Nestle Crunch Hotline

I think Nestle did a really good job with their Crunch Hotline. It sounds like the kind of place that you'd like to call. It truly does show the company's personality that they chose to make their hotline "fun". The name alone makes it sound more fun. The hotline didn't make the person go out and buy a Nestle candy however they will remember the positive experience they had and the next time they want a chocolate bar they will go out and buy a Nestle. It was definitely well done on Nestle's part.

Bad Pitches

I think the bad pitch blog is very interesting. I don't know who writes the blog but they're pretty sarcastic and harsh in talking about the companies. It's entertaining to read through their rants though, and I found myself spending a lot of time reading through every post. Whoever writes it does give advice for PR people, reporters, and others involved in the media. And that makes me think they're experts in the field in one way or another. Either way, have a read, it is quite addicting: http://badpitch.blogspot.com/

Poor Overweight Kevin Smith

The cnn.com article states: 'The airline said it "could have potentially handled our communication better," but defended "the determination that Mr. Smith needed more than one seat to complete his flight comfortably."' That's their problem right there...that's not a real apology. They should have just taken out "potentially" and left it at that. There's no defending it because obviously there is media attention on this right now, and unless they want more complaints about how they handle customers and their complaints after the fact, they should have just stopped defending themselves. The article states that a government report put Southwest Airlines as having the lowest rate of complaints on any US airline last year...but if they keep this up they won't have another year like this. It's an easy PR fix, but they've dug themselves deeper by not just apologizing, taking the fault, and giving him a free flight to anywhere he wants on them. And because of all this, Kevin Smith is quoted as saying, "I'm never going on Southwest again." Not good news for Southwest.

Balloon Boy Stunt

The publicity stunt that I thought of right away was last year's balloon boy hoax. In case you didn't hear about it, here's a quick summary: The parents of a six-year-old boy in Colorado claimed that their son floated away in a gigantic balloon. Apparently this balloon looked like a UFO. The story got attention worldwide. For hours authorities were searching for the balloon and when it finally landed and the boy wasn't inside, everyone got scared the boy had fallen out. Turns out the boy was never in the balloon-he was hiding in the house the whole time. On a Larry King interview, when the boy was asked why he did it, he said, "We did it for the show". The parents had been trying over and over again to be in a reality series, and so that was why they were trying to attract media attention with the stunt. They faced several felony charges because of it. Pretty crazy...all to be on TV.

Publicity Stunts

I think Taco Bell's Liberty Bell stunt was the most successful on the list, seeing how their revenue increased by $500,000 that day and by $600,000 the next day. I don't think ProShade's offer to put a logo visor on each of the presidents' heads on Mount Rushmore worked. I didn't hear about it and had never heard of the company before reading the stunt. I thought Golden Palace's idea was terrific, and it obviously was a great success. They took someone else's news and directed the attention towards them by buying the half-eaten grilled cheese sandwich for so much money, taking it on tour, and holding events in honor of it. It bought them so much media exposure and went off a story that almost everyone heard about. I had heard about the left-handed whopper but I don't think I ever took it seriously...that's hilarious that people were actually going into the Burger King and getting upset that they couldn't order one! SonicYoga and Maui beverages both put their little-known companies out there by being creative and thinking fast but again I have never heard of them before the article so not sure how successful their end result actually was. It was interesting to read about D.C. Comic's publicity stunt. They're such a well-known company and I had no idea they put out comics about Superman being dead just to gain even MORE money. Del Monte's Meow Mix House and Half.com both had really good, creative, successful ideas, and Snapple's gigantic popsicle melting was a complete disaster that needed more planning. Overall, all of these were really interesting and entertaining to read since I didn't know about most of them!

Driving daze

I commute to school 6 days a week, three of which are from 70 miles away. I take 4 different highways to get there, and lately I've noticed that I'm sort of driving subconsciously. As I drive I think of other things...driving becomes secondary. I take exits and change lanes while checking the time and calculating when I'll reach the next highway and thinking about the classes I'm going to be in and if I'll be late or not. Before I know it, I've reached the school. I sit in my car sometimes and think about how I don't remember taking an exit or driving on one of the highways at all...it's a strange and scary feeling. Has anyone felt this way after driving to and from a certain place time and time again?