Sweet! SweetSeat Scores A Top Spot As A Finalist In the Red Tricycle Awards

This year Red Tricycle, a website dedicated to helping parents have more fun with their kids, launched its ‘Totally Awesome Awards’ in search of the best local parenting resources along with readers’ favorite online resources. Categories range from Best Schools and Places to Shop, to Best Mom Forums, Nursery Gear, Meals and Snacks and more..

SweetSeat has been selected for the Most Awesome Feeding Supplies category, as colorful, comfortable and easy-to-clean booster seats that make mealtime and playtime fun.

Learn more about SweetSeat, and then head on over to Red Tricycle to cast your vote on why it’s so unique, adorable and TOTALLY AWESOME!

All winners will be announced next month on October 15^th!

~Shonte

LA Publicist Lessons From The Lakers

In addition to yesterday, May 8th, being Mother’s Day, it also marked the end of a couple chapters in Los Angeles sports history. Down 3-0 in a series of 7 games, our Los Angeles Lakers (back to back champions) were swept by the Mavericks in the playoffs, a series that also marks the end of renowned coach Phil Jackson’s career. While this is definitely a sad sight for Anegelnos like myself, you may be asking yourself what in the world this has to do with PR or this blog… let me explain.

In basketball, just like in PR, you have a team. While in basketball there are point guards and forwards, in PR there are Account Executives, Senior Account Executives, CEO’s, etc. While the tasks and duties of each of these positions might be entirely different, one thing remains the same – teams have to work together in order to succeed. This was something that was obviously lacking from the Lakers team for the past series. In both LA public relations and LA basketball there has to be several components in place in order for the team to create a good synergy that will lead to victory. These components include trust, a shared vision, goals, discipline, organization, and (of course) talent and skill. According to the OC Register Lakers Blog part of the reason why the team was doing so poorly was that Pau Gasol was hurt and upset because he was dumped by his fiance after some advice and prodding by teammate Kobe Bryant’s wife. In short, animosity amongst team members leads to failure. This is an accepted truth in both sports and in PR.

A big mistake that publicists often make is thinking that their job is one that can be done alone. While, yes, any public relations executive may work on their own clients and yes, the day to day activities of a PR firm may differ from person to person, the team of people who you have supporting and surrounding you are just as vital to your success.

With all that said, I am happy to call my Konnect PR associates my teammates. We have yet to break up any marriages, and we work day in and day out supportive of one another and with a shared vision for success. One of the most important aspects of any kind of winning team, if you don’t want to take my advice just ask the Lakers… I’m sure they have some time to spare nowadays.

x Monica

Headline News and How it is Made

As a LA publicist at a pr agency we always try to make headlines for our clients.

In the past few days, I have been thinking a lot about how exactly stories make the news.  In the 24 hour news cycle we live in, stories come and go in the blink of an eye, so how exactly do news producers decide what is going to be  the leading story?  How do editors decide what goes on the cover of the New York Times?  Worldwide, there are some major happenings: the ongoing war in Libya, the budget crisis, the nuclear disaster in Japan, the influx of air traffic control flubs and wildfires across the state of Texas.

There has been one story that has gone vastly unmentioned. Fidel Castro’s decision to step down as leader of the Communist Party for the first time since 1965 and transfer power to his brother Raul Castro.Raul has promised economic reforms which is a BIG deal for both Cuba and relations between the US and Cuba. But even when you Google for the story it is difficult to find any information.

It is very interesting how “major” or “important” stories get selected. Just some food for thought.

xox

Shelby

Twitter Lessons From Marc Jacobs

Last Friday night, in the middle of the night, this public relations agency learned a valuable lesson in Tweeting courtesy of Marc Jacobs – not only is WHAT you tweet important, but also, WHO is tweeting for you. Around midnight on that night the next in a row of what seems to be more casually-occurring Twitter hacks occurred to the official Twitter account of Marc Jacobs (@MarcJacobsIntl). In this case, an “unnamed intern” who had been put in charge of the social media for the brand (in the interim of finding a full time employee) went on a rampage taking jabs at the brand’s CEO Robert Duffy. While these tweets warned off future employees and called Duffy a tyrant, they were not (overall) as scandalous or stupid as previous hacks on other accounts have been.

While the tweets will soon be forgotten and will probably increase the number of followers due to press coverage ( I will admit I only followed the brand after I read about the incident on the New York Times blog The Cut), this instance does touch on an important issue that is often not stressed enough… the Twitter-er is just as important as the Tweet. Often times brands realize the importance of creating a presence in the social networking sphere, but do not put much thought into the person (or people) who will be handling this very specific task for them. Anyone taking on this role must be trained in etiquette, well versed and knowledgeable about the brand, and most importantly, trustworthy.

While putting a random intern who does not like the CEO in charge of Twitter for a international brand does not seem like a good idea, I’m sure the people at Marc Jacobs are satisfied knowing that this individual will never work in fashion again (and he/she knows it).

x Monica

Hip Hop Loses A Legend

Today the city of Los Angeles mourned the death of one the greatest musical rappers the west coast has ever known. Nathaniel D. Hale, known to hip-hop and G-funk lovers as Nate Dogg, passed away Tuesday evening at the age of 41. Although unbeknownst to many fans, friends and even family, Nate suffered subsequent strokes within a ten month period (the most recent occurring in 2008), causing multiple complications and his health to steadily decline.

Hailing from Long Beach, CA, Nate rose to fame as the smooth-voiced hook singer alongside popular rap artists and label mates Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and Warren G during the explosion of West Coast hip-hop and gangster rap in the early 1990s, and helped gain tremendous notoriety for Death Row Records. He collaborated with some of the music industry’s biggest names including Tupac, Eminem, and 50 Cent, and also released 3 solo albums of his own. As a “living legend” who had such an incredible impact not only on this side of the nation, but in hip hop communities all over the world, Nate Dogg’s distinct crooning and trademark style will forever live on. With an immense outpouring of love and support already spreading (Snoop Dogg tweeted ‘I will see you again in heaven because you know all doggs to heaven’), we celebrate the life of Nate Dogg and his significant contributions to the ‘G Funk Era.’

Working here in the city that gave birth to the hip hop icon, I respectfully pay tribute and thank Nate Dogg for his incredible, stylistic influence on west coast music, shaping the genre as we know it today.

~Shonte

Chrysler Drops The F-Bomb!

Naughty Chrysler, it appears one of the world’s leading automakers let something get beneath its undercarriage (definite pun intended).  Earlier today someone who had access to the official Twitter account for one of the world’s leading car manufacturers went on a semi-rant in front of its more than 7,500 followers, stating “I find it ironic that Detroit is known as the #motorcity and yet no one here knows how to f*****g drive.” Wow, shame on the city of Detroit! Well it didn’t take long for Chrysler to realize the repercussions of that slipup, quickly removing and deleting the tweet from its page and immediately issuing (via tweet of course) an apology saying that its account had been “compromised.” Later in the day Chrysler also came forward and stated in a blog post that the off-color tweet came from an employee of its social media agency, New Media Strategies. The employee, according to the post, has since been terminated. Meanwhile, Chrysler has actually gained Twitter followers, having now reached over 8,000 (I’m beginning to sense a contradicting trend in bad behavior and popularity…).

 At Konnect PR, utilizing social media on behalf of our clients is one of the most important ways of branding. By exposing them to new people, new companies and thus new opportunities through direct interaction and promotion, we can help our clients significantly raise their consumer and media awareness and as a result raise sales, which makes everyone happy . Careful (this being the key word) management of these outlets is crucial, as we are always seeking to portray the brands that we work with in the best light possible. No bad words here, period. 

If you’re interested in helping police Chrysler (or just want to see if they have another shameful faux pas) you can follow @ChryslerAutos!

~Shonte