New DC Branch Office of Ricochet PR seeking PR professionals

Since our inception in 2000, Ricochet PR has earned a strong reputation for growing companies through strategic PR programs. At the center of our portfolio of services lies our unique ability to generate sustained, intelligent press exposure for our clients.

Ricochet PR works in only three practice areas – healthcare, technology and industry – and requires every one of our publicists to be experts in the fields in which they work. To accomplish this, we created the Ricochet Publicist Certification Program™, the only program of its kind in the PR industry. After joining one of our practice groups, new publicists devote 4-6 months to studying the trends, innovations, and issues relevant to that particular field before being “certified” to work for our clients.

It is this level of expertise that separates Ricochet PR from all other firms.

For more information visit http://www.ricochetpr.com/contact.php.

Honest Tea, really honest?

Today our beloved Bethesda, MD based beverage firm, Honest Tea, announced that it sold the Coke Corporation a 40% stake in its business with an option to by within the next 3 years. Many question the motives of the holistic company’s CEO Seth Goldman.

Is he selling out to the big corporation for the money or are his intentions just as wholesome as the tea he’s served for the past 10 years? Goldman argues that with the Coke Corporation backing him he will need 10 times as many organic ingredients thus creating a demand for “a more sustainable system of agriculture, one that doesn’t rely on chemical pesticides and fertilizers”. Goldman continues to insist that as opposed to him “selling out” they are “buying in”.

What we want to know from you is whether or not socially conscious independents can do more good with the backing of large corporations or are they better off remaining independent? For the Washington Post article on the purchase click here.

Should the government regulate CSR?

Corporate Social Responsibility is at the forefront of “bigger, better, brighter” business. Many companies have voluntarily adopted policies that make them more appealing to the eco-friendly and socially responsible consumer, but for the most part these efforts are left largely uncoordinated across the varying fields of business.

An event hosted by the Brookings Institute discussed topics relating CSR to government policy and what the link between the two should potentially be. The question that this brings to mind is: should the government have regulation over CSR practices? If the government does gain control of these policies will the “good natured” connotation behind a company practicing social responsibility change? How could government regulation affect business? The event summary and transcript from the event can be found here. Seeing the growth of CSR in the recent years, what do you see for its future (with or without government regulation)?

Can Wal-Mart make-up for its tarnished irresponsible past?

One of our students, Matt Dowthit, e-mailed out this recent NYTimes article highlighting Wal-Mart’s promise to be more socially responsible. As many of you know, Wal-Mart has an all but retched reputation when it comes to corporate citizenship. The article describes chief executive, H.Lee Scott’s promises:

“In a lofty address that at times resembled a campaign speech, the chief executive of Wal-Mart Stores, H. Lee Scott Jr., said that ‘we live in a time when people are losing confidence in the ability of government to solve problems.’ But Wal-Mart, he said, ‘does not wait for someone else to solve problems.’”

Can Wal-Mart actually change its perception? Can it really be responsible? Will you start shopping at Wal-Mart because of these promises?

Evaluators Needed for the Council on Foundations Awards

Council on Foundations is a clearinghouse for charitable foundations. Each year the Council gives an award called the Wilmer Shields Rich Award for Excellence in Communications to foundations that compete against each other (in their own size categories) by submitting annual reports, newsletters/magazines, websites, or special reports.  They need evaluators to work in teams and rate each entry on a pre-printed evaluation sheet.
 
This year the evaluation session will be on Friday, February 1, at the Council’s new headquarters in Crystal City, Virginia (exact location is 2121 Crystal Drive, Suite 700 · Arlington, VA 22202 · 800/673-9036)  The session will start at 9:00 a.m. and will run a good deal of the day (depending upon the number of entries received).  Breakfast and lunch will be served and the Council will reimburse for parking fees.  Further information can be found at the Council’s website address:  www.cof.org 
 
If you are interested please e-mail Ashley Duque Kienzle, adk38@georgetown.edu, with your name and contact information (the Council likes to send out thank you letters to participants) and also a short (one paragraph) bio.

The Four C’s of Blogging

I recently came across an excellent posting in one of my favorite blogs, Logic+Emotion. Its author, David Armano, has a unique talent for making complex topics easy to understand.

This particular posting, “The Four C’s of Blogging” concisely and accurately points of critical success factors in creating, promoting and growing a blog.

What do you think?

Mark Story

Comments:

Are you part of Web 2.0?

This article gives some simple steps to increase your organization’s web presence. What are you currently doing at your work place or in your personal life to be a part of Web 2.0? As a consumer, how do you want companies to interact with you?

Practice Your Blogging

http://www.webpronews.com/blogtalk/2007/10/15/building-a-bridge-between-your-story-bloggers-people

This article addresses the growing demand for PR professionals who can blog and know blogging. Author Brian Solis highlights the need to understand blogging and to know how to tell a good story. Afterall, who wants to read a boring blog?

What do you think about blogger relations? Do you have experience working with bloggers and what have you learned in your courses about blogging?

Question from an MPS SCS Student

I’d love to know which blogs get the most buzz from the students in our program.

Can anyone recommend a great blog — or two? I’d really like to hear from folks about blogs that are focused on developing topics in the communications field. It’s great we have all found “For Immediate Release” - it’s excellent. Blubrry.com has some great branding blogs. I’ve also enjoyed the Ragan Communications site. Anyone have other recommendations?

Responses:

Here are 2 sites that I’ve found interesting:

PR Meets the WWW: http://blog.basturea.com/
By Constantin Basturea – Director, New Media Strategies – http://www.converseon.com

The New PR Wiki: http://www.thenewpr.com/wiki/pmwiki.php

These I like for PR/new media/social media: http://www.pr-squared.com http://www.socialmediatoday.com
And these I like for levity’s sake! http://icanhascheezburger.com/ http://mfrost.typepad.com/cute_overload/
Enjoy!

Richard Edelman has a blog called 6 a.m. I believe he posts his thoughts on communications and public relations everyday.

I have just stumbled across http://www.prdisasters.com/. It is very interesting.

From David Wescott of “It’s Not a Lecture“:

I’ve got a few for your class, Mark:

http://nowisgone.com/ - this guy (Geoff Livingston) is local to you

http://everyoneisthepress.blogspot.com/

http://crisisblogger.wordpress.com/

http://www.nevillehobson.com/

And I rattled off a dozen here:

http://itsnotalecture.blogspot.com/2007/08/dozen-people-who-know-what-theyre-doing.html

Try www.ethicaloptimist.com . The blogger’s name is Ann Higgins, President of Utopia Communications. She spoke on Oct. 11 to our Ethics Class.

Here’s one I found: http://prblog.typepad.com/strategic_public_relation/ They’ve got some pretty interesting stuff!

I usually read this one http://blog.holtz.com/ but I keep this one http://wordsmith.org/ and other word blogs on my bloglines to help keep my writing unique.

Georgetown SCS Student Comments So Far

We’re off to a great start on our blog. Since the comments are listed to the side, I thought I would post all of the anonymous comments here so that they are a tad more visible. They are, unedited:

“What makes this program so unique is its professors. They are all extremely dedicated and work hard to make their courses valuable. They put time and effort into their lesson plans and it shows. I have been so happy with the program, thus far. I particularly enjoy the guest speakers. They have been entertaining and informative.”

“I’m very happy with the program. I’ve met great people and the professors are great, very dedicated. I’m thankful for this opportunity, and I’m learning so much!!!”

“I am grateful to have this new and exciting opportunity. I am loving my classes, the discussions and such. I work fulltime and I thought that going back to school might be too draining. But seriously, the only draining thing about class is finding parking in Georgetown! My classes are always engaging and never boring. I highly recommend to those thinking of applying. Oh, and maybe we can have a vending machine at the M st location!”

“Note: You will need a computer (laptop) for this program, especially one you really like and are comfortable working on. It will be your life saver!”

“I think this program is fantastic and I am so excited about the classes that I am taking, and the ones that I will be taking in the future. The only suggestion I have is in regards to class planning. I would really like to know more about the paths possible, and the classes I should take to get there.”

“I am very thankful and excited to be member of the MPR community. While I love the program I cannot wait to see what the future will hold for me once I am finish.”

“I was thrilled when I learned about this program, and find the classes to be challenging, and the professors and students to be quite knowledgeable. Each person is an asset to the program, and I look forward to applying some of the practices learned in the classroom to the office. “

“The program is a great opportunity for students to learn more about the PR field from actual practitioners. I really enjoy the guest speakers giving their real world experiences.”

“I think this entire program is so exciting, from the blog to the development of many new relationships. The opportunities are endless.”

“I am enjoying the program thus far. I feel it is very rigorous and will properly prepare me for my field.”