Fresh Thinking: The Best of PR and Marketing Published April - May 2007 The PR influences team brings you the most innovative approaches to pr and marketing from around the globe. Crisis Mgt 101 - The Candid Apology A trend acknowledging the transparency of the Web is now becoming evident - in the form of the heartfelt apology. The Home Depot is the latest marketer doing this, with the company's new CEO Frank Blake giving an unusually candid apology to readers of MSN Money. The apology followed a column by Scott Burns complaining about Home Depot's customer service.  Blake said . "There's no way I can express how sorry I am for all of the stories you shared. I recognize that many of you were loyal and dedicated shoppers of The Home Depot ... and we let you down. That's unacceptable." The style of the apology -- personal instead of corporate, is a trend that has recently included apologies from the CEOs of JetBlue, U.S. Yum Brands and ConAgra. (Source: Media Post March 15 2007)  Australian Trade Unions get Web 2.0 Savvy To mark the official One Year Anniversary of the Federal Government’s controversial IR Laws, the trade union movement  released a new ad, which they sent out via their e-newsletter. Viewers could watch the ad via the link  www.rightsatwork.com.au/campaigns/card and were encouraged to pass on a YouTube link (www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvF4slsxft4) of the same video to friends and colleagues. (Source: Rights at Work Campaign, March 28, 2007) Fiskateers: How a Social Community Became a Veritable Sales Force. Fiskars Brands, Inc., a global craft tools brand based in the Netherlands was losing sales, including those of its famed specialised scissors, to cheaper products available in Wal-Mart and other chain stores. The solution? Create a community of Fiskars supporters http://www2.fiskateers.com/ who could spread the word that authentic Fiskars products are worth not only their price and definitely worth any special effort to obtain them. They also activetly targetted younger consumers, who are more often online. (Source http://www.whatsnextblog.com/)  User-Generated Content a Winner for Doritos Doritos issued an ad challenge to consumers in the run up to the Super Bowl as part of a carefully crafted marketing campaign. The challenge was for consumers to create their own TV commercial and post it on the Doritos’ campaign microsite, where viewers could vote for the best user-generated commercial.  Doritos promised to publicly air the winner commercial.  The result? Two million hits on the microsite, three-quarters of a million unique users, 2 million video views and around a billion page impressions. The attraction for Doritos’ 16 - 24 year old target audience was their involvement with the brand, creating a buzz around it and potential fame for the winning producer. The Doritos competition received over 1000 entries. The winning ad, “Live the Flavor, cost just $12.79 to produce and received the most views, followed by “Checkout Girl” which itself attracted 850,000 views the day after the Super Bowl. (Source: BizReport March 27, 2007) Network PR publishers of PR Influences are specialists in business, technology and online pr. Do you need a fresh approach to your public relations? contact us

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