One For One

Each week my Public Relation Campaigns class blogs about a topic in PR, and this week I have one of my classmates to thank for my inspiration for this blog. Lauren blogged about Corporate Social Responsibility this week and after reading her post I knew exactly what I was going to blog about!

Team LASC (my Campaigns class) knows how much I love TOMS Shoes and I can't believe I have yet to blog about this company! The TOMS Shoes website sums up their mission with this statement "TOMS will give a pair of new shoes to a child in need. One for One. Using the purchasing power of individuals to benefit the greater good is what we're all about." For every pair of shoes you buy, they give a pair to a child in need. Talk about corporate social responsibility! Since TOMS was started in 2006, they have given away more than 140,000 pairs of shoes.

TOMS Shoes uses many different media outlets to get their name out and has been featured in several magazines and newspapers such as Vogue, People, Time, and Rolling Stones. When TOMS founder Blake Mycoskie was featured in an AT&T commercial, The New York Times wrote an article on the impact this one 30 second commercial had on the company (check out the article here!) When the commercial premiered during the telecast of The Masters this year, it created a lot of exposure for the company and got people tweeting and commenting on YouTube. The feedback from the 30 second commercial led to AT&T expanding the spot to 60 seconds. TOMS Shoes was also the first real business to be featured in an AT&T commercial showcasing the theme "more bars, more places" as it followed Blake on shoe drops around the world. In the few months after the commercial aired, the TOMS website went from having 9,000 visitors a day to upwards of 90,000 visitors in one day! Woah! TOMS Shoes is on Twitter and has recently added Twitter pages for shoe support and friends of TOMS, which keeps you updated on shoe drops and other events happening with the company. TOMS has also collaborated with several celebrities, such as Dave Matthews and Brandon Boyd, to create limited edition styles.

Check out TOMS and see for yourself how one company is making a difference all around the world.

"Learning Is Not A Spectator Sport..." D. Blocher

When I look back over the past three years I have spent in college, learning about the world of Mass Communications and Public Relations, I have learned so much in the span of just a few short semesters. A few years ago I never would have known what a news release was, how many words should be in a lead, and wether or not to use a sans serif font or just a serif font.

There are many skills that help future PR professionals succeed in this business and this blog post lists several attributes for new PR professionals.

In looking at this list I feel like I need to grow in more areas than I have expertise in!

I am a social media junkie and really enjoy microblogging and social networking. I have come to find that sites such as Twitter and Facebook help get your product or event out to the public in a way that traditional media can't. In today's generation, I think these skills are very valuable and I enjoy finding new ways to apply them to PR. I also enjoy working with design elements and coding in websites, even though I am no where near an expert!

Some skills that I need some more experience in are media relations and proactiveness. I have had experience relating with the media and pitching ideas to the media, but they have always been in a group setting. Media Relations is one of the most important aspects of PR and is something that I want to become an expert in! I am also a procrastinator. In an article I read once, Katie Couric said that procrastination was one of her stregnths and helped her to work under pressure and deadlines. Now I love Katie and lived by this mantra for a while, but I have come to learn that being a procrastinator leaves you pulling very stressful all nighters. Learn to plan ahead and make the most of your free time.

In conclusion, learning is not a spectator sport. I feel that this is very true for PR. The more practice you have and the more experience you have in all areas of PR makes you a more skilled professional. So take advantage of every opportunity you've been given and push yourself to bigger and more challenging things. You never know what you are capable of if you don't try!

Should Of, Could Of, Would Of....

My venture into Mass Communications was not always in public relations. Ever since I was in the fifth grade I have always wanted to be the next Katie Couric. I have always had a love for television and always had a desire to anchor the evening news. Well that all changed after interning with WALB-TV in Albany my senior year of high school. I came to realize that the television business is not as glamorous as it seems!

Luckily I chose I college that had an excellent Mass Communications program which offered several different concentrations. I am not sure how I came to the decision of concentrating in PR, but I am glad that I have! Thinking back over the past few semesters of MSCM craziness, I really have learned so much.

For the things that I wish I would of known before starting...Let's see. I think that I lucked out by knowing exactly what I wanted to major in and sticking with it, and thanks to that I will be graduating on time! If there has been one thing I have learned about PR and Mass Communications it is the importance of networking. I wish I could of started networking even back in high school with the TV station that I interned with. There have been several people that I have met at events that I never asked for their business card or contact info. I have learned that no matter who the contact is, the more the better! Public Relations is something that I feel is ever changing and adapts to the different generations and publics targeted. Always be open minded and don't be afraid if something does not work on the first try. Public Relations encompasses so much and I feel like there is something for everyone in PR. You might be surprised at how much you use it in your daily life!

Viva South Africa!

This summer I had the wonderful opportunity to travel to Johannesburg, South Africa with Campus Outreach, a campus ministry that aims to glorify God through building laborers on the campus for the lost world. During the seven weeks that I spent there, our team of 18 college students from all over Georgia partnered with Campus Outreach Johannesburg, specifically on the campus of The University of Johannesburg Bunting Road Campus. Our goal was to partner along side CO-Johannesburg and help strengthen and encourage their ministry on the Bunting Road campus. The time I spent in South Africa was full of exciting adventures, such as going on a safari on a game reserve and being 10 feet from three FULL GROWN lions, spending weekends loving on little children and trying to learn Zulu in order to communicate with them, many days spent in the dorms of UJB playing South African games and building relationships with students on the UJB campus, and even eating zebra,

antelope, and crocodile!

TIA! This is Africa!

Some of my CCP team and the leaders at COJ

Even thoughmy time there was not spent doing things that related directly to public relations, I was surprised at how many times PR came into practice! I was really excited to learn that Public Relations is also a major at the University of Johannesburg! Spending most of our week in the dorms allowed me to meet a good number of students who were PR majors and I was excited to talk to them about the differences about PR in South Africa and in America. In South Africa, Public Relations is more of the promotion of a business or product and does not contain as much event planning as PR in America. While I was in South Africa I got to put my PR skills to good use. Each Friday night we would plan a Friday Night Event that aimed to get first year student’s connected with the leaders and let them know more about what Campus Outreach was. My Friday Night Event was a trivia night and we had the biggest turnout!

I can say without a doubt that this was the best summer of my life! The things that I got to experience can in no way be encompassed in this little blog and my favorite part is that apart from God I never would of got this experience! So now as I approach my senior year in college, I am not sure what awaits me after May. I would love to find some way to encompass both my PR skills and my desire to help those in need. As I begin to look for internships and careers I hope that what I learned this summer will help in the many years to come. I’ve been bitten by the travel bug, so don’t be surprised if in ten or fifteen years I’m living in some remote country doing something unexpected!

-ltf

Playing with kids in a village called Butlang..Favorite part :)

Below: Me and a real lion cub! And our team with Nelson Mandela!

PR In Action at Chick-Fil-A

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If you know me, you know that my favorite restaurant is Chick-Fil-A. This little southern fast food chain has the best sweet and chicken nuggets I've ever had. But one thing I also love about Chick-Fil-A is how they do PR. Their "Eat Mor Chikin" campaign is one of the most memorable and recognizable campaigns in the fast food market. I also like how each different restaurant does their own special events and tries to reach out to the community. The Milledgeville Chick-Fil-A hosts school nights each week, with a percentage of profits made going directly to the schools. Being the frequent Chick-Fil-A eater that I am, many times I end up inside on one of these school night to see many families lined up for nuggets and the original chicken sandwich. One night my roommate and I happened to stumble upon Daddy Daughter Date Night. They had a red carpet, balloon arch, tablecloths, centerpieces, and even flowers for each little girl. The video that I posted shows a little bit of what went on and how Chick-Fil-A does PR in Action! And I apologize ahead of time, I am not the best Filmer! 

PR Open Mic

I first joined PR Open Mic back in February, after following them on Twitter. I became interested in this social media site after noticing that they were posting notes and outlines from PR Real World break out sessions. I attended PR Real World in February and really enjoyed hearing the speakers there. When I noticed that people were posting their notes from different breakout sessions, I was so excited! There were many sessions that I was unable to attend, but with the help of PR Open Mic, I was able to get all the valuable information. 

Browsing around PR Open Mic, it reminds me a lot of Facebook. You can connect with other PR people and chat with others on the site. I really like that they offer links to various blogs in the PR community. I enjoy reading blogs and seeing what other people are learning in public relations. I am still fairly new to PR Open Mic...I'll admit I kind of forgot about it since finding the PR Real World links, but I can definitely see how this can be a very valuable tool in PR. 

I also like how different colleges and universities have the opportunity to run PR Open Mic. This week Oklahoma State University's Social Media class has the opportunity to provided the content for the site for the entire week. They post different questions and information for the members to take part in. I really like how PR Open Mic is helping students grow and giving them opportunities for some real world experience in PR. Hey Ging, maybe we could get PR Admin to do this?! Ha! 

Thunder Rolls: GCSU's 11th Annual Athletic Auction

This past weekend I helped plan and carry out my first "big" event! My PR Admin class had the pleasure of planning the annual Athletic Auction that the Georgia College Athletic Program puts on every year. It is their biggest fundraiser, and much of the money raised goes towards scholarships for student athletes. Our professor began talking about this event last semester in our Writing for PR class, telling us that this was one of her favorite events to plan.  On the first day of class this semester, we were split up into four different teams. We were each in charge of pitching our idea for the auction, planning everything from the theme, the invitations, the decorations, and even the menu. After a couple of weeks of planning, we presented our pitches to the Athletic Department. This was my first big pitch, complete with unfamiliar faces and held in the Dean's Conference Room. For a second, I felt like I was part of an agency!

Once the AE's were picked we began rolling (pun intented!) with the theme "Thunder Rolls". Finally, after all our hard work, Atheletic Auction weekend was upon us! We spent many hours decorating, making gift baskets for corporate tables, and blowing up hundreds of silver, green, and blue balloons. (PS-I am now a professional balloon arch maker and available for weddings, birthdays, and other special e

vents...) Seeing the final product Saturday afternoon was so rewarding. 

During the auction, I was responsible for selling "Split The Pot" raffle tickets and was able to see somethings that we learned from The Tipping Point first hand. I am not a salesperson, so being thrown a money bag and stack of tickets and told "Go sell all of these please!" I kind of freaked out. I started off going up to people and timidly asking them, "Would you like to buy a raffle ticket? You get a chance to win $260!". This did not work very well. After a coup

le of minutes, the guy that threw me the tickets (that I later found out was the tennis coach) began to help me. This guy was a salesperson and a connector in one! He began to go up to people he knew at the auction, which was pre

tty much everyone, and schmoozed his way into helping me sell my 52 tickets in ten minutes! He showed me that you've got to be aggressive w

hen given the task of selling something and reinforced the importance of networking.  

Playing a part in the planning of the Athletic Auction has shown me that I really enjoy planning events. There is something that just gets me really excited about being behind the scenes and being a part of big events. I think it is safe to say that event planning is becoming my favorite part of PR!

Here are some pictures from the event!