Clicks for Cookies: SUCCESS!
Posted by: Rich Polt on: December 20, 2009
I awoke this morning to about 6 inches of fresh snow (still coming down hard), and the very exciting realization that we met our goal of 1,000 cookies in just over 3 days! Read this post here to learn more about the Clicks for Cookies campaign. Thanks to you, the many generous folks who decided to click through to our new blog, we are able to supply the nonprofit Birthday Wishes with enough cookies to stock every Massachusetts-based birthday party in the month of January (one cookie per child in attendance). I was told by Lisa Vasiloff, founder of the organization, that these cookies will be placed in childrens’ gift bags (along with other knick-knacks) to take after the party. If you’re looking to do some volunteer work with a minimal time commitment… helping out at a Birthday Wishes party is an incredibly rewarding way to spend two hours. Check out their Web site to find an upcoming party in your area.
A special thanks goes to Trish Karter, Scott Miller, and the rest of the folks over at Dancing Deer Baking Company for helping us make this happen by extending a healthy discount on product. I’ve known Trish for several years now, but we REALLY got to know each other this past April when Louder Than Words helped promote Trish’s 1,500 mile bike ride to end homelessness. Trish averaged 100 miles per day, riding from Atlanta to Boston, staying at homeless shelters each night to help raise awareness for family homelessness. She is passionate for the cause, dedicated to her trade, and a powerful cyclist to boot.
We launched this blog in early November and, like most new blogs, have only enjoyed a small amount of readership. These things tend to grow organically over time. So it’s worth checking the blog stats to see how this campaign so drastically skewed our numbers (for the better!) 
over the last few days. Click on the image of the graph to the right to see the numbers. We posted the blog at 2:30 pm on Thursday and then sent word out via email to our “friends of Louder Than Words” list. We also tweeted about the campaign and posted it to Facebook. Within minutes, unique hits to the post started to roll in and they didn’t stop. Read the rest of this entry »
CLICKS FOR COOKIES: Something Different for the Holidays
Posted by: Rich Polt on: December 17, 2009
THANK YOU for putting a smile on a child’s face!
For simply visiting this blog post, Louder Than Words will purchase one additional molasses clove cookie from the Dancing Deer Baking Company, to be donated to the ultra-inspirational nonprofit, Birthday Wishes.
Massachusetts-based Birthday Wishes throws birthday parties for children living in homeless shelters. The service they provide is so pure and the joy they bring so tangible, that we couldn’t resist making them the beneficiary of our holiday campaign. NBC Nightly News captured the power of their work in this segment earlier in 2009.
Our hope is that we can amass 1,000 unique visits to this post before Christmas Eve, thereby earning enough cookies for every Massachusetts-based birthday party in the month of January (one cookie per child in attendance).
Frankly, we have no idea whether the goal of 1,000 cookies is a reach or whether we’ll hit that number within 24 hours. If you want to track progress, Read the rest of this entry »
Doing Good Gets Social
Posted by: Tricia McKenna on: December 16, 2009
While I don’t think Twitter will be replacing traditional news outlets anytime soon, 2010 promises to be a year of continued growth for social media. A decade ago, organizations rushed to get online – now, many are thinking, “I need a social media strategy.” Much like the growth of online communications, “social media” is both a buzzword and a very legitimate and natural extension of what has come before. Using the Web to access and share information is important, but true interaction is the holy grail for many marketers. Here are 3 of my favorite examples from ’09 of organizations using social media to inspire action and communicate good:
1) Charity: water’s Twestival
On February 12, 2009, 200+ international cities hosted a Twestival (Twitter + festival) to bring Twitter communities together to raise money for charity: water. The Twestival raised $250,000+ in online donations and brought worldwide public awareness to the global water crisis. Since then, charity:water has kept its online community engaged with updates like video coverage of the first Twestival-sponsored well being drilled in Ethiopia.
PR Advice for Tiger Woods
Posted by: Rich Polt on: December 7, 2009
Every few months, we Americans lay witness to public relations gaffes of epic proportions. As we approached the end of 2009, the frontrunners for “PR Nightmare of the Year” appeared to be Domino’s Pizza and David Letterman. However, as many a PGA pro can attest, you never can count Tiger Woods out of the running until the last hole of the last round has been played. It appears that, once again, Tiger has stepped up his game in the 11th hour, taking PR debacles and media scrutiny to a new level.
Now, I’m no golf enthusiast. I’m really not much of a sports fan. And I’m certainly not into celebrity gossip. So in general, I’ve tried to tune out this Tiger situation. Personally, I believe that what a person does in his or her private life should remain private. But, for better or worse, this is not the world we live in. People, particularly mega-celebrities, live their lives in the public arena. It goes with the territory.
So why am I adding to the glut of useless content already dedicated to this topic? Because every time a public luminary digs a reputational abyss for themselves, I’m inevitably asked: “What would your PR recommendations be if they were your client?” A few folks have already asked me about the Tiger situation, so I thought I would share my insights, garnered from years of PR experience. Here goes… pay attention… Read the rest of this entry »
True Heroes
Posted by: Michele Fox on: December 3, 2009
This week, more than any I can remember recently, the media seems to be laser focused on the transgressions of top athletes. First came the news of the fine Serena Williams incurred for her verbal tirade on the US Open line judge and no one can escape coverage of Tiger Woods and his recent troubles. If you are feeling suffocated and discouraged by the attention paid either athlete and looking for an inspirational story of today’s true superheroes, I offer a movie recommendation. “The Blind Side” tells the powerful, positive and true story of the Tuohy family who welcome a homeless young man named Michael Oher into their home and their hearts, and in doing so, help him reach his full potential. Stories like theirs inspire me and remind me of the many the ways we can impact each others lives for the better www.theblindsidemovie.com.
Breaking Through the Green Clutter During the Holidays
Posted by: Erica Salamida on: December 2, 2009
In a new post on my Fast Company blog, Sustainable Communications, I talk about four ways to make a “green” story or blog post break through the holiday clutter. A few ideas on how to stand out by being bold, funny, or just plain honest.
Feel free to share your own success stories here!
Recipe for an Effective Press Release
Posted by: Michele Fox on: December 1, 2009
For me, the holiday season is about the long standing traditions that have been passed down through my family over generations. More times than not, these traditions include food. As I was helping out in the kitchen this past Thanksgiving, I realized the similarities between following the recipe for my mom’s infamous apple pie and writing a press release. Both require a quick preparation, simple ingredients and follow a specific formula that when executed correctly, will pay sweet dividends time and time again. My recipes for both follow below.
Preheat
Before any cooking begins, closely read the recipe over. Make sure you have each of the ingredients, grease the pan and preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Similar to preheating an oven, when preparing to write a press release, it is important to ask these questions: What is the news being announced in this release? Who is the audience/who will be reading this announcement? What are the three most important or key messages? Drafting an outline can help determine the structure and details of the release before worrying about the specific wording. Read the rest of this entry »
A Thanksgiving crossword puzzle
Posted by: Rich Polt on: November 27, 2009
I love crossword puzzles. Am completely addicted. About six years ago, after proposing to my now wife with a personalized crossword puzzle (which I had professionally made), I decided to learn how
to construct puzzles myself. So I picked up a copy of Crossword Constructing for Dummies and got to work.
Back in 2003, I had just launched Louder Than Words, so I had plenty of time on my hands to construct puzzles. I know this will sound incredibly dorky, but I find it therapeutic. There is something quite Zen about filling in a blank 15×15 grid with themes and answers and then cluing them.
These days, I hardly have time to do puzzles let alone build them. But this morning, for whatever reason (probably the fact that I’m digesting a mountain of food), I couldn’t sleep. So since 4:30 AM, I’ve been sitting on the couch at my in-laws house, building a crossword puzzle for this blog. Read the rest of this entry »
I’m Thankful for…Smart PR around Thanksgiving
Posted by: Erica Salamida on: November 24, 2009
A lot of weird, opportunistic pitches crop up during the holiday season, starting in the beginning of November. Here are few recent PR Newswire press release headlines that made me cringe:
The Charmin(R) Restrooms Return To Times Square This Holiday Season To Help Consumers Really ‘Enjoy The Go.’ You know, since most people are full of, well…
Down the Street or Across the Country This Thanksgiving, Verizon Wireless Makes Account Management Easy as Pie. Man, did they peg my no. 1 Thanksgiving concern.
Roto-Rooter Braces for ‘Cloggiest Day of the Year.’ Again, the visual is just too much for me to handle. Read the rest of this entry »
America needs its CNN Heroes
Posted by: Rich Polt on: November 23, 2009
Efren Peñaflorida started a “pushcart classroom” in the Philippines to bring education to poor children as an alternative to gang membership. On Saturday night, he was named CNN’s Hero of the Year in front of a star-studded Hollywood “tribute” featuring the likes of Greg Kinnear Pierce Brosnan, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Kate Hudson, Nicole Kidman, Neil Patrick Harris and some dude named Maxwell, who I admittedly have never heard of. The tribute, scheduled to air this Thursday night during Thanksgiving, will honor all ten of the 2009 CNN Heroes finalists.
This past Thursday, Crystal Noble asked the question in her blog: is there too much “good news” for the media? Well this massive Heroes campaign, and the 2.75 million votes that were cast for Hero of the Year, would seem to indicate otherwise. Lest there be doubt, a massive values shift is taking place in this country, and its being reflected back to us by our news organizations. Read the rest of this entry »
Rich Polt
Michele Fox
Tricia McKenna
Crystal Noble
Erica Salamida