The damning evidence against Sherrod surfaced on July 19, when conservative blogger and activist Andrew Breitbart posted a  2-minute video snippet of a speech Sherrod gave in 2009.  In the clip Sherrod, who is African American, recounts an incident in which Roger Spooner, a poor white farmer, approached her for help in saving his farm from foreclosure.  She says she handed him off to a white lawyer rather than devote the necessary time and resources to his case.   Of course we now know the clip was edited and posted out of context:  in the full version of the speech, Ms. Sherrod goes on to say she later helped save the Mr. Spooner’s farm after she saw the lawyer had been mishandling the farmer’s case.  Sherrod was using this episode to illustrate how it changed her views on race and poverty.

In today’s 24 hour newscycle, social media sourcing has become commonplace for reporters, bloggers and general consumers.  Social media has truly leveled the playing field, empowering the public to determine what is newsworthy.  However, just becuase it’s on the internet does not make it true.  More than ever, both the media and consumers need to check the facts to prevent the spread of misinformation.  Anyone can launch a blog or post a video that distorts information, trashes a competing company or spreads false rumors about a brand, product or individual.  Many companies have been burned by rumors started online, and the impact can be devasting to personal and corporate repulations alike. 

In this case, Breitbart’s post had further consequences than even he intended.  His real target was the NAACP, who just a week earlier had accused elements of the socially conservative tea party group of racism.  Sherrod was simply collateral damage, but the implications of his post extend far beyond one woman’s damaged reputation.  It’s a wake up call to ensure that all of us check our facts and do the research needed to make informed decisions. 

Robert Gibbs Apologizes to Former USDA employee Shirley Sherrod

Most people associate publicity stunts with incidents like Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction, Speidi‘s (Heidi + Spencer = ridiculous nickname) countless exploits or other celebrity-centric controversies, but hardly anyone thinks of the icon that started it all. Edward Bernays is reputed, and self-proclaimed, as the ”father of public relations,“ but he is also the first publicity stuntman as well. In 1929, the New York City Easter Parade included a group of young women marching to liberate all women with their cigarettes held high billed as ”torches of freedom.“ The event caused a stir, as it was taboo for women to smoke in public at the time. These marchers were symbols of women’s rights and equality as stories appeared in newspapers across the nation.

Little did the public know, it was a well-crafted publicity stunt. Bernays hired the women, mostly young models, to light up Lucky Strike cigarettes at his command in front of the awaiting press. Bernays capitalized on the lingering spark of women’s suffrage to ignite a movement. His client, the American Tobacco Company’s Lucky Strike, had a new crop of impassioned consumers.

To learn more about Bernays and public relations’ beginnings, I recommend watching the BBC’s documentary, ‘Century of the Self.’

Public relations, marketing and advertising have certainly changed since Bernays’ heyday and the changes seem to only accelerate with time and technology. Unconventional stunts or marketing aim to break through the estimated daily 600 – 625 promotional messages Americans experience. They have to be creative, interactive and unexpected to have us talking, thinking and wanting more.

Below are a few infamous stunts that I particularly enjoy and I think, in keeping with their purpose, you will too.

A Publicity Wiener –

In 1936, Oscar Mayer drove into the history books and America’s heart with the debut of its legendary Wienermobile, which still travels around the country and rides out its almost-guaranteed media coverage.

Famous but a Fugitive –

Sprung from one United Press article on the FBI’ most wanted and the positive publicity that resulted, the bureau established its Most Wanted List in 1950 in conjunction with the nation’s news media. It has aided the apprehensions of 152 fugitives as a result of citizen recognition.

You Have to Hand it to Them –

More than seven million people joined hands for 15 minutes for Hands Across America raising $20 million to fight hunger and homelessness on May 25, 1986.

A few stunts closer to home…

¡Yo quiero Taco Liberty Bell! –

As a prank on April Fool’s Day in 1996, a full-page ad appeared in six major American newspapers announcing that Taco Bell had purchased Philadelphia’s historical Liberty Bell to help reduce the country’s debt and it would be renamed the Taco Liberty Bell. By noon, the company owned up to the hoax.

Pin Down a Hit –

In 2008 a Guinness World Record-breaking piñata, which was six-stories tall, filled with 8,000 pounds of candy and located in South Philly, generated a lot of media stories and excitement.  The creator, Carnival Cruise Lines, held an event that was full of giveaways, music and food.

Killer Publicity but no Love –

Showtime’s ‘Dexter’ put on a show in 2007 when the fountain in Love Park was turned a deep red. Many Philadelphians saw red after spotting the gruesome promotion.

Here are some great sites where you can check out more celebrated stunts and marketing…

PR Week’s ’10 PR Stunts that Would Make PT Barnum Proud’

WebUrbanist.com’s ‘15 Dramatic Guerrilla Marketing Campaigns’

Taylor Herring’s ‘Top 50 Publicity Stunts‘

CreativeGuerrillaMarketing.com’s ‘The Best 80 Guerrilla Marketing Ideas I’ve Ever Seen’

My Favorite: Nikon's billboard in subway station

Please share your favorite publicity or marketing stunts below in the comments!

At Maven, we are always looking to promote our clients in new and creative ways.  And when there is no “breaking” news to announce on behalf of your clients, a good PR firm will find ways to create their own.

Salon Vanity by Edmondo Blando on the 10! Show

Excel Physical Therapy and Fitness and Salon Vanity by Edmondo Blando, are two consumer clients whose clients include many brides-to-be looking to gear up for their big day.  Since June is the most popular month of the year to get married, we thought why not pitch a targeted broadcast segment focusing specifically on weddings? With broadcast coverage in mind, we approached the NBC 10! Show with the idea of launching a “wedding special” featuring both clients. The producers loved the idea of putting together a show about the hottest trends in weddings in the hottest month to get married. With a tight time line of three weeks, wedding special feature grew from two segments into an entire hour-long program dedicated to the hottest wedding trends – everything from flowers, dresses, dances, hair & makeup, wedding planners, fitness, food and more with an audience consisting entirely of brides-to-be. Maven and the NBC 10! team divided and conquered the show and all of its various components.

Excel Physical Therapy and Fitness on the 10! Show

In addition to our two clients, Maven secured fabulous wedding consultant Vinnie D’Adamo of Kaleidoscope Solutions to cover wedding planning trends, and high end bridal boutique Bridals by Danielle to showcase the hottest wedding dress trends for the season. We outlined the segments, developed key messages for guests, media trained the spokesperson and practiced run-throughs with all our segment guests to ensure the show was flawless.

As well as conducting the orchestra of semi-live television (the 10! Show is taped at 10am as if live but then plays as is at 11am), Maven was charged with filling the 50-seat audience entirely with brides-to-be and assemble a gift bag for each. We ended the bride search with a waiting list 15 brides deep and a very excited studio audience. In addition, gift bags for the audience turned out wonderfully with a value of more than $500 each.

The icing on the wedding cake was a special giveaway to one lucky bride in the audience. Maven was able to secure:

A three-day/2-night Luxury Included® Honeymoon to any of the twelve Sandals Resorts with locations in Jamaica, Antigua, St. Lucia and the Bahamas. The lucky couple’s Luxury Included® stay includes lavish accommodations, all meals, including gourmet dining and anytime snacks, premium brand beverages, daily & nightly entertainment, an array of land and water-sports including snorkeling and scuba, gratuities, and transfers to and from the resort designated airport.

The excited Sandals Resorts' winner!

The brides had no idea about their chance to win this special getaway when signing up for the show, but they were thrilled to find out! The winner was thrilled and Maven basked in its once in a lifetime Oprah-inspired moment.

Watch our clients’ segments below as seen by the estimated 27,000 daily viewers of the 10! Show. Maven placed the videos of their segments on their respective websites and facebook pages and made sure people saw how great they were and are! We owe the 10! Show team and everyone who helped out a HUGE thank you! Please visit the websites of those who donated to the gift bags at the end of this post. In addition, you can find more behind the scenes photos on Maven’s facebook page.

Everyone was elated with how the wedding special turned out, especially and most importantly, our clients, who were thrilled with the exposure the segment provided.

Gift Bag Contributors:

Sandals Resorts

Beke Beau

Bellezza Veils

Brandywine Valley Talent

Bridals by Danielle

Byers’ Choice, LTD.

Carl Alan Floral Designs

Carolina Pad

Chic Gems

dressy.com

Elegant Events

Excel Physical Therapy and Fitness

It’s in the Stars

Kaleidoscope Solutions

Larmon Studios

Marriott Philadelphia West

Philadelphia Marriott Downtown

Pictures by Todd,

Priscilla of Boston

Proud to Plan

Queen of Hearts Weddings

Ritz-Carlton, Philadelphia

Sabrina Ann

Sagets Formal Wear

Salon Vanity by Edmondo Blando

Silver Image Photography

Spell it Out

Stella & Dot

1) Turn off your Outlook pop up window. I can’t begin to tell you know one little click has changed my life (well, my work day at least). I’m very easily distracted, which means that every time I got the pop up that a new email was in my inbox I left whatever I was doing to check it out (like something ground breaking was going to appear there rather than the 60th email that day from Bulldog Reporter).

2) Choose lunches/coffees/meetings wisely. I used to agree to meet anyone and everyone for a coffee – informational interviews, vendors, my cousin’s classmate’s brother… just in case there was a connection we could make. Now, if I know it’s most likely not going to be more than just a good cup of joe, I try to set up a phone call, or invite them to an event I’m already attending.

3) Make conference calls as productive as possible. Now dear clients, this tip does not apply when I’m on the phone with you. However, I unfortunately find myself on a fair amount of “other” category conference calls, where my participation is minimal. Instead of surfing facebook (which was my former favorite conference call past time), I now multitask with email replies, inputting hours, media list clean-up – anything that doesn’t take a lot of brain power so I can still pay attention.

4) Organize Outlook folders and delete the “deleted” folder every day. Yes, this one takes a little time upfront, but it pays dividends in the end. I used to use my “deleted” folder in Outlook as another file, which I visited daily. The problem is the more you delete, the longer it takes you to find something. Now, if I think there’s a chance that I will need an email again, I file it in a logical place. And anything that I’m certain I won’t need again is permanent deleted at the end of the day. That first big permanent delete as a little scary, but so far it hasn’t come back to bite me.

5) Leave the office for lunch, even if it’s just to walk around the block. Leaving the office to become more productive may not sound logical, but what I have found is that if I don’t go outside all day, even for five minutes, my afternoon is horribly unproductive. I can’t focus if I haven’t taken a breather and I imagine that’s true for most everyone.

There you go. That’s it. Now off you go.

Conan O’Brien’s Favorites

Katie Couric’s Favorites

Today Show Anchor’s Favorites

Since we consider ourselves pretty high-profile as well, here are some Maven favorites:

Jess: Tillman, the Skateboarding Dog (Because I am sucker for animal videos)

Rebecca: Twisted Tea’s “Tea Pahtay” (Because promotion was ingenious marketing – it was fun, cheap to produce, and spanned hundreds of knock off “tea parties” across the country)

Megan: Grape Lady Falls! (Because she was cheating so totally deserved it)

Sarah: Barack/Never Gonna Give You Up (Because apparently Obama is never gonna give you up)

Brittany: Charlie, Bit My Finger (Because it is just adorable and all little kids should have English accents)

Also featured on the Five Year Channels is a timeline of to celebrate some of its milestones, including the first video uploaded by the site’s founders. YouTube is offering a retrospective which makes us wonder what our lives would be like without ever seeing a bridal party dance down the aisle.

Although YouTube is where we visit to usually find silly videos of dancing, QVC gone wrong and funny cat montages but it also disseminates thought provoking material as well. Less we forget videos like Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture, Dove’s Evolution of Beauty and an array of some of the world’s most creative social experiments.

Where does it go from here? In five years YouTube has 2 billion views a day, 70% of which are from outside the U.S. If it took you four minutes to read this blog entry, then YouTube users just uploaded 96 hours of new video. Now that kind of growth is worth celebrating.

Happy Birthday YouTube! And to celebrate let us enjoy this birthday montage:

I thought the most interesting seminar was presented on crisis PR from Jerri Williams, chief press officer at SEPTA. Yes, her title makes even me say, “yikes, that is one heck of a job.” I was interested not only because I am one of those thousands of people cursing SEPTA in the morning, and most evenings, but also because any Philadelphian knows SEPTA has had a tough year by even the toughest standards.  Ms. Williams was insightful, eloquent, honest and refreshingly witty about SEPTA’s past year and her process of dealing with crises. The best part was her delightful redundant questions testing our knowledge about what qualifies as a ‘crisis.’

“What is a crisis? How about when the Transport Workers Union goes on strike at 3am on a Tuesday morning leaving the 3.8 million people relying on SEPTA’s buses, trolleys subways and some rail lines stranded? Or what about if three days later a train on a popular regional rail line, which was not affected by the strike, catches fire and 400 people have to evacuate on the tracks? Or maybe it was the following day when a SEPTA employee was struck and killed by a train?…”

It certainly made her point, as well as put my daily to-do lists and the students’ term papers to shame. Ms. Williams made two other noteworthy points: 1) it is not always SEPTA’s responsibility, but it is always SEPTA’s problem and 2) no matter how much of her job is fending defending SEPTA’s reputation, it is always important to establish a positive reputation as well. It may not be SEPTA’s responsibility to police and respond to attacks within the underground passages, which are technically city property, but the news and public see it as so. It affects their commuters thus it is their duty to respond. As much as is Ms. Williams chief responsibility to mitigate crisis, another important role is to establish and encourage positive perceptions of SEPTA, like her initiative “Did You Find Love on SEPTA?” contest, which featured 14 couples who found love aboard SEPTA.

SEPTA’s crises have undoubtedly taken a toll on its public perception. However with Ms. Williams at the wheel, I trust its team is doing their best and with a touch of tasteful humor as well. I will try to remember that at the bus stop tomorrow morning.

Interning at Maven has been my first exposure to modern public relations, and also blogging as a useful and not entirely silly medium. (Cough: Perez Hilton.) Maven was also the cause of my blog: Kate McAdam, another Maven intern was scanning a clip from the January issue of Philly Magazine about Salon Vanity, and we were flipping through the list of the 239 Dishes You Must Try—she gushed about the roast chicken at Fork, and Megan pointed out the mahi-mahi tacos at El Vez, and Sarah put a check next to Village Whiskey. I hadn’t tried any of them. Three and a half years of living right outside Philly, and I hadn’t had a single must-have dish!

I made an impulsive resolution to try every one of the 239 dishes. Day one: Jones. I trekked fifteen blocks through the cold and ice, and it dawned on me how time consuming, expensive, and awesome this journey was going to be. So I decided to take the world down with me. I called my mom and told her my half-serious plan to grandiosely name it: “Love to Eat & Eat to Love: A Gastro Tour de Phorce, Getting to Know Philly the Tasty Way!”, and she could barely hear me, she was laughing so hard.

By the fourth day, Philly Magazine had emailed me for an interview. By the fourth week, ABC had emailed for an interview. And the requests were piling in from potential dinner companions. And now, in the sixth week, I have just been hired for my first paid writing gig, a blog entry for Philly Mag.

The magical part about the tale of the accidental blogger is that it really was an accident. Aside from my lifelong fantasy to write a series of parenting books in the style of Machiavelli, I haven’t even thought about writing anything besides lab reports and financial analyses in the past half-decade. I’m a finance major, looking to go into real estate. And I don’t know anything about food besides simply really liking to eat.

So what’s next? Everyone asks. Have you decided to be a writer? Um, no. I still like commercial real estate and have every intention of pursuing that career. But in the meantime, I will continue searching for and writing about the most mind-blowing dishes in Philly; and I hope that writing plays a role in my future. Perhaps I will have the opportunity to write a Machiavellian parenting book, after all.

You can read Lauren’s adventure in food on her blog love to eat & eat to love here

I personally love these ‘year in review’ lists, especially when you think that there is an editor out there wondering which unflattering photo of the Gosselins to include or whether you can honestly compare the impact of Susan Boyle to that of Sonia Sotomayor.

It has been a tough year, but everything is relative. In light of some of this year’s most memorable headlines we should consider ourselves lucky. Here are just a few, in no specific order:

• Governor Sanford’s “hike through the Appalachians” causes a mountain of trouble
• Balloon Boy’s parents filled with hot air (Check out these 10 Craziest Media Hoaxes of all time from the Daily Beast)
• Letterman’s sextortion scandal (Check out Jessica’s commentary)
• Madoff making off with your money
• Tiger’s drive into the fast lane not so grrreat (Check out Rebecca’s take)
• Michael Phelp’s bong bombs
• Carrie Prejean proves beauty contestants should stick to “world peace”
• Jon and Kate separ8
• Serena’s foul mouth (Check out Rebecca’s recap and the video)
• White House Party Crashers

PR can keep stories out of the headlines or save a bit of dignity and grace when all else is lost. It can also make a headline infamous, like Queensland, Australia’s ‘The Best Job in the World‘ candidate search did earlier this year. The stunt recently joined Taylor Herring’s prestigious ‘Publicity Stunt Hall of Fame‘ which showcases the best PR stunts of all time.

TIME's 'Person of the Year' Ben Barnanke

Tough economic times, political unrest and fears of swine flu swept the country, but balloon boy is really what kept us talking. TIME made a commendable choice of Ben Bernanke for their  ‘Person of the Year‘ honor, but you can’t help but wonder how many Americans said, “who?” We are a tabloid, celebrity-obsessed culture with a selective memory and short attention span, which is best seen when we try to rank the most influential happenings of a whole year.

The lists and recaps need to be broken down. In my opinion the best compilation is TIME’s Best/Worst Lists (don’t miss their Top 10 Lists or their ‘Year in Photos‘). Yahoo’s ‘Year in Review‘ also puts together a good collection, although slightly skewed towards tabloid stories. If you are looking for that kind of ‘news’, look no further than the People with their ‘Best of ‘09‘ (and read this recent Newsweek, ‘The Greatest Show on Earth‘, article defending our celebrity fixation). Better yet, go all out and indulge in the Huffington Post’s ‘Hot Messes of the 2000s‘. It seems like some have forgotten it is the end of the decade, so it’s a good thing Newsweek has it covered with their 20/10 Project.

The Gosselins dominated the 'news' in 2009.

After getting lost in a myriad of yearly recaps and reviews, I was interested to see what the UK’s Telegraph’s ‘US Review of 2009‘ considered noteworthy. When browsing through this year’s recaps consider the source and the audience before judging their lists. After writing this post, I know taking stock of a year gone by not as easy as it seems! I wonder when someone will come out with a list of the best and worst ‘best/worst lists of 2009′?

Cheers to the holidays and ringing in 2010 with all its anticipated wonders and blunders.

The Yankees and Phillies will play the first of three games in Philadephia and it’s possible the city will be without public transportation. SEPTA Transport Workers Union Local 234, the union that represents approximately 5,000 operators and mechanics, could walk off the job by 12:01 a.m. on Saturday if an agreement isn’t reached.  The union is seeking to boost wages that average $52,000 and to keep health care contributions to about $10 a week. Gov. Rendell is urging the union to avoid their strike this weekend if it is still making progress with SEPTA in negotiations for a new contract as it would be “a little bit of black eye” for the city.

About 800,000 people use SEPTA daily in the Philadelphia region and thousands of fans are planning on taking several forms of transportation including the Broad Street Line and buses to reach the game. Sunday, the South Philadelphia sports complexes not only play host to the Phillies and Yankees but, there will also be a Flyers game tomorrow afternoon, a Pearl Jam concert tomorrow night as the Spectrum finale, and an Eagles game Sunday afternoon. Without public transportation, it will be very difficult to compete for parking amongst all the events going on and the riots that might ensure are not something anyone can plan for.

Despite the potential strike, hotels, restaurants and bars will fare very well this weekend. The Philadelphia Sports Congress, a division of the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau, is estimating a total of $20 million to $25 million in visitor spending from up to three World Series games between the Phillies and the Yankees that will be played here. Even Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) is trying to spread the Philly love in Manhattan by buying cheesteaks for New Yorkers at Shorty’s, a popular Philadelphia sports bar in Manhattan and then inviting them to try a Pat’s or Geno’s back in Philly.

Philadelphia will also become the media spotlight over the weekend and the city has the opportunity to prove to the world how great this city is…..that is if we don’t strike or have riots between Giants-Eagles and Yankees-Phillies fans. There is definitely a tremendous kickback for the city with the amount of TV airtime that goes to showing it off. We may not know how much revenue or ad dollars the city saves by having the Phillies in the World Series, but all the media attention is something money can’t buy.

Philadelphians are constantly trying to prove their worth to New Yorkers, who say they have better food, shopping, attractions and sports. The mayors are even dueling in a fun loving bet, where the losing mayor will have to come paint a mural in the winning teams city wearing the opposite teams uniform. At least their bet does something good for both city’s images.

While I won’t argue in favor of either city (hey I’m from Cleveland originally), I will say that no matter the outcome of the series, it will be exciting and hopefully we all make it out of this wacky Halloween sports crazy weekend alive.

This is obviously the downside of live TV, which while unpleasant does not parallel such blunders like Janet Jackson’s ‘malfunction,’ the Ashley Simpson lip singing fiasco on SNL and the various f-bombs heard around the world. The FCC and I often disagree on how to ‘punish’ these people, but that is another entry.

There is a special place in my heart for a specific breed of live bloopers and blunders- live news. Any public relations professional or publicist has felt the overwhelming fear and helplessness when an interview goes wildly out of control- whether it is their client or not. We feel it for both the interviewer and their subject, and often enjoy dissecting how it could have gone better/worse after it flops.

The great thing about news bloopers is that everyone involved has done everything to make it as scripted as possible without losing the essence of a live interview. Typically all parties have been properly prepped. ‘Possible’ questions/answers have been outlined, wardrobes have been coordinated, and someone inevitably said to “just relax” or “act natural.” Properly preparing for a live interview is of the utmost importance because, as you have seen, anything can happen. Nerves, ear piece malfunctions or other unexpected interferences throw off an interview, and it is essential to have prepared talking points and key messages to fall back on. It is nerve racking to be live and I give the media and its subjects a great deal of credit not matter how an interview goes.

But always remember, it probably could have been worse…