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Publicity 101: How to Make A Story Newsworthy
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Publicity 101: How to Make A Story Newsworthy

By Amy Smith|Categories: Public Relations|Tags: news, publicity|

What's your story? Although there is no formula, publicity is a basic combination of news excitement, and relevance that uses a sales pitch to become a part of the mass media. News. A publicity campaign starts with a piece of news. Many things can make something newsworthy. For example, timing, uniqueness, a numbers brag, new research, scientific breakthroughs, beginnings or endings, updates, and much, much more can be positioned as news. By contrast, "evergreen" items are not newsworthy and can be covered at any time. An example is an overview or opinion/editorial on topics with no news value. If

Apple Strikes Gold with The Morning Show

By amy@momtinilounge.com|Categories: Public Relations|Tags: Apple TV, Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, The Morning Show|

Most professionals I know aren’t looking for another TV show to add to their personal line-up, and I’m no exception. Yes, I have my favorites. Some are just fun escapes, but I always jump in with both feet – imagining I went to medical school and was saving lives (Grey’s Anatomy); cracking up at my own punny family memories (Modern Family); relishing the value of my incredible best friendships (A Million Little Things). One that came and went – Scandal – made me thankful I had more fun and less crisis in my PR campaigns over the years. But I’d

The PR Parking Lot Facilitates Focus
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The PR Parking Lot Facilitates Focus

By Amy Smith|Categories: Public Relations|

Creative minds have a rapid-fire stream of ideas, and it's not until you layer strategy on top of that explosiveness, that PR magic can take flight. A theme that has come up repeatedly this summer in our campaigns is the importance of focus. When you're busy launching a new concept or campaign, it's easy to get carried away with ideas that are all over the map. Whether the idea is related to marketing, advertising, PR, social, etc., it's often hard to let go once that idea is on the table. One tactic I have introduced to several clients this year

Power Hour Editing Gives College Students an Edge

By Amy Smith|Categories: Editing|Tags: college applications, college essay, essay editing|

The approach, “So what’s your story?” has not changed since Write Ideas took flight 20+ years ago. Its mission is to help companies identify, craft and communicate their stories to traditional and social media outlets. Compelling, interesting, and creative, these finely tuned stories have earned clients millions of dollars in value-added media impressions. College-bound students face the exact same storytelling challenge. With increasing competition and an unprecedented number of applications, the stakes have never been higher. Essays are an opportunity to humanize the applicant, to impress and distinguish beyond grades and test scores that are written in permanent ink

Top Social Universities in the United States

By Amy Smith|Categories: Public Relations, Social Media|

Back to school is top of mind in September, and this infographic from MediaMiser caught my eye. Here's an interesting look at the "top social universities" in terms of social activity, retweets, and page influence. Harvard University took the lead with more than 3.2 million Facebook likes, almost four times as many as Yale (2nd place), and also had almost 10,o00 retweets during the test period. And those numbers continue to increase. I checked out Harvard's Social Media Dashboard page, which is well-organized so you can connect with its multiple channels, and they've increased their Facebook fans alone to 3.5

WestJet Delivers Holiday Cheer and Makes Millions of Impressions
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WestJet Delivers Holiday Cheer and Makes Millions of Impressions

By Amy Smith|Categories: Public Relations, Social Media|Tags: advertising, social media, studiom, viral video, WestJet Airlines|

Thanks to some very special friends for bringing Canada’s WestJet viral video campaign to my attention. If you’re not one of the 33 million+ who have already viewed this video, it’s well worth 5 minutes of your time, for the entertainment value alone, not to mention the campaign’s value as a marketing/PR/social case study in excellence. This is pure marketing genius, putting social media to work in a way that no other medium could communicate with quite the same punch. WestJet granted Christmas wishes to 250 passengers in real-time. While many airlines can’t do much more than serve peanuts and

Discount Designer Clothes: Definitely PR Genius
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Discount Designer Clothes: Definitely PR Genius

By Amy Smith|Categories: Uncategorized|

Despite – or because of – this recession, there’s still clearly a hearty appetite for designer duds at discount prices. Target‘s recent launch of Missoni, an upscale Italian label with wild, colorful, geometric patterns, was a huge success on many fronts. Even though their website crashed from the sudden surge in traffic, I’d call it a PR success story for lots of reasons. Lydia Dishman reported in Forbes (The Genius of Target’s Missoni Madness) “Two full hours before Target threw open doors…to offer rabid fashionistas a lower priced collection of haute Italian label Missoni…the discount chain allowed shoppers to buy

Virgin America – Yea, they’ve “got it”!
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Virgin America – Yea, they’ve “got it”!

By Amy Smith|Categories: Uncategorized|

I flew Virgin America to California this past weekend, and couldn’t wait to get back to my desk to write about the unique marketing muscle behind this flying experience. It’s hard not to look at my own customer service experiences through a marketing/PR lens, and this was no exception. Initially, I thought I was flying on one of those “off brand” airlines, and wasn’t sure what to expect, if anything! Instead, I couldn’t believe the swank, nightclub feel on board. Black leather, comfy seats, decent leg room, magenta-ish track lighting, a safety video cartoon-style with some attitude & humor (didn’t

And The Video Marketing Oscar Goes To…
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And The Video Marketing Oscar Goes To…

By Amy Smith|Categories: Uncategorized|

As a publicist, I see virtually every commercial message through the PR/marketing lens. Was that a good idea…a brilliant idea…an embarrassing idea (who came up with that one?)…The marketing wheels turn, and I realize it’s not safe to presume that every marketing professional thinks about strategy and how the customer will perceive a message. With the ongoing influx of viral/social media, it seems almost anyone can be a producer, a director, a writer. But to be a really brilliant producer…that takes skill and perspective. One example from this past year really struck me as as “stand out marketing.” I wrote

Super Bowl 2013 – The Good, the Brave, the Blackout
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Super Bowl 2013 – The Good, the Brave, the Blackout

By Amy Smith|Categories: Uncategorized|

Couldn’t resist a quick piece on the logistics and marketing angles of Super Bowl 2013. With brothers coaching opposing teams (wow!); the Ravens in the game (I’m D.C./Baltimore-based); Beyonce singing live after the Inauguration Star Spangled Banner question (btw – who really cares as long as it sounds good?!); and a 34-minute blackout, the night was clearly memorable. As PR professionals, we’re always writing the Plan B, the “what if,” the contingency plans so events go off without a hitch. A blackout at the Super Bowl was just…well, I’m just blanking out on how to evaluate this “mishap.” The wildly