INK PUBLIC RELATIONS

We started working for a small start-up out of Palm Beach, Florida, around this time three years ago.  It was a small company with a small device, but one with huge executive experience, personality and ideas. At first, it was hard to grasp how big this would be and how fast it would take off, but the founder knew from the beginning. They would offer high-quality local and long distance service to millions of consumers for $20 a year. This little company created the magicJack. Sound familiar? I hope you’ve heard about them from reading some of the fantastic print coverage they’ve received: Walt’s column in the Wall Street Journal , or any number of reviews from outlets like New York Times, AP, PC Magazine, Good Housekeeping, ABC News, Rachael Ray and The Early Show. All of these gave honest reviews that showed that this device wasn’t too good to be true – it works and it saves you money. It could also be that you watch TV and have seen their informercials and commercials – a very aggressive and successful campaign by anyone’s standards. Hopefully, you’re one of their 6.5 million customers and enjoying a low-cost calling option.

Last month marked an exciting new stage for the company.  magicJack’s parent company YMAX merged with VOIP pioneer VocalTec, an Israeli-based company traded on the NASDAQ.  Overnight, YMAX became VocalTec and began trading under the NASDAQ symbol CALL.  At the same time, they discussed new ways consumers will be able to experience the company’s voice service, such as on your mobile phone via a femtocell solution and through mobile apps.  It’s a new era for the company and one we are excited to participate in!

Long-time INK client Mike Foley of Bluetooth fame was a guest on Larry King Live last night.

I’m not sure who was more nervous of the two of us, but if it was him, he sure didn’t show it. In the last Fresh INK post, Kari mentioned Wilson Rothman as an excellent interviewee, doing all of the things we recommend to our clients re sound bites, staying on message, etc. Well this time, the shining example is our client – and we are so impressed and proud (though we certainly don’t claim his success, minus all of the practice he’s had over the years through the interviews we’ve set up for him ).

What did he do right? He smiled (engaging), he spoke in real language (sometimes hard for a tech guy – again, engaging), he spoke to what he knows and deferred topics on which he’s not an expert to someone else (staying on message), he shared information that was of interest to the audience, of interest to the reporter, and in his best interest (staying on message), and lastly he had a pretty memorable sound bite (Bluetooth headsets transmit 1/1000th of the power of a cell phone – go figure!). He was also extremely quick on his feet on this live show, which is hard for even the most seasoned spokespeople to do and he did it well.

Kudos to you Mike! You know me, I don’t mind giving the critiques when needed, but this time – not a critique to be had in the house. Check it out:

MICHAEL FOLEY, BLUETOOTH SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP: Sure, these are two examples of wireless headsets that you wear in your ear to take phone calls. So then your phone can remain in your pocket, in your purse, in your briefcase, and then you don’t have to hold it to your head. Many new cars now have Bluetooth built in as well, where it uses your speakers for basically a hands-free kit in the car. Of course, everyone is not going to go out and buy a new car, so you can get aftermarket Bluetooth speaker phones as well to use in the car. These you can clip these on the dash right above your head. You can make the call and not, again, have to hold the mobile phone to your head while you’re driving. Of course, while you’re driving, that’s the law in many states and many countries around the world as well.

KING: What are your thoughts on the study released tomorrow?

FOLEY: I found it very interesting listening to the experts, and thought it was very confusing. I don’t think they really know right now. And the other thing I didn’t hear any of them talk about all of these were phones from 15 years ago, 10 years ago because they’re 10- year studies. Think of what your phone was like 10 years ago, Larry.

KING: I think I still have the same one.

FOLEY: You’re the exception. Most people in America in a ten-year period would go through four to ten cell phones. And they transmitted with a lot more power back then than they do now. Like everything, the technology changes over time. And how you fit that into the study is very interesting.

KING: What’s the difference in the power transmission between a cell phone and Bluetooth?

FOLEY: A bluetooth headset or speaker phone uses approximately one one thousandth of the power.

KING: One one thousandth?

FOLEY: Exactly. It does depends on your mobile phone and Bluetooth headset. But, give or take, that’s roughly the amount.

KING: I believe Dr. Ottis Brawley is still there. Are you there, Dr. Brawley?

BRAWLEY: Yes, I am.

KING: What do you think of the Bluetooth?

BRAWLEY: I think that for people who are concerned about cell phones concerning brain tumors, using a Bluetooth or a wired device is a very reasonable thing to do. I don’t want people to be panicked and not use their cell phones over all of this, or be confused. If you’re concerned, use a wireless device or a Bluetooth.

KING: Isn’t you safer? Wouldn’t you be safer using a Bluetooth?

FOLEY: It sounds like it. I’ll leave that up to the medical experts. But if you can use something that uses one one thousandth of the power, and it really doesn’t change your use patterns — just put this on and take the call like you normally do — why not do that. It seems prudent to me.

KING: Quickie, where did it get its name?

FOLEY: Bluetooth was a Danish king around the 900s. And he united the Scandinavian countries. The original concept with Bluetooth was it was a technology that would unite the mobile phone and personal computer. And Bluetooth was originally created by people in those countries at Eriksson and Nokia. So that was the code name and it stuck. It’s been the name for over a decade now.

KING: You can buy these anywhere?

FOLEY: Sure. Any electronic store, you mobile phone provider store, they all have headsets, car kits. Of course, as I mentioned, most new cars come with it now.

KING: One one thousandth?

FOLEY: Yes.

KING: Thanks, Mike. Thanks, Dr. Brawley. Thanks to all of our panel. We’re going to do a lot more on this.

A common issue arose from the topic covered in yesterday’s post (re Nuventix in Scientific American) – what is the value of print vs. online coverage? Many of our long-standing tech clients still strongly believe that print is where it’s at and while I too have caught myself being a bit “old school” on certain topics, this is not one of them. While print stories make for good wall-mounted displays, online coverage is out there working for you, connecting the dots between PR and its impact on your business. Four reasons why online is king:

1) Online usually gets more eyeballs. In the case of SciAm, over 3x’s as many (2M unique monthly website visitors compared to 607K monthly print subscribers)

2) Online supports a company’s SEO objectives. Yesterday, when the Nuventix SciAm story hit, the company realized its 5th highest website traffic day ever.

3) Online can be “pushed” to more eyeballs than just the base website’s visitors via social media tools. The initial Tweet that went out from @sciam on this story reached 42,229 people, according to TweetReach – and that’s just one tool, one avenue.

4) Online has longevity. Last month’s print issue will be recycled when the new one arrives – online stories live on in databases much longer.

You tell me – still jonesin’ for that framed art for your office wall or are you more interested in marketing that contributes to the bottom line?

Very thorough, and interesting, story out today on our client Nuventix in Scientific American. Nuventix takes a unique approach to cooling down hot LEDs – a required part of the process if we all want to go green and be more efficient in our home (and commercial) lighting schemes. SynJets are essentially synthetic jets, using the same air moving process that jet airliners do to keep us in the air, only these move the air to cool hot LEDs.

From a PR perspective, this story represents the full process of what we as PR folk go through to secure coverage of our clients. Here’s how it worked:

Initially, I was reading up on Scientific American as a good fit for such a story and noticed that writer David Biello had written a story on LEDs with one line referencing the heat problem (but not a solution). I shot David a note re the missing piece of his story being Nuventix’ approach – the SynJet, and further checked him out on Twitter (interesting guy, covering quite a few topics close to my heart including clean energy (or our lack thereof!)). David and I maintained a conversation via email from April until August when he returned from paternity leave (congrats again David!). When he was back in the office, he passed on the Nuventix information to Larry Greenemeier who just so happened to be working on a synthetic jet story. Larry and I had recently worked together on a story for a different client and I must say it was a joy to work with him again – he knows his stuff. Interview happened, customer reference was secured, demo and images sent out, facts verified and ta-dah! Here we are today with a story that’s interesting to Larry’s readers and shines a light on the very cool, and unique, technology of our client.

These are the days that we do see the fruits of our labor – my favorite days for sure.

After working with ACCIONA Energy over the last year, I was thrilled to be able to visit my first wind farm.  Of course, I’ve seen turbines spinning in the distance in Texas and I’ve written descriptions of how they work and sent pictures of other ACCIONA wind farms like Tatanka to trade and local media.  But I’d never walked right up underneath one and I’d certainly never been inside a turbine.  I’d also never been to Oklahoma, even after living my whole life in a neighboring state and talking a lot of smack about OU.

INKer Blair Poloskey (Oklahoma-born I might add) and I flew up to Oklahoma City and drove the nearly two hours out to Elk City in the Western part of the state where the wind blows strong and the oil and gas culture is welcoming this new and plentiful energy resource with open arms. ACCIONA’s Red Hills Wind Farm – which would be formally dedicated the next day — is located in Roger Mills and Custer Counties on nearly 5,000 acres.  The 82 turbines that make up the farm create enough clean energy to power 40,000 homes and offset 294K tons of C02 emissions annually.  ACCIONA’s VP of Development in the Central Region Tom Hiester, who spoke later in the week at Oklahoma’s Wind Commerce conference (note: we are doing a series of excerpts from this speech on the new ACCIONA NA – Take Action! Facebook fan page, called Oklahoma the “mother lode” of wind energy.  If DOE estimates are correct, Oklahoma has the potential to produce 725 billion kWh/year from wind which would surpass the oil and natural gas production of Oklahoma (oil is 60 million barrels per year; natural gas is 275 million barrels of oil equivalent per year).  This is more energy than Oklahoma can consume, creating a new export product for the state and one that may be in high demand by the Southeast US if a national RES (renewable energy standard) is passed.  How do they reach that potential? Tom says supporting national legislation to enforce an RES and significant investment in transmission lines are critical.

The Red Hills dedication festivities included an address from speakers like ACCIONA CEO Peter Duprey and  Oklahoma Secretary of Commerce and Tourism Natalie Shirley, an annual scholarship award of $5000 to the local school district, a great BBQ lunch and an open house for the public that involved bus tours of the wind farm and games and crafts for kids on wind energy from a great organization called KidWind.  After local media had completed interviews and left the event, Blair and I hopped one of the first buses and explored the truly beautiful wind farm. We went inside the turbine which includes control equipment and a lift to take employees (unfortunately not us) to the top of the turbine. As you can see from this picture, the turbines are truly magnificent, especially when you look straight up at them.  I felt the same kind of awe that I experienced when visiting the Redwoods in California.  These are beautiful, but huge structures.

The weather certainly could have been better but all in all it was a great day.  In the midst of snatching chairs out of the rain and stomping around in puddles, the Red Hills dedication event did just what it needed to do: thank the landowners, state and local government and overall community for their support and enthusiasm, and motivate the people of Oklahoma to continue to embrace wind energy in the state.  The dedication ceremony was followed by an impromptu duet of “Oklahoma,” the state song from the well-known musical, performed by none other than the local state representative Purcy Walker.  Go Oklahoma!  I never thought I’d say that.

In the U.S. we’re in the eye of the clean energy revolution – it seems you can’t turn on the television, read a magazine or listen to Obama speak without some mention of our clean energy future in the U.S.  Everyone is getting involved.  I just read that Hummer is producing a new H3 hybrid which was shown at the U.S. Capitol last week.  Working in the clean energy PR space, we are very much attuned to the industry since we’re continually reading up on the latest trends, but it’s no secret that young and old are joining the clean tech movement.  This Newsweek article says it so well:

“You might not expect the under-30 crowd to queue up for a cap-and-trade hearing on Capitol Hill. But there they were, all last week, many wearing green shirts with environmental slogans, waiting patiently for hours to get seats for a public meeting on the American Clean Energy and Security Act. At times, fully one quarter of the room appeared to be in their 20s.”

It’s true that a younger generation of people have been energized by Obama’s campaign and as someone that’s part of that generation – it’s exciting.  Although I think everyone recognizes that this is a huge issue and change isn’t going to happen overnight, there really are small things that each of us can do every day to help do our individual part.  I recently picked up a book with some tips on living a greener lifestyle and was amazed at the little things we can all do to help.  One of my new favorites – organize your refrigerator so that you know where everything is and can use less energy when you’re opening and closing the door.  Doesn’t it seem so easy?

The little things are so simple, but I certainly recognize that a lot of this clean energy fight will not be easy.  This was clear as INK traveled to Chicago for Windpower 2009 this month with our renewable energy client and saw firsthand many of the big and small players trying to make a difference in the wind industry.  We even got a glimpse of the man himself – T.Boone Pickens.  The show this year had more attendees than 2007 and 2008 combined, reaffirming that this issue is not one that’s going away any time soon.

The following week, Blair and I headed out to Rochester, NY, for media training for the same renewable energy client.  As we flew in over the quaint little houses and perfectly lined streets, the question was asked: Would you want a wind farm in your backyard if you lived here?  The answer is yes.  Although we’ve seen that there is often a NIMBY attitude in some of the smaller communities, these wind turbines are majestic and a symbol of empowerment.  They are helping the U.S. live a clean energy future and improve our energy security.  So if asked if I would want one of these wind farms in my backyard – I’d say go right ahead.

That is my “green” rant and I’m excited to continue working in this industry and watching the changes and progression over time.  Are you?

Last night while I was in another part of the house I heard my husband shout from the kitchen, “Are these cookies in Lucky’s treat jar for humans or dogs?” (If you had not gathered yet, Lucky is our pooch.) Oh, this could give me fodder for months to write about the many things that were so dumb@$$ about his question, but I will keep it short and sweet for you readers. #1) Why would I put human cookies in the dog’s jar? #2) I don’t really buy things like that for “the humans” in my household which is occupied by me (they call me Steak and I run 30 to 40 miles a week hence my never ending appetite) and my husband (they call him Festival Eater and I don’t know what his excuse is but he once ate my supply of chocolate flavored running Gus in a marathon…a marathon video game session). Anyway, after agreeing with him that they certainly smelled great, I explained they were indeed for dogs. The next morning upon returning from a strenuous workout, I ate one. Now, what does this tell you about me? That’s right, I truly learn from applying myself in the real world.

So here I am, sitting in the captain’s chair about to kick off a truly 100% guerilla style marketing campaign for a client of ours. The program will have many tried and true viral and social networking tactics that some in our field are old hands at and some (like yours truly) will be experiencing for the first time and just how I like to… by drinking out of the fire hose. OK…so the first step will be to launch a successful Facebook presence. I know, I know…some of you are like, “that’s so yesterday” but the planets have aligned in such a way that it now makes sense for me to engage this tactic, number one being that this client already has quite a substantial customer base (over 3 million thanks in no small part thanks to traditional PR programs conducted by INK). This means, I have a built-in audience to go after to start building a Facebook fan base quickly.

Another key point – we are targeting a younger demographic, particularly college students. I saw a recent stat that 8 out of 10 college students are registered on Facebook. However, lately I have seen a sudden rush of older peeps joining up (my 88 year old father-in-law just requested to be my friend) so how much longer do we consider it to be a forum for  targeting young whippersnappers? Lastly, for this client, we have achieved great success in securing endorsement from media and industry influencers (and intend to continue to build upon that) but in today’s transparent and communicative world, you must have peer-to-peer endorsement as well and this Facebook tactic is our first step down that road.

I want to hear from you. What elements should be in place to establish a SUCCESSFUL Facebook presence? I  have about two months to prove to the client that this is a good idea. What success of failures have you experienced with similar programs. Who does it well on Facebook?

I will also be keeping you posted along the way about other the other tactics to be employed as part of this so called guerilla program so stay tuned!

In my house, you gotta work hard for your treats!

PS – The cookie? It was good…even if it was meant for dogs.