Flying Coach

Not sure if any of you may have seen this, but i'm recently loving the way Coach is handling their PR these days.

Remember in class - when profs used to tell students "good PR doesn't look like PR"?

Well, that's what (or what i HOPE) Coach has been doing for the past few months with their Facebook fan page group.

Needless to say, Social Media has kindof become the next step in the evolution of digital PR...but Coach is doing it exceptionally nicely. This Tweep I follow on twitter named Julia Roy recently made the jump to the coach in the 2 years i've been following her, I wonder if she could shed some light on the situation (moreover, I'm wondering whether she has time to even read the piddly articles i write...in the past 2 years, she's gone from Undercurrent strategy to Headin up new media at Coach)

So what they're doing is literally buying or snapping shots of celebrities who use their products, and posting them as "spotted" pictures - which consumers and voyeurs of all ages LOVE to poke their faces into.

Now, here's where the PR-related question comes into play - is it organic?

Meaning: are these celebs actually buying the bags, boots, scarves, whatever Coach is pointing out?

Or

Have they been COMP'd with oodles of product in an old school PR kindof way.

Is this Coach's way of getting a return on their comp'd investments by ensuring pics of the celebs get posted somewhere with their products?

I dont know.

And personally, I don't really care.

I absolutely love it either way.

So Kudos Coach, Julia, team....

It's FANTASTIC.

The Return of the Race

Looks like the first ones out the gates to hone in on F1 Fever are Red Bull who are agressively promoting their Red Bull racing team for the return of the Canadian Grand Prix.

Great ideas here:

F1 race car on a frozen lake.
F1 racing in the snow.
F1 back in Montreal.

God I F1-ing love my city.

Solid Potato Salad

When's the last time you saw such an awesome showcase of talent?
All I can say is that if musical theatre is back, and so is dancing - when are we going to mix the two and get something like this again?

The answer: Prolly Never.

It might also be because they sang of potato salad.

The era of food anthems has turned into more of a showcase of stupidity than anything else.

See below...

What the hell is a pannini - if singular, it's called Pannino.

And a crustini? Sounds like a dinky piece of bread.

Please copywriters, don't do this anymore.

Stick it in my arm? Stick that

Now I know H1N1 is a big deal. People have died from it. It's serious. Ok.

In an attempt to "protect us", the Gov of Ontario has decided to keep this fresh in our minds. You know, scare us into getting vaccinated. Make sure we are safe.

Please view Exhibit a:



My reactions to this was:
- wow thats a long needle.
- ok 3 interesting facts I've already heard about H1N1.
- is that needle getting longer?
- "you call the shot"- wow now you're being witty.
- ok so if I haven't gotten the shot and am fully aware of the risks of H1N1, do you really think you're going to convince me with a needle?
- I'm scare of needles.
- Really scared.
- So scared I've fainted from them. Twice. They were really long.

So H1N1 shot, yes, you are serious; yes, you are scary.
But if I haven't beeng convinced yet, a long needle that has to pierce my skin is not what's going to make me change my mind.

Thank you advertising, for making my choice even clearer.
Isn't that what you're supposed to do in the first place? ;)

There exists the word HUMAN in Human Resources

Ok, so it was that time of year again *albeit a few weeks ago*.
Thats right, the yearly review period.
When your boss or supervisor tells you on a sliding scale where you stand and what your weight within the company is.

But how effective is a yearly review?

I mean, first off - it happens once.

But I mean, is it really the most effective way to look at an employee?

Of the 40+ hr workweek, and the 48-50 weeks you've worked, do you really think your superior referenced the killer hours, the missing of family events, or re-scheduling of doctors appointments, not to mention the incessant hustling you needed to do to get the work clients asked of you done? Does that come in on a sliding scale somewhere?

Prolly not.

They prolly just filled out some numbers on a scale somewhere - and maybe, if you're lucky, they measured you against an average...

What's worse, do you think your HR department (if you even have one), which controls your salary from a distance, reads or understands soft-skills through those numbers?

Ahh!!!! But YOUR employer has a commentary box in their sliding scale!

Better yet, your superior FILLED IT IN!!

Alas, you've been saved!

Oh Hells no.

Do they illustrate examples in those comment boxes?

Or is did you get generic adjectives?

C'mon - gimme a concrete example (or is there a character limit....omg no)

It is my completely uninformed; i-forgot-all-about-my-HR-classes-cuz-i-majored-in-marketing opinion that many employers' sliding scales and comment boxes are BS. They're prolly old, and out of date - not reflecting anything of what it actually takes to be kept as an employee in an environment, and an economy that's ever-changing.

It's my opinion that this is simply a cost-cutting method many employers use in order to avoid tedious and lengthy HR conversations with supervisors - and (god forbid) actual HUMAN INTERACTION.

I'd love to know - is there a complacency scale on your evaluation?

As in, do you JUST do your job?

How bad do you want to stay where you are?

How much do you aspire to get to that next level of responsibility?

Not to be ignored is the "how wise have you gotten this year" question?

What have you learned?

How many stupid mistakes did you avoid?

How badly do your coworkers want to work with you?

How badly do your coworkers count on you?

Is it just me, or has having a job become somewhat of a commodity?

What was once seen as a privilege, is now all too common - all because your employer can't find the "right people".

And if an employer is putting out good work, and plugged in in the right places, there should be loads of applicants coming in for jobs on a regular basis. There is always someone ready and willing to replace you. Prolly for cheaper - and given the right structures, in a better way.

So why are you not busting your ass to keep your job?

Oh wait - cuz you're getting an evaluation on a sliding scale.

Yay for complacency!

What do you think i got as an evaluation?

Great lil animation

Props go out to Gary for FB posting this one.

L'alcool ça peut faire très mal - Vidéos buzz

Loving Mashups

As some of you may know I'm a big lover of the Mashup - but what you hear in the clip below should freak you out in one way or another.

Much like the idea of Lady Gaga actually being a Lady, I'm on the fence about mashing Gaga with Nirvana.

Purely from a sound perspective, it's a great mashup - although I loathe the Gaga song.

But its even more effed up when you think about how these two genres really don't belong together musically. The creators of Grunge meet the creator of the face boa.

The only thing these two artists would've done together is eachother or an 8ball.

Booty Pop

Once again, I'm amazed that someone had to come up with such a product.