BusinessWeek are more likely to publish trend news, but smaller publications such as tech or business blogs may be more likely to publish your company news. So know what the outlet you’re pitching covers, and who their demographic of readers are.

What PR Professionals Should Do To Get Their Attention: Journalists are as unique as URL addresses. Sometimes other mediums of communication are better than just email at capturing their attention. Kara Swisher said she’s more responsive via Twitter than with email. Shayndi Raice is open to quick phone calls. Doug MacMillan actually likes meeting his sources first. If you’re a start-up, he’s interested in meeting the CEO or any other high-ups before writing about the company.

Main takeaways:  1) Research the publication and journalist-find out what the publication covers and best ways to get a hold of the journalist, 2) Be unique in your subject line-don’t waste time and space on something generic and spam-like, and 3) Looking at the big picture and seeing your company is involved in a trend is more likely to get picked up than just company news alone, 4) Make friends with journalists-have a great sense of humor and be honest!

If you want to watch a video of the event, catch it here. Thanks to Trulia for hosting and organizing, and of course, the journalists for their candid thoughts.

By Courtney Lee

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Some of the most recent PR blunders were so ridiculous, that you can’t help but laugh (and isn’t laughter the best medicine?). At the same time, each case teaches us to remember some basic PR lessons that it would be wise not to forget, and are so simple they shouldn’t be crushing your mind grapes.

One Million Moms Attacks DC Comics For Gay Green Lantern

Earlier this month, conservative group One Million Moms attacked DC Comics on their Facebook page, after news leaked that popular character Green Lantern is gay. Tables soon turned, however, when One Million Moms became flooded by positive comments in support of the move by DC Comics. Eventually the original Facebook post was deleted and with their Facebook page now being offline, the group tweeted, “OMM will be offline most of next week for Vacation Bible School!” One Million Moms has also recently been in the news for their dislike of JCPenney’s pro-gay family stance, urging their readers to boycott the retailer because of gay couples being featured in a Mother’s Day and Father’s Day ads, in May and June of 2012  respectively.

Lesson: Don’t ever forget how viral social media has become. After One Million Moms posted their protest against DC Comics on Facebook, media outlets such as Washington Post, Yahoo! Voices, and popular site Reddit all linked their readers onto the group’s Facebook page, letting people show their vocal support for the newly outed Green Lantern and disagreement with OMM’s view. OMM was unprepared for the counter-attack and immediately went offline. If you intend on posting a controversial opinion, then you’d better be ready to take the heat or get out of the Facebook kitchen. See also: Susan G. Komen and Planned Parenthood.

Kansas Governor Brownback Demands Apology When High School Student Tweets “Governor Sucks”

Social media has made it easier than ever before to track news-whether positive or negative. In early November 2011, after a Kansas Youth in Government field trip, Emma Sullivan, Shawnee Mission East High senior, tweeted “Just made mean comments at gov. brownback and told him he sucked, in person #heblowsalot.” Brownback’s office, which monitors social media content with the Governor’s name, blew a gasket over this harmless little Tweet. They contacted her high school, demanding that she write an apology for the disparaging remark. The situation then grew viral when Sullivan’s older sister contacted the media about the asurdity. By the end of that month, Sullivan’s followers grew from 65 to over 12,000 and everyone had a good laugh at Brownback’s office’s expense.

Lesson: Remember the source before you make someone issue a public apology because of a negative tweet. A high school student with only 65 followers didn’t have much influence, but the major media outlets (CNN, Politico, Huffington Post, NY Times) that spread her story definitely did. Not everyone’s going to like you or your brand but they’re entitled to their opinions and you’ll need to choose your battles wisely. A situation that was truly much ado about nothing suddenly became a media firestorm. After all, the press love David vs. Goliath stories. A high school senior vs. a powerful Senator? Comedy (and media) gold.

PR Agency Tweets That Detroit Drivers Are Horrible on Official Chrysler Twitter Account

Chrysler’s official Twitter account (@ChryslerAutos) is run by a PR agency called New Media Solutions. One of their employee, frustrated with Detroit traffic and its drivers, tweeted  “I find it ironic that Detroit is known as the #motorcity and yet no one here knows how to (expletive) drive.” Would’ve been fine-except that tweet came out on the official Chrysler account, making it look like Chrysler was dissing the city of Detroit, a place legendary for its automobile production. Oops. It only took a day before the tweet, employee, and media company were all removed from the Chrysler contract.

Obvious Lesson: When you’re airing frustration on social media, think twice. Sometimes it’s best to just type your frustration and then never click “send” or “tweet.” Take a deep breath, walk away from your computing device, pet a puppy or coo at a baby, and then go back and see if you’re still upset. And if you still want to vent? Make sure you’re on the right account. Even better solution would be to not make negative comments that would adversely affect a client. Social media makes dirty laundry travel faster than you can hit the delete button.

By Courtney Lee, Account Coordinator

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With his signature #Ohmyy, funny memes and e-cards, and constant witty pot shots at fellow Star Trekker William Shatner, 75 year old George Takei has become a social media tour de force. Even though he’s been on both social media accounts for one year, the actor famous for his portrayal of Sulu has accumulated over 1.9 million Facebook fans and 370,000 followers on Twitter.

Numbers don’t lie. Takei has proven that he can teach viable lessons to current social media, advertising, and public relations professionals who count themselves as industry heavyweights.

What can we learn from Sulu?

Lesson #1 People Pay Attention To Creativity and Humor

Takei’s Facebook page has daily updates of funny e-cards and memes that Takei, with his long time partner Brad, discovers from the Internet. Use humor strategically to catch the public’s attention with a catchy headline or picture that would make someone smile or even better, elicit one of those LOL moments that happen at the most inopportune, but welcome, times.

Wouldn’t you smile at seeing this? (from Takei’s Facebook page: 5-24- 2012)

Lesson #2: Do The Research To Be Strategic In Your Messaging

The memes and funny e-cards that are on Takei’s Facebook and Twitter page don’t come from a magic lamp. Along with Brad, Takei builds a backlog using social media tool Hootsuite of the pictures that appear on both social media sites.

“It all depends because I have a very irregular schedule. What we do is we build up a backlog and Brad [Takei’s husband] doles them out in dribs and drabs. And other times, I’ll spend a couple of hours and add to the stockpile. Other days, I might be on it eight, nine, 10 hours!” (George Takei in Hyphen Magazine:Issue 25-Generation,” It’s More Than Ok To Be Takei”)

Spend the time to find something worth grabbing the attention of the audience you want to reach- whether you’re trying to reach a demographic of twenty something Instagram users or their parents. Your audience is worth the effort.

Lesson #3: Be Clear And Consistent

Fans know what to expect from George Takei. He posts regularly on his social media channels multiple times a day. His open support for LGBT rights and advocacy for Asian Americans is apparent in his  #It’s OK To Be Takei slogan and in his upcoming musical Allegiance, based on the internment of Japanese Americans.

What do you want your audience to know about your brand, client, and campaign? Be clear and obvious! If you want to project that your client is a hip, trendy yet delicious restaurant-hit the foodie blogs of Los Angeles up for press, not newspapers with low circulation. If you succeed in combining all three key factors in your messaging, your brand might “live long and prosper!”

-By Courtney Lee, Account Coordinator

 

 

 

Major leading shoe brand, Skechers, was just slapped with a $50m settlement by the FTC for false advertising related to its Shape-ups products. Before we blame the whole fiasco on Kim Kardashian (because if there’s one thing America can agree on, it’s that Kim Kardashian ruins everything. See: marriages, basketball players, Reggie Bush, Kanye West), the FTC’s ire appears to be Skecher’s emphasis on weight loss and misrepresenting clinical studies within the scope of its campaign.

Running ads featuring high-level celebrities (Kardashian, Joe Montana) during the most visible advertising forum (the Super Bowl) hurt Skechers more than it helped. Though the $50m settlement is a small chunk of change for the traditionally billion-dollar company, it’s twice the amount Reebok previously paid for similar charges. Skechers was fined for its claims that the Shape-ups would help purchasers lose weight. Skechers also used a clinical study run by a chiropractor, who just happened to be married to a Skechers executive, in its campaigns, ruining the impartiality of any such study.

So what exactly did Skechers do that hundreds of equally visible, big brands also do on a daily basis?

The health claims that Skechers made appears to have been the nail in its coffin. It’s dangerous, and tricky, territory when products make significant health claims, especially when you’re doing so on a national level like a Super Bowl ad. The Jenny Craig’s of the world have experience enough to be cautious on their wording, and in fact have some statistics that show they’re not complete bald-faced liars. However, taking a shoe and proclaiming it to help a user lose weight better live up to that claim, or consumers will start walking all over your brand.

Does this mean that the FTC, and consumers who clearly raised the flags for the FTC, want more honest advertising? And will they get it?

Chances are, no. Advertising will continue to use any means necessary to lure money out of wallets, regardless of the veracity of what they’re claiming. Perhaps when making genuinely serious claims such as weight loss by a pair of shoes, the mad men of Madison Avenue will be more thoughtful in what they emphasize and not make outrageous claims that prey upon the vulnerabilities of Americans who are willing to try just about anything to lose weight. And just maybe, brands will avoid Kim Kardashian in their campaigns.

 

The Bay Area Parents Leadership Action Network (PLAN) are taking an ambitious step toward improving the dialogue between Oakland’s public schools and parents by hosting the first-ever teacher-parent summit on April 26.

This Thursday at 5:30pm, at the International Community School (2825 International Blvd., Oakland), nearly 100 parents, teachers, school administrators and educational leaders will gather to discuss how to improve the education system for the most at-risk children and youth in Oakland’s communities.

By bringing parents together with the very people who shape their children’s lives, PLAN is hoping that Oakland’s education system will finally favor the young. No matter the outcome, the conversation needs to happen.

If you are a member of the press and would like to cover this gathering, please RSVP by emailing katy(at)bethechangepr.com. Obtain more information on this Summit at http://www.parentactionnet.org/?p=1389

Last week, we were lucky enough to watch the beautiful documentary “Jiro Dreams of Sushi.” Initially, we were excited for this movie because we’re huge sushi lovers. But after watching the movie, it was clear it’s a film for anyone who is passionate about what they do, and who wants to be experts at their craft, not for money, not for fame, but for personal growth.

The obsession of Jiro Ono, the titular sushi artist, drives him to eat, sleep and yes, dream of sushi. He believes in perfection through repetition, a philosophy that is also shared by one of Change Communications’ clients, Kihon Games. Kihon named themselves after the Japanese phrase that means perfection through repetition. Like Kihon, Jiro believes in learning his craft better than anyone, and that means perfecting the little things, whether it’s the perfect way of fanning sushi rice, or the perfect time to massage an octopus (45 minutes, according to Jiro).

In the movie, Jiro states that he doesn’t do what he does for money. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that he can command $300 per person at his 10-seat restaurant. But regardless of what price Jiro can put on his perfection, it’s very clear that this is not a man driven by money or the kind of fame that many entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley (or just anyone with a Twitter account) seem to crave.

Sometimes, for some people, it really is about the craft. And you can be your own best competition. Being great at something is truly a lost art.

If you are lucky enough to be in a city screening Jiro Dreams of Sushi, go check it out and uncover your inner Jiro.