Domino's Posts Customer Reviews on Times Square Billboard

Domino's Pizza is taking transparency to a new level. The nation's largest pizza chain started letting customers post reviews on a Times Square billboard last week, perhaps the most public venue imaginable. Customers who order food using Domino's online Pizza Tracker app can broadcast their opinions on the glowing sign at 44th and Broadway in New York. Unless they're profane or irrelevant. The most interesting part about this campaign is that no comments will be excluded, no matter how negative.

The Times Square ad will run for two hours and 54 minutes per day and show comments at a rate of four per minute. The risky gambit is the latest step in a public reinvention campaign that started at the end of 2009, when Domino's acknowledged its bad reviews and set about changing its pizza recipe.

This move shows tremendous confidence. Domino's learned the hard way how social media can influence public opinion of a brand, when video of its employees abusing customers' food went viral. It will be an interesting case study to see how this goes!

Lady Gaga's Marketing Mania

Lady Gaga is all over the place - from her music to signing million dollar marketing campaigns. This month she signed deals with some very successful companies - both Google and Starbucks. That makes her a must see where she'll be next kind of gal.

Maybe it's just that Google and Gaga run of the tongue easily. She just signed a 10 million dollar partnership with Google Chrome to be the "face" of the new laptop line coming out this summer starting June 15. Gaga is already the star of the Google Chrome web browser commercial. Watch the video here.

Also, starting this month, the world's largest coffee shop chain will partner with the megastar for a large-scale online promotional campaign. The plan is to have Lady Gaga will engage with fans in a scavenger hunt across Starbucks' numerous digital proprieties, such as Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare. The campaign will run through June 3, and coincides with the release of Gaga's new album, "Born This Way." Scavenger hunt participants can collect prizes, stream the new album, download new songs and watch exclusive videos from the in-store digital networks. Another brilliant PR campaign both both businesses.

So, what's with everyone wanting to be tied to her? The fact is Lady Gaga is possibly the most in-demand artist currently worldwide. This is for several reasons: She's got an army of fans, she knows how to attract attention, She's reportedly engaged in the deals that carry her name, and she's not shy about working with anyone. Another reason, her label-Interscope-shares in the revenue gained from such partnerships through a 360 deal with Lady Gaga. This makes perfect sense as to why everyone wants a piece of her. Don't be surprised to see her popping up a lot more throughout 2011.

With New Design, McDonald's Aims to Be the New Starbucks

The fast-food chain is undertaking gradual transformation to be less clownish, more coffee shop.

By 2015 McDonald's isn't going to look like the McDonald's you're use to. It'll look like Starbucks, or at least the $1 billion plan. In a front-page story on Monday's USA Today, the 56-year-old fast food chain's stores are undergoing the most massive renovations in their history.

The revamped McDonald's looks like something like this: wooden tables, faux leather chairs, muted colors, and nothing like the famously bright red-and-yellow arches, and the stores' durable but not very comfortable fiberglass tables and steel chairs. Even the restaurants' exteriors are getting earthier tones.

It seems that McDonald's is taking cues from its fast-rising competitor Starbucks, which now ranks No. 3 behind McDonald's and Subway in U.S. sales for chain restaurants.

Starbucks' popularity is partially due to the fact that customers feel comfortable there. They can bring their laptops, sign onto free Wi-Fi and spend an afternoon there, something that just seems weird at McDonald's. Most people go their to get their meal quickly, and without leaving their car.

But the new stores might change that. According to USA Today, the restaurant is redesigning some 800 locations this year and plans to redesign a majority of the franchise's 14,000 stores by 2015. In the process, they might just reinvent the idea of fast food.

Royal Marketing

Unless you've been living under a rock the last few months - you know that Kate Middleton and Prince William were married last Friday, April 29th. It will probably be the most talked about event of 2011. While us commoners have been interested in what Kate's dress would look like, what the wedding would in tale or where the couple would go on their honeymoon, some companies have been trying to raise revenue around the big day.

Food companies, such as Papa John's commissioned food artists to create the likeness of the prince and his bride's on a pizza that "tastes as good as it looks." This pizza can be purchased any where 'across the pond.' Dunkin' Doughnuts created a Royal Wedding Doughnut just for the occasion. It's a heart shaped glazed, jelly-filled masterpiece created with Will and Kate's favorite flavors in mind.

Companies have been jumped into TV ads too gearing up for the big day. T-Mobile made a wedding day spoof ad that caught fire copying the 2009 video known as JK Wedding Entrance Dance. The ad chose royal lookalikes to dancing down the aisle. Check it out here.

In the UK Kodak's ad agency created a series of print ads. They are a bit gimmicky, but most are puns. The other two are "For richer and not poorer" and "Prints charming."

Personally, I think it's odd that Britain has put the royal family's face on anything and everything for the entirely of it's existence, but this marketing tactic is just funny I think. I'm not sure if it even worked.

What royal wedding marketing tactics have you seen?

Three Reasons to Hire a PR Firm

I've had experience from both the client and agency side of business, and I know what a good public relations firm can do. Here are the reasons I believe companies, especially small companies, should hire an outside public relations firm to do the dirty work.

You don't have time to do PR. You can't just turn off your public relations for a period of time. Just like other functions of the business, it's something you need to keep up. PR is something you need to plan and execute. Just like SEO, the more effort you put into your public relations plan, the more you'll get out off it.
To maximize a launch. Public relations is much more than just writing a press release and putting it over a wire service. If you hire a firm, you'll have a partner to help maximize your media relations, social media, events, award opportunities, etc. However, again PR is not something you can just turn off. One of the worst PR incidents is when a company does a huge launch and a lot of PR for a short time and then stops completely. Again, your public relations efforts need to stay consistent.
To revitalize a product or service. Good PR agencies know how to look at a product, service or company and see something new, something buzzworthy. PR firms can take something you think may be losing it's jive in the market and give it new legs. One thing to note though is even the best PR firm can't save a dieing product. Remember to be honest with your agency and tell them of the product or services successes and failures.

Bonus Tip:

You are in a crowded market. Small businesses trying to complete in a busy, hectic market may find a PR firm more useful. A good PR firm will create a strategy that focuses on your company's strengths and differentiators that make you stand out. Often agencies can break through all of the noise in the market and reach those you want to hear about your offerings.

Take Advantage of Increased Time Spent on Social Networking

The small business I currently work for has started using social media marketing and all I have to say is that it's about time! A new Nielsen study titled "What Americans Do Online" shows that Americans spend a growing percentage of their time online visiting social networking sites. Businesses need to be aware of trends like this in order to focus marketing efforts where the target audience spends its time.

Social networking and other next-generation Web tools and services are changing the face of the Internet. Sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are growing exponentially - Facebook just passed 500 million users, and Twitter just sent it's 20 billionth tweet. Companies need to grasp how to take advantage of these platforms to effectively communicate with customers.

The Nielsen study tracked the online activity of 200,000 uses -comparing to June 2010 against June 2009. What Nielsen found is that the portion of online time invested on social networking sites grew nearly 50 percent, from 16 percent to 23 percent, and that social gaming surpassed 3-mail to take the number two position.

Bloomberg Businessweek reports that the Nielsen study also revealed that the use of Web portals is on the decline - dropping from 5.5 percent to 4.4 percent of online time. Ironically, Yahoo beat out both Google and Microsoft to be the captain of that sinking ship, as well as the leader in both e-mail and instant messaging.

It is also worth noting that the social network audience is getting more mature, and culturally diverse as well. Nielsen found that twice as many uses over the age of 50 are using social networks than uses under age 18. For businesses looking to use social networks as a marketing platform, these types of demographic details are important.

The only other area that saw growth from 2009 to 2010 was the viewing of online video such as YouTube. It is a different type of platform than Facebook or Twitter, but still social in nature. Just look at how Old Spice managed to combine YouTube videos with social network messaging to create an Internet marketing sensation overnight.

Companies still spend lots of dollars paying for placement in the Yellow Pages. (You know - it's that giant stack of paper that a random stranger litters your porch with, until you eventually throw it in the recycling bin?)

If your customers are spending more time online, and most of the time is spent on social networks, then that is where the marketing and advertising budget should be spent.

Amazing Marketing by Bieber Fans: Fans Plan 'Bieber Buyout' at MOA

With Justin Bieber in town, Bieber fever has been all over the Twin Cities this week! Teeny bopper Bieber fans swarmed to downtown Minneapolis last night before his concert, making the traffic horrific and the ride home from work very long. On Monday, Bieber was at the MOA to take part in a buyout of Bieber CDs for a good cause. Sounds like your typical celebrity PR event, right? However, it wasn't. The neat thing about this publicity stunt was that it was organized by a group of Justin Bieber fans.

A group of Justin Bieber fans used Twitter to gather hundreds in hopes of buying out Bieber's CDs for a good cause. Four Minnesota teens and one teen from Wisconsin who have never met, corralled an anticipated 150 to 200 fellow fans to buy out all the Justin Bieber CDs at the MOA Monday.

Bieber buyouts have taken place all over the country and Europe, but this event may have been one of the largest. The girls are working with the Make-A-Wish Foundation to disperse the CDs to children's hospitals across Minnesota.

The event was huge and many more than 200 fans showed up to purchase and donate Bieber's CDs. Bieber was going to make an appearance, but was mobbed on his way to the MOA Best Buy Rotunda that he was advised to leave for his protection.

I can't get over how cool this marketing is. This was a marketing event organized by fans, no one working on the Bieber team. Next, the organizers got fans to buy the artists CDs and then donate them hospitals so that patients would hear his music. Lastly, Bieber gets good PR for contributing to a good cause. The whole thing is brilliant.

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions...

We're forced to make decisions everyday of our lives, both big and small. You probably don't even realize how often you do. Practically every few minutes you will be forced to make a new decision. TV or book? Front page or crossword section? Coffee, Mocha or Latte? Go out or stay home?

I was inspired to write this post after watching the CBS Sunday Morning Show this weekend and viewing their story on decision making. I learned that many studies have been done on the act of decision making; researchers have actually studied and come to conclusions on how and why people make up their minds on something. This a very interesting topic when you relate it to the public relations, marketing and business world. If you could, wouldn't it be valuable to know to influence your consumers to better make a decision in your favor?

For a long time it was said that the best way to make a decision is to be rational, yet in recent years scientists have discovered that the rational brain can only take in a few bits of information at any given moment. If you give it too much information, it starts to short-circuit and sputter. Therefore, it is recommended that you just go for it when faced with complex decisions like buying a car, computer or even a house. Your emotional brain is much better at taking in a lot of information.

The kinds of decisions you make are often based on the type of mood you're in at that moment. Research shows that happiness and anger produce similar results. They both make you under-perceive risk. They both make you take risks and they both are associated with the sense of certainty and control.

Now back to how this can help us in business...

Of course if there are a lot of options out there, the more likely you'll find the exact thing you're looking for. However, studies show that you don't want to offer too many! Our brains become too overwhelmed with too many options and basically shut down. The fact is that the more choices we have, the less likely we are to actually make a purchase. It's been discovered that you get tired and your immune systems drops when forced to make a decision from too many options. You even become more likely to catch a cold!

So for you business professionals, you should learn from this. Consumers do not want to be bogged down with too many options. If you want them to remember you, only show your best few and then show more if they ask. Remember this while designing your website or informational handouts too. Leave room for white space! It's not visually appealing to see something with too many words or image distractions. Plus, no one will ever read all of what you have to say there are a lot. Viewers are much more likely to read what you have to say if you only put the information or images you want people to remember - and that's it!

Traditional PR is Morphing Giving Women a Natural Advantage Working in the Industry

Is public relations changing again? I believe it is and that women have an advantage in this new PR industry.

I believe women public relations professionals have an advantage over men. Let's be honest, women have mastered the skill of personal relations by dealing with it for centuries for reasons other than business.

As business moves more to the web arena, sensibility is no longer a taboo word in business. Actually, I believe sense and sensibility have gained momentum because of the Internet. The Internet has created an entire new way for businesses to reach their target audiences and has opened up an entire new park in which consumers love to play. The web is completely driven by consumers that need, or demand, to engage with brands and products and companies they rely on and consume daily. Compared to just being thrown information without allowing interactive follow up.

This has lead me to the believe that, even though new, the industry of public relations is dying and morphing in form, into one of Personal (Unique) Relations other than Public Relations.

What do you think?

What makes someone a great PR or marketing professional?

I'm a little bias, but regardless of the expense, I think that businesses and organizations need PR and marketing professionals. I hate that this is usually the first area to get cut during a downturn because it truly is needed to succeed in business. I mean really think about it, can you afford not to reach your audience? I think the biggest reason for this is that it's hard to tell this areas true value to the company.

Good PR people will do more than just publicize a company/organization or event if they are good. Every firm has something to market and this needs communication that sells at every customer touch point.

What great public relations people will do:

• Great PR strategists will help fill the gaps between advertising messages and editorial content. Many of these opportunities will be outside traditional media or not in the media at all. Today this will most certainly include a track record in social media, but also in old standby tactics such as events and other audience-engaging initiatives.
• Another factor that underlies a successful marketing and PR person is the ability to tread the fine line between generating messages that sell with language appropriate to non-advertising channels without lapsing into harder-hitting "ad" language. Potential buyers accept the direct sell in ads, but can be offended by the same language in a place perceived as being less sales-oriented. A good PR person will be someone who can do both.

Find your Target Audience for any Marketing and PR Campaign

Who do you want to reach with your business or organization's marketing and PR efforts? Once you have a clear idea of your target audience, you'll be better equipped to tailor your key messages to each segment of your target market and select the right communication tools to use with each audience.

Here's a list of possible target audiences:

• Current clients
• Potential clients
• Business partners
• Referral sources
• Subcontractors
• Vendors
• Industry and business media outlets
• Business, civic and professional associations
• Local community
• Elected officials

The next crucial step is to understand what your key audiences think about your company. You can find this out by conducting a services of informal interviews with your clients and business partners. The results of this survey will be very valuable in showing you what is most important to your clients' uncovering what your clients value most about your company' and highlighting which services or products you may need to do more to promote.


Here is a list of suggested survey questions:

1. What do we do?
2. What services do we provide? (You may be surprised to learn how little some people know about the full complement of products and services you provide.)
3. How do we stand out among similar companies?
4. What do you value about us?
5. Who is our main competition?

Gathering this information is a critical first step for any small business in developing the right messages for a successful marketing and PR campaign.

Use Twitter to Get Ahead, Not Just Play

A common reason given by those who have yet to try Twitter: "I have nothing to say." The truth is, you don't have to post a message to get the most out of Twitter, you can just join and see what others are saying.

At its best, the social medium is a perpetual, personalized news service about topics of your choosing, whether it be health care reform, tech news or the latest episode of "American Idol," filtered and sent to you by people who care a lot about what you care a lot about.

Even the most prolific users say Twitter has become more useful as a way to tap into the discussions of the day and than can be used to broadcast their own thoughts. They believe that once you get pulled in, you might just find you have something to say after all.

Biz Stone, Twitter's co-founder, suggests that naysayers simply log on to Twitter's home page and search for a topic they are interested in, whether it's their favorite sports team, the name of their company or a topic in the news. Within a minute, they understand the appeal, he said (The New York Times, 3/9/2010).

Twitter users write 50 million messages a day. For those of you who haven't tried Twitter out, here are a few ways to make Twitter work for you:

• If you don't have anything you feel is important enough to say, you can learn a lot from others on Twitter just by following them. Depending on who you follow, after checking Twitter for a bit each morning by lunch you can know most of the top trend topics of the day, just by reading the feed you see on Twitter.
• Search what is being said about a specific person, place or thing at that particular time or recent past.
• You can follow leaders who post about politics, religion, fashion and food. People with shared interests become your editor and Twitter becomes an alternative RSS feed. Find those people by searching Twitter directories, like WeFollow or Just Tweet It, and by following people whom others repeat or mention.
• Stay up to date on news stories A lot of messages include a link and after awhile a popular news story will bubble up after being retweeted enough.
• You can create lists of people you follow to keep your interests separate. For example, you can create a list of celebrities you follow, a list of coworkers you follow, a list of friends you can follow and a list of news people you follow. This way their tweets will not be thrown all together on your homepage.
• Once you're on Twitter, you can post questions when you don't know who to ask. For example, ask about a restaurant you're thinking of trying or how to use an iPhone application and you'll be sure to get answers.
• Find out what is going on in a certain area. Now you can limit your trending topic tweets to certain cities or countries.

Caribou Gets a Makeover

The latest phase in a year's worth of rebuilding and rebranding at Caribou Coffee hits the town today. The new look ranges from the subtle brown cup covers to the new-looking Caribou Coffee logo built out of a coffee bean. The company's theme remains unchanged - "Life is short. Stay awake for it."

This change, along with others, are part of a yearlong revitalization of a brand that was languishing a year ago when the company reported a $16.8 million loss. The hope is that all these changes will help the company reconnect with its customers. Caribou is a distant second to Starbucks in the coffeehouse industry, currently having 515 stores, including 112 franchised and licensed. The company also has a commercial wing that sells branded products to grocery stores, airlines, hotels and other merchandisers. Caribou is the official coffee partner of the Minnesota Twins in their new Target Field Ballpark.

The new Caribou includes:

• A deeper blue backdrop for the caribou
• Brown coffee cup lids - These proved to be more popular; they don't show lipstick marks!
• Messages to coffee cups and napkins called "Bou-isms" in reference to the "Bou" nickname. Messages will say "Spend time with your kids, tomorrow they're a day older" and "Dare to adventure" and "Don't wait for New Year's to make a resolution."
• New store decor
• And coming soon, billboards and other outdoor venues that designers hope will resonate with consumers. These should start popping up in April.

Caribou Coffee has new leadership, CEO Mike Tattersfield, the third leader in three years. Under his direction the company has shut some stores, is now focused on its core markets, added new products and is concentrating on upping customer service. Last month Caribou added "handcrafted" oatmeal to its menu following the addition of new chocolate beverages late last year. The company now is testing in-store baked items in 25 of its Minneapolis locations, and five flavors of Tea Latte Fusion are being introduced this week. I think this rebrand is a great idea for Caribou Coffee. Since Caribou Coffee started 18 years ago, their competition has increased greatly, as many more coffee shops have started up. The company has had a rough patch financially and really does need to remind their customers why they're great.

The Future of Public Relations: Utilizing both Old and New Media

Old Media and New Media, including social networks, press releases and search engine optimization (SEO) are fighting a war of attrition - and the smart money is on New Media to win, eventually. But at this point in time, they're neck and neck on the battlefield and the leaders of public relations will know how to work with both.

Digital online content swept the media world for the first decade of the twenty-first century like a grass fire consuming old growth in its path. Old Media, such as, newspapers, magazines, broadcast radio and television, has relatively high production values and controlled distribution. Above all else, Old Media is programmed, which means it's vetted, fact-checked and less speculative. On the other hand, New Media, by which we mean the Internet and the Internets intercept with targeted cable television is on demand, raw or refined, multi-platformed and always open for business. When a press release takes off in New Media, they tend to break in a big way because the audience becomes the promoter, linking to the story on blogs and Facebook pages, and e-mailing it to their entire address book. What was once water cooler gossip in the days of Old Media is now heard around the world. This particular phenomenon is called viral buzz.

In Old Media, a relatively small number of gatekeepers control the information flow. Cultivating relationships with these gatekeepers - whether you want a story to run or stop dead in its tracks - is of critical importance to the success of any public relations strategy.

The advent of the Internet created not only a new promotional medium for public relations, but also a new approach. On the Internet there are almost no barriers to entry. Every webmaster is a potential gatekeeper. The information is out there - and caching tools means it's out there forever. However, promoting any particular piece of information can be daunting. There are well over a hundred billion websites. But the Internet has developed a number of tools to narrow cast to segmented interest groups. Chief among these is the search engine.

A search engine is a computer program that uses mathematical formulas to seek patterns within content. The exact algorithm may vary from one search engine to the next, but generally relies upon some combination of meta tags, key words, external links and the position of elements on the web page itself. SEO is the art and science of assuring results by customizing your website or press release with hidden content that will score high on search engine probability indices. However, just optimization isn't enough. The most successful websites and press releases also utilize search engine ad word buys and reciprocal links to lure traffic. The rise of so-called social media brought yet a new personalization twist, further refining narrow casting through the use of browser cookies that reflect the search history of the person using the browser. It's very possible that two people typing the same search term into the query box will get widely divergent pages of results.

So what does this mean for PR? It means PR professionals should understand both Old and New Media inside and out. Further, if you're really good at it, you'll marry the two and find ways utilize each with help from the other.

Reformat your traditional press releases. Your traditional ones will not work on the Internet. If you want your press release to find an Internet audience, it must contain those triggers that guarantee search engine pick-up and distribution to your target demographic, while finding ways to be creative. Find ways to connect your keyword saturation.

Write for both New and Old Media at the same time. This makes a lot of sense: the most cost-effective strategy for any business is the creation of quality content that can be repurposed effectively both on and off the web.

Submit articles. Search engines are not the only way to distribute information across the web. Many members of your target audience have favorite sites they rely on for news and information. Don't forget to submit your content to these appropriate sites and articles directories.

Do social media bookmarking. Watch for community forums, blogs, message boards and content-centric sites and match the elements of your client and work them to get your messages out.

Minneapolis Woman Puts 3/50 Idea on Blog & Now has 16,000 Supporters

The 3/50 Project started as a quick blog post by retail consultant and speaker, Cindy Baxter. Baxter was watching Oprah's talk show when Suze Orman was the guest telling viewers to cut out unnecessary spending in order to save money and help the economy. Baxter disagreed and posted "Oprah, you've got it wrong," in a blog entry, not knowing the post would launch a thousand e-mails and a new business venture.

Baxter's glob entry suggested an alternative: Pick three locally owned stores you don't want to see go away. Spend $50 a month among them. Keep local businesses humming. From there the idea went viral. Marketing expert Seth Godin stumbled across Baxter's blog and endorsed the 3/50 Project. Word spread quickly on Twitter. Businesses and individuals across the country became Facebook fans by the hundreds. Flooded with requests for more information, Baxter threw up a website and put together a ready-made marketing campaign that small business could download for free. She encouraged businesses to feature the 3/50 Project logo on their websites and to get fliers into the hands of customers who might not realize the power of their purse.

Baxter's fliers quote studies by civic Economics, an economic analysis consulting firm. That found that for every $100 spent in independently owned stores, $68 comes back to the community through taxes, payroll and other expenditures. National chains contribute to about $43.

I wanted to inspire all of you to voice your opinions and ideas, either through social media or another outlet. Things can happen if you just speak up. This blog post was inspired by reading the Star Tribune this morning. Check out the article printed in today's Business Insider Section for more info.

Measuring the Twitter Bowl

Tops on Twitter:

Minneapolis ad agency Colle+McVoy tracked viewers' Twitter comments on Super Bowl ads via a proprietary Web tool called Squawq. The program declared Frito-Lay, the maker of Doritos, the Twitter winner, capturing 21 percent of the chatter on game day. Here are the top 10 tweet-generating advertisers.

• Frito-Lay - 35,294 mentions, 21%
• Anheuser - Busch, 22,211 mentions, 13%
• Coca-Cola - 10,550 mentions, 6%
• Unilever - 6,851 mentions, 4%
• Audi of America - 6,261 mentions, 4%
• Focus on the Family - 6,131 mentions, 4%
• Mars - 5,797 mentions, 3%
• Google - 5,442 mentions, 3%
• Levi Strauss & Co. - 5,114 mentions, 3%
• E-Trade - 4,969 mentions, 3%

A Swift Backlash: Will Taylor's Album of the Year Grammy Hurt Her?

Taylor Swift has been the music industry's golden girl ever since Kanye West jumped the stage at the VMAs and interrupted her win for best female video. (And maybe even before.)

However, will her incredible run atop of everyone's list end soon? At the Grammys, Swift took home the album of the year Grammy, surprisingly, beating out Lady Gaga and Beyonce. (I like Swifts CDs, but I believe her 'Fearless' album really pales in comparison to Gaga's 'The Fame' and Beyonce's 'I Am ... Sasha Fierce.'

Swift has carved out an impressive career for herself at a young age by working hard and being well-rehearsed (see her 'surprised' reaction to every single awards victor she's had in the last year.) She prides herself as being a country princess who writes all of her songs and plays the instruments to accompany them, which I do give her props for. However, when her album beats out those more deserving and her live performances are clearly lacking, it makes me wonder what will happen next.

Since Kanye's outburst, everyone's bee cheering her on. But, will that end now that she's won awards she may or may not deserve?

I noticed that upon accepting album of the year, Swift didn't even thank the other nominees, as this standard is in most speeches, she just rambled on about how much the award meant to her -- a move that could further condemn her in the industry's eyes.

I thought it was hard to watch her awkward duet with Stevie Nicks. Next to Nicks, Swift looked and sounded like a terrified kitten who wandered up on the stage. Further, after watching Lady Gaga and Beyonce dominate vocally reinforced Swift's own shortcomings. I truly believe if Swift would have performed way in an American Idol audition, Simon would have told her it was dreadful and Paula Abdul would have started her comments by telling her how pretty she looked.

Regardless, Taylor Swift has won the awards she has and should be very proud of her accomplishments. Looking at it from a PR background, at this point I do not think Swift needs to say or do anything drastic to keep her image and stay at the top of her game. However, to fight these complaints I think she should strengthen her live performance skills and not always act so 'surprised' when she earns an award. Otherwise, her 'down-to-earth,' strong performer image will be tarnished and people will agree with Kanye that other had better albums.

Can you use a celebrity’s photo without their permission?

Last Wednesday, a larger-than-life President Barack Obama became a presidential pitchman on a Times Square billboard that used his photo without permission.

Outerwear company, Weatherproof, used a recent news photo of the president in front of the Great Wall in Badaling, China, wearing one of their coats for their advertisement, with the tagline "A Leader In Style." This rose questions of the need for celebrity permission.

The photo was taken by Charles Dharapak of The Associated Press and the company purchased the right to use it from AP Images, the news gathering organization's commercial photo arm. The AP agreement with Weatherproof required the company to seek any necessary clearances, said a spokesman for The AP. However, Weatherproof did not seek permission from the White House, nor does it believe it was necessary to do so since the billboard does not say Obama endorses the product.

At the same time, animal-rights group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, recently debuted a new ad campaign featuring Michelle Obama, and also did not ask for the first lady's consent. Those ads are appearing in Washington's Metro stations, magazines and PETA's Web site.

The way I look at it, the ad has potential to be effective with consumers because the president and first lady both carry considerable fashion credibility. However, it's a risk because passers-by may get so caught up with the image and not notice the brand name. Overall, I disagree with the usage of the photo, but think the ad/marketing idea is brilliant. Right now there are no strict laws or punishment against the use of the photo and besides the press it's getting from the ad placement, it's getting a whole lot more by this debate's media coverage.

What's Going on With Rebranding?

The trendy retailer giant, Target, has made some big changes in its marketing by going warehouse. Alongside their fashionable items, in the part of the store normally used for seasonal merchandise, the retailer has stacked hulking packages of bottled water and paper towels on pallets. Shelves are lined with supersize jugs of laundry detergent and bulk-size packages of batteries. Shoppers can dig through bins of $1 neon-colored flip flops and packs of athletic socks for $7.

Target believes that right now consumers are focused more on the price of toothpaste than buying a new bedroom lamp. The marketing plan is all part of a seven-week promotion, "The Great Save," started showing up in stores over the weekend. It's one of the retailer's boldest moves yet to signal to recession-battered consumers. Recently, Target's profits have plunged and they want to compete with warehouse stores like Costco and Sam's Club, which they believe have taken a lot of shopper's wallets in the past year. This just may work for them because they can differentiate themselves by not charging membership fees. I just know that Target walks a thin line. They need to be careful they don't change their stylish brand too much otherwise it could hurt them the other way.

When I read this story, I found it very funny because of the marketing changes their large competitor, Walmart made this summer. July 1st, 2009 Walmart recreated their very dry, hard logo and image into something that looks more organic and friendly. Their logo and name traditionally was all in capital letters and hyphenated with a star. Now, the name is capitalized, but the rest is lower case letters, no hyphen and there is a sunburst at the end of the name. Inside the store, changes have been made to make Walmart stores look less 'warehousey' and more department storish. There was no real reason for the change, but it coincided nicely with complaints about their environmental policies and court cases involving their labor laws.

Does rebranding work? I guess time will tell. As a marketer I believe that when you create a brand, you should stay true to it in order to properly 'build' it. However, if you can't survive as is, you must make a change. It's interesting that both of these similar retailers are taking on traits of the other to make more profit. This may cause concern for both of their traditional customers because they may not feel as comfortable going to something that 'feels' different than what they're use to. The coming year(s) will tell which company markets better; stays true to who they are and is able to pick up the other's customers along the way.

The Power of the Internet

As I look back on the past decade I believe the Internet and technology improvements or changes in the business (and personal) world will be what it's most remembered for. The Internet has changed the way business outreach is done completely in the last decade. It has created another outlet for organizations and corporations to advertise in and social media has created a totally new way for them to communicate with their target publics.

A month before the Super Bowl, CBS released that only four TV advertisement placements are still open, but one of the NFL's biggest supporters, PepsiCo, announced that 23 years they are dropping their sponsorship. Pepsi plans to shift its marketing budget to less costly digital venues, such as Facebook and other Internet social networking sites.

This shows just how the Internet is reshaping companies marketing techniques by offering them less expensive ways to convey their messages to customers. It seems that even though Super Bowl ads are made for TV, they aren't traditional television ads. It appears that companies buying Super Bowl ads are using that ad as a starting point to other PR and marketing opportunities. Companies will create their ads with the intention and hope for conversation on the Internet long after the game on ranking sites, blogs, twitter, etc.

In a time of companies slashing jobs and government bailouts to automakers, fearful of criticism for misused financial priorities, the Internet offers much cheaper outreach compared to the Super Bowl advertisements. However, of course this type of publicity is uncontrolled and can turnout negative instead of positive.

This trend in corporate outreach has caused marketing advisers to rethink their game. A read about a small marketing agency in the Twin Cities, Three Deep Marketing, that has mastered the ability to measure online website trafficking. The agency's popularity has really grown because of their success advising small to large companies on how to enhance their online marketing efforts. Their strategy is to figure out what consumers do when they view a company's website. They research and trace where somebody clicks, what they viewed, see if they filled out a form and figure out if they bought anything from the site. From this information they report and advise what a company should do to better utilize their website. I believe this trend will really grow.

The Super Bowl is not in distress to find corporate sponsorship - I don't want you to worry. Since PepsiCo decided to drop out, Korean Automaker Hyundai has moved up (since the networks offer the best placements to loyal sponsors.) Plus, there are still many big name sponsors creating ads for this year such as: Hollywood Studios, Cocoa-Cola, Doritos, Hyundai, Honda and Audi, Internet job sites CareerBuilder.com and Monster.com and Anheuser-Busch. I just believe that the coming decade will bring about many more changes and improvements online which will make it even more important to the business world.