Friday, September 28, 2007

Too much of a good thing?

Today's technology allows advertisers, marketers, and pr firms to reach audiences better than ever. This blog is an example of the new ways target publics are contacted. With the use of computers, television, and creative campaigns, a company and its products really have no excuse for being unknown.

How much advertising is too much, though? A market can become oversaturated with advertisements, which, could eventually turn customers away completely. Stores, like Wal-mart, have started advertising to customers in store. Televisions are placed throughout different sections of the store to advertise for different products within Wal-mart. Although this may seem like an effective marketing technique - constantly making the customers aware of what is offered - some stores are going as far as to advertise to customers with televisions placed at eye level in the checkout line. I'm assuming the intent is to remind people of different products that can still be bought, however I don't think many people will willing leave their spot in line to search the store for that one last product.

Reaching your audience and maintaining a relationship with them doesn't necessarily mean advertising/marketing/pr-ing :).... I made that word up... is essential everywhere people go. Part of maintaining a good relationship with the customer is keeping them happy - and I know I personally would no longer be happy if I constantly felt bombarded with advertisements.

Friday, September 21, 2007

PR Affects Everything...Even Food

It's no secret that fast food restaurants, like McDonald's, are changing their menus to provide healthier meals. A variety of fast food places now offer apples instead of french fries for kids, and milk, juice or water instead of just pop. With the seemingly overwhelming amount of obesity America now has, it would seem places that offer fattening and greasy foods are to blame.

The bad press fast food restaurants have received because of the high obesity rates have even caused some to change their entire look. McDonald's, a restaurant that was most recognizable for it's golden arches and Ronald McDonald cartoon character, had a menu that for the most part had gone unchanged for many years. Cheap hamburgers and greasy french fries were easily available with little difference in choice. Over the past year however, McDonald's has begun the slow change to becoming a fast food restaurant that provides healthy alternatives, a more stylish decor, and even a raise in some of their food prices.

While this could have backfired, because the constant look was at one time an advantage for Mickey D's, 2007 marked the most profitable year in 30 years. The bad press McDonald's received for their unhealthy food, was taken into consideration and used to update their services to meet the needs of consumers. This seems to be a new trend for a few fast food places. Although many don't change how they decorate, the food choices are becoming increasingly healthier. Because of the bad press, fast food has gotten good pr, and made themselves a profitable business again.

This one example shows how even the smallest changes to any company, combined with the right advertising and good pr, can result in positive outcomes.

Friday, September 7, 2007

Are we crossing a line?

Today in my CIS class, we had to discuss the use of cookies on Internet websites. According to the textbook Computers are your Future, by Bill Daley, cookies are small files written on your computer's hard disk by some of the various Web sites you visit. The original purpose of using cookies was to provide convenience to users, by temporarily storing information that was put on the website, to use for future reference. An example would be when shopping online, cookies allow shoppers to place items in the shopping basket - the cookies remember the items you browsed and saved, for easy retrieval later. The problem is though, certain marketing companies are capitalizing on this, and using information gained by cookies to advertise specific products to users, based on Web sites that were previously visited. Although this isn't directly a problem of public relations, pr, marketing and advertising are all very similar, and each have a specific audience that they are targeting. Do we go to extreme measures, even to the point of invading the privacy of others, to fully understand our target audience? Public relations does need information about their audience, however pr, marketing and advertising can obtain this information in more ethical ways - and with the consent of their target audience - than by looking at what Web sites Internet users browse.