PR News 20

Brazil's Department of Social Communication (SECOM) awarded CDN Comunicação and partner Fleishman-Hillard an approximately $8 million, one-year contract to promote Brazil as a financially stable, attractive location for foreign investment. Many other countries have been hiring PR firms as well. In the past Brazil has hired advertising agencies, but have now hired CDN as their PR firm to keep up with the competition. I love hearing news like this. It gets me so excited to do future work like this! Doing work in a foreign country would be so exciting. I think this just goes to show that everyone needs some PR now and then and that you can do such a variety of jobs.

PR News 19

Samsung is reviewing agencies to lead its global electronics division, according to several industry sources. The task involves working with the company's Korean corporate headquarters. Samsung is doing a lot of switching around these days. I have a close friend who's father is considering doing work in Korea for Samsung. He works in the engineering scheme of things. With in the next few months, he should find out if he gets the job. The cell phone industry is very competitive and people have a lot of options these days. Samsung needs something to set them apart from the rest of the industry. The next few years will make or break Samsung and whether they can compete in the market. The agency they choose has a lot of pressure and will need new, fresh ideas.

PR News 18

AOL launched a new Web site, “Nice One! Stories of Thanks & Giving,” to encourage users to donate to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Channels like AOL Shopping and AOL Parenting will feature gift donation suggestions or stories of parents' experiences at St. Jude. They are using every bit of their network to raise awareness. I think this is a very wise PR move, especially around the holidays. I often see commercials for St. Judes hosptial and am inspired to donate. With AOL giving its customers the option to donate while shopping on the web, this will be a great way to earn donations and raise awareness. I hope St. Jude's will benefit greatly from this move AOL has made. This is a really smart idea that many companies should definately keep in mind.

PR News 17

Chevron recently selected Ogilvy PR Worldwide to support its downstream business and marketing communications. Ogilvy will be tasked with “telling the story” of Chevron's brands in traditional and new media. I'm glad Chevron has decided to step up and make an effort to let people know who they are and why they should buy Chevron gas. I've personally NEVER been a fan of chevron. I don't feel like they are a clean or professional organization. All the Chevron gas stations I've ever been to are filthy and unprofessional. They are always a last option for me. I'm very interested to see what Ogilvy will do to reform their image.

PR News 16

Startup companies that engage in PR campaigns are 30% more successful in getting funding within one to three months than those that don't, according to results from a survey conducted by BIGfrontier Communications Group in Chicago. It's really exciting to hear that studies are being done on the effects of PR and that they are proving to be successful. It gives me hope that this career does make a difference and that what I will be doing the rest of my life has a purpose. One company representative made the comment, "When you're able to walk into a room and someone has heard of your company, that goes a lot further in terms of creating a sense of validation rather than walking into a room cold.” If more companies were able to realize that PR would only enhance their company, they would be mre successful.

PR News 15

Reebok launched a pop-up store on New York City's Bowery street in a move to boost its street cred. The store will be open November 15 to December 14 and is stocked with lifestyle-based footwear and apparel and limited edition styles inspired by the city. As far as marketing and PR go, this is a wise move especially around the holidays. Christian Stegmaier, said, "Traditional advertising is overcrowded. We have to be where the consumer is [with] word of mouth, PR, and digital." Reebook has been focusing its apparel with women's fitness, basketball, and hip-hop culture. They are now working to bring in sport brand lifestyle and use their sport heritage to be hip on the street. I've never heard of a pop-up store before and it's actually a really good idea, especially in such a big city like New York.

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Letter Proposal Draft- Team JKM

Rosie Thornley
President
P.O. Box 353
Brigham City, Utah 84301
435-279-8900

To Beat the Bookstore:

A group of USU business students are helping give Zambian children a better life by organizing a textbook drive sponsored by Zambia's Scholarship Fund. Zambia's Scholarship Fund, located in Brigham City, UT, works to cycle Zambian children through elementary school, high school and college and then brings the students back to teach at these schools. Textbooks for Zambia is gathering much needed textbooks to support these programs. We invite you to participate in this worthy cause by donating a portion of your profits from the upcoming sell back season to Textbooks for Zambia. We also invite you to place donation boxes in your store location. We feel that this is a wonderful opportunity for your company to contribute to the community and world and to also receive positive publicity and awareness.

SPONSOR APPEAL
We are aware that your store is very appealing to college students who would like to sell their used textbooks for a reasonable amount of money. We also know the most profitable time of year is approaching for you, and we would ask that you consider donating 20% of your profits from the upcoming sell back season to Textbooks For Zambia. This amount is needed to fulfill our goal of 2,000 textbooks by the end of January 2009. By advertising this cause, your store will receive lots of positive publicity and you will have the possibility to gain more loyal customers.

PROBLEM
Education is a top priority for the Zambian people, 90% of whom live in extreme poverty. The only thing that makes a devolving country different from an un-developing country is the amount of education one country has over another. Although they have no running water, electricity or even (in many cases) food to eat, every community builds a school from homemade bricks, even if it interferes with the harvest. However, if a student wishes to attend high school that is a different story, high school education is not free. Currently unemployment soars at an unbelievable 97 % in the Northern Province of Zambia. Because of this lack of financial support only 8 % of Zambians are able to attend high school and only 3 % college. This fund is providing an opportunity for thousands to better their lives on a very minimal amount. This fund operates on a strictly volunteer basis, there are no paid officers or American paid employees. This fund is committed to putting every dollar a person donates towards the people of Zambia.

SOLUTION
We are confident that you can help us in our efforts to collect more textbooks to meet our original goal that would ultimately benefit your business.
Students are not going to Beat the Bookstore as much as Aggie Books or the USU Bookstore because its location is the furthest away from campus. Students must have a better reason to go to your store than the others. Not only do you have better prices, but an even better reason is because Beat the Bookstore will be teaming up with textbooks for Zambia and donating 20% of its proceeds from the “buy back” period. USU students have actively donated to Africa in the past with Aggies’s for Africa’s shoe drive. By advertising this cause around campus through flyers and in the campus newspaper, The Statesman, students will be aware of the project and would increase the potential for loyal customers to do business at Beat the Bookstore in the future.

CAPABILITIES
Textbooks for Zambia is sponsored by Zambia's Scholarship Fund, a non-profit organization located in Brigham City, UT. Zambia's Scholarship Fund was created by Peggy Rogers in 1999 when she learned who wanted to make a difference in the lives of Zambian children who would never have the opportunity to receive an education. Students in Zambia apply for scholarships, and donations can be made to sponsor student’s tuition and other needs. Zambia's Scholarship Fund also sponsors a Book Program, which has sent two 40-foot containers full of textbooks in the past two years. The textbooks gathered through Textbooks for Zambia will be sent in January of 2009 with ZSF's Book Program shipment. The money we ask to be donated by your organization will go towards purchasing the most needed textbooks and also purchasing school supplies to be sent with the Book Programs shipment. 100% of your donation will go directly to children of Zambia. Your donation is also tax deductible.

CONCLUSION
We want you to give 20% of your donations to Textbooks for Zambia. In mid-2008 it cost nearly $15,000 to send a full 40-foot container from northern Utah to Zambia. Each of our volunteers who go to Zambia to deliver these supplies, travel at their own expense. We need your help to cover shipping costs. Not only will this benefit your company and its image, but create an opportunity for an entire country to rise above the expectations that have been set for them and have a chance at life. We will be in contact with you shortly to discuss the details and begin our planning. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely
Peggy Rogers, President

PR News 14

For the leaders of the three Detroit auto companies, as well as the United Automobile Workers, gaining public support for their proposed bailout might be a tough sell. Most of the comments throughout Washington and in the major newspapers and Web sites have been negative toward the financial support the companies are asking for. I feel that the economic uncertainty our country is going to have an impact on public relations and how it functions for the next few years. It will change how businesses will want to be represented and maybe even come down to if businesses can afford public relations at all.

PR News 13

New Moon Girl Media, creator of a magazine, New Moon Girls, featuring user-generated content by and for girls ages 8 to 12, introduced a new social networking Web site, NewMoonGirls.com, to expand its brand online. Their goal was to give girls between the ages of 8 and 12 a place to go online that was somewhere between Club Penguin and Facebook. They are targeting parents, teachers, and other adult influencers. Working on the PR team for New Moon Girls would be a blast. With MySpace and Facebook being such big hits in the social world, kids and especially girls need an interactive website that they can receive a positive influence from and that parents can feel comfortable with. New Moon Girl is doing online and print outreach to parenting and family blogs, women's interest titles, and top daily newspapers. The site is also planning an event in early 2009 with a tech company to promote girls getting involved in technology. I think it will be very interesting to see what kind of event is planned and how successful this website will become.

PR News 12

Ketchum-owned lobbying agency The Washington Group (TWG) on November 14 merged with Clark & Weinstock, sister Omnicom-owned government relations and lobbying firm. Merging two firms is always an interesting situation. Firms such as these who are full of people that are opinionated and are used to working a certain way can have major conflicts. It would be a crucial time for internal PR to really stand and let employees know that they can work and receive benefits as a team. The merge does give a greater opportunity to let ideas be shared and gain for the company to gain a competitive advantage. No layoffs were planned and the combined firm will have about 20 consultants.

PR News 11

PRWeek released its 10th anniversary issue on November 17, making all content from the issue available to registered users of prweekus.com for one week. I thought it was interesting that this website had only been around for 10 years. Through my eyes, Public Relations seems like it is only starting to be taken seriously and really be seen as necessity for companies. PRWeek is such a great resource and I thought it was very generous of them to make all their resources available this past week. I hope more PR News websites evolve in the next ten years and that PRWeek can continue to better their already thriving company.

Assign 6: JCOM 2160

PR News 10

Omnicom Group launched a new agency based in New York that will focus on incorporating mobile communications into marketing plans and media strategy. I find it fascinating that The world revolves so much around cell phones that they need their own marketing agencies. AT&T will be their first customer. The goal of the company is to never be turned into a replicator of what countless other mobile marketing agencies have done. It will be interesting to see how the image of the cell phone industry will change in these next few years.

PR News 9

PR and the fashion industry would be a dream job for me. It's not something I would ever seriously consider doing as a career, but fashion and PR are two things I have a huge interest in. Fashion and beauty PR are unique because the contacts change so quickly. "Almost every firm has an assistant or intern dedicated full-time to keeping a contact [directory] updated, and it seems silly when you realize one person in every office is updating the same work," Kristen Calavas said. The PR Fashion industry has had a huge problem keeping track of their contacts and a new website call LookBook has been created to keep track of clients and agencies. I think keeping track of networks is so important. I'm in college and building my network right now. Facebook has been a great resource for me to do that.

PR News 8

McDonald's published its first CSR report in two years in a digital format complete with a blog and videos. The study's primary audience is McDonald's 1.6 million employees, plus contractors and staffers of other companies within its food-supply chain. I'm really interested in internal PR so this article hit home for me. McDonald's employees don't have the best reputation. They are seen as people who have no education and will never amount to anything. I think it's really smart to get their customers involved with the company and let them know they are valued. The use of blogs and videos are a great idea to let staff see what is going on in the company and voice their concerns and opinions.