Why Lindsay Lohan LOVES her Publicist! Sunday, August 26, 2007

Filed under: News, celebrity, gossip, media, public relations, publicist — ilovemypublicist @

 Lindsay rehab

What looks to be a great strategy from Lindsay Lohan’s publicist, Leslie Sloane, photographers who used to catch her clubbing were invited to snap away at her NEW pursuits: Reading, writing in a journal, working at a nearby supermarket, and caring for horses as part of her “equine therapy,” according to OK! magazine. It seems as though the starlet staged a campaign for an easy sentencing in the days leading up to her scheduled Aug. 24 arraignment.

On the same day that prosecutors filed seven misdemeanor drunken driving and cocaine possession charges against her, the 21-year old actress reached a plea deal that calls for her to spend one day in jail, serve 10 days of community service and complete a drug-treatment program. Moments after her plea deal was announced, Lohan released a statement to the media through her publicist in which she confirmed her substance abuse.

According to Lawrence Taylor, a Los Angeles lawyer who deals exclusively with DUI cases, Lohan’s punishment could have been far more severe — anywhere from 96 hours to 12 months in jail.

“She got off fairly easily,”Taylor said. “Ten days community service counts as 10 days jail, plus the one day she’s doing which she probably has credit for having spent those few hours in jail after the arrest.”

Do you think someone who was not famous would have gotten the same deal?

Read the full story here:

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/Story?id=3516297&page=2

Photo Credit: OK! Magazine

 

Was it media God or HUSBAND, Slapped Preacher Juanita Bynum? Thursday, August 23, 2007

Filed under: Juanta Bynum, Music, News, abuse, african american, celebrity, entertainment, legal, media, public relations, publicist, publicity — ilovemypublicist @

     

Photo Credit: Google Images/ Rich Addicks/AJC

 

Juanita Bynum, a preacher whose fiery and frank sermons about women’s empowerment have won her a national following, was attacked by her husband in the parking lot of an Atlanta hotel early Wednesday morning, police said.

Bynum and her estranged husband, Thomas W. Weeks III, had met up at Renaissance Concourse Hotel near Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport to try to reconcile, Atlanta police said. But while at the parking lot about 4 a.m., the two got into a physical fight until a bellman at the hotel pulled Bynum’s husband off her, Officer Ronald Campbell said.

“She was bruised up and battered,” Campbell said. “She had purple bruising around her neck and upper torso.”

The husband, who is also a preacher, left the scene. No charges have been filed against him, according to police.

Prescription: Every action has a reaction. Ms. Bynum is a public figure and there are really two options as to how she can handle this situation. She can either retreat and try not to comment because this story will eventually fade away Or, after the dust and emotions settle it might be a good time to chat with a publicist about how to use this public incident to leverage her divorce case, raise her public profile, elevate her platform for women’s empowerment and drive sales of her books and cd’s.

We’ll have to see how this prays out.

Like a rapper who goes to jail, does this incident give Ms. Bynum more credibility?Read the story here:http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2007/08/22/bynum_0823.html

 

R. Kelly Hires the “White” Johnnie Cochran? Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Filed under: Business, News, R & B, african american, entertainment, hip hop, legal, media, public relations, publicist, publicity — ilovemypublicist @

            

When big shots get in trouble in Chicago, often as not, they call Ed Genson.

Some call him a magician in the courtroom. Others say a better word might be barracuda.

Either way, the 61-year-old Genson has emerged as one of the top criminal defense lawyers in the city, and maybe the best known.

Whether it’s Grammy-winning R&B singer R. Kelly or friends and aides to scandal-plagued former Gov. George Ryan, the high and mighty regularly seek out Genson when they’re trying to save their careers and avoid jail.

Attorneys say his face at the defense table makes prosecutors nervous. He doesn’t always beat them. But they always know they’re in for a fight.
A judge ruled Tuesday (August 21) that the videotape in the R. Kelly child pornography trial can be shown in full when the proceedings begin this September. Cook County Circuit Judge Vince Gaughan said the tape was key evidence in the prosecutors’ case, rebutting the argument by Kelly’s lawyers that the tape would unfairly bias the jury against him.

Additionally, the prosecution wants to bring in an expert to compare vein patterns in R. Kelly’s hands with the hands of the man in the tape, to prove he is indeed Kelly. The defense decried this motion as faulty science, not comparable to matching fingerprints. The judge has postponed a ruling on whether the veins argument will be allowed in court.

Prescription: Doesn’t this case bring back memories of Johnnie Cochran and OJ? Impossible odds and an attorney with unbreakable confidence.  Sometimes the  best PR strategy is to take the spotlight off the star and shine it on the back-up singers. Or, in this case Ed Genson.  Seems R. Kelly is not going to bump and grind his way out of a conviction. He’s lining up the best people for a great show we all plan to watch.

 If the veins don’t match, this case could be a wrap!

I think R. Kelly is going to get off. What do you think?

Read the full articles here:
http://www.thetimesonline.com/articles/2003/05/26/news/local_illinois/af8a9824e22dde8086256d31007c813e.txt

http://www.vibe.com/news/news_headlines/2007/08/r_kelly_hands/

 

A CIGARETTE As Good As My Dildo?!hmmmmm Sunday, August 19, 2007

Filed under: Business, Corporate America, Golden Dragon Group, Marketing, News, Ruyan, cigarettes, health, public relations, publicist, publicity — ilovemypublicist @

A Chinese company is seeking FDA approval for a battery-powered cigarette that delivers nicotine without the toxins, reports Business 2.0 Magazine.

It feels like a cigarette, looks like a cigarette but it isn’t bad for your health.   A Chinese company marketing the world’s first “electronic” cigarette hopes to double sales this year as it expands overseas and as some of China’s legions of smokers try to quit.

Golden Dragon Group Ltd’s Ruyan cigarettes are battery-powered, cigarette-shaped devices that deliver nicotine to inhalers in a bid to emulate actual smoking.

“The nicotine is delivered to the lungs within 7 to 10 seconds,” said Scott Fraser, Vice President of SBT Co. Ltd., the Beijing-based firm that first developed the electronic cigarette technology in 2003 and which is now controlled by Golden Dragon.

“It feels like a cigarette, looks like a cigarette, it even emits vapor. In many ways, it is like an actual smoking experience, and that’s what makes us different,” he told Reuters.

Golden Dragon’s competitors include global giants Pfizer and Novartis AG, which sell more familiar nicotine replacement products such as chewing gum, patches, and inhalers.

Prescription: The next time you read a story in a newspaper or online, be sure to look at the source. You could be reading the The New York Times but the actual story may have originated or been picked up from a newswire like the Associated Press or Reuters.

Successful public relations campaigns are fundamentally based on how many times your  person, product or company are mentioned in the media and where.  That said, using newswires like Associated Press or Reuters can be an invalueable tool since particulary these two newswires are picked up all over the world and in most cases the stories are used word for word, unedited.

Such is the case for this new e-cigarette. The story was seen on Reuters and also in Business 2.0 magazine and was picked up by CNNmoney.com and a few other business sites.  It was probably smart not to blanket the media with this story at first but rather pick the media outlet to cover this that would be the most strategic for the company–a media outlet that would probably avoid negative trigger words like: addition, cancer, death and kids, among others.

Business 2.0 is a great magazine  for the E-Cigarette brand. Their focus is the business aspect first and foremost of any company so the risks to health whether minimal or great are really not a focus in its reporting on Golden Dragon Group. That is what makes this a great media placement for the E-cigarette.

I have to jump straight to the quote given by Scott Fraser, Vice President of SBT Co. Ltd. on what this product is and does.  If it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck it probably is a duck especially if really want vegetarian duck. His quote really sums up all the qualities that many say make smoking enjoyable.

The last part of this PR equation inlcludes Golden Dragon’s competitors which include any company that produces a pill, patch, gum AND even cigarettes themselves. Because, what if one could promote the E-cigarette so well it obliterated the “patch” solutions to the quitting of smoking and took over the cigarette industry as a whole! ( cue theme from Superman)…. perhaps, there is far more money in trully safer cigarette than trying to cure the addiction. Just a thought. 

Their online video commerical messaging addresses all the issues that smokers face, with the E-Cigarette being the healthy, socially acceptable option, perhaps making the viewer consider all the places smoking is banned and inconvienent for smokers and those who would be exposed to second hand smoke.

One might say, the companies who make cigarettes, the patches and the gum should come out swinging and rev up thier own PR machines. But, that would only promote the E-Cigarette further, no?

All they can do is sit, wait and watch and see who catches the vapors.

Do you think they should market this as  “THE SAFE” cigarette or a new way to smoke with a healthy twist?

See the video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bz2CFa4I2DM

The links to these stories here:

http://money.cnn.com/2007/08/09/magazines/business2/electronic_cigarette.biz2/index.htm?postversion=2007081306

http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSSP23039020070509 

 

Your Baby Is Dumber Than Mine Friday, August 10, 2007

Filed under: Business, Corporate America, Marketing, News, Publicist I Would NOT Want To Be This Week!, media, public relations, publicist, publicity — ilovemypublicist @

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Educational videos designed to stimulate young minds, like “Baby Einstein” and “Brainy Baby,” may actually impede language development, according to a new study published this week in the Journal of Pediatrics. The DVDs have become one of the most popular educational tools for parents, with promises to build the vocabulary and enhance the cognitive development of babies as young as 3 months old. The baby-brain industry now represents about $20 billion a year, according to Susan Gregory Thomas, author of “Buy Buy Baby” (Houghton Mifflin, 2007). But the claims of these manufacturers are largely unsubstantiated.  And the new study says they may do more harm than good.

Susan McClain, general manager of the Baby Einstein Co., told NEWSWEEK in an e-mail that the company’s collection “is specifically designed to promote discovery and inspire new ways for parents and babies to interact—such as clapping, pointing to objects and verbally interacting with their baby.” Representatives of Brainy Baby Co.—the other leading educational baby-video manufacturer—were not available for comment.

Prescription: Ok, if you remember I mentioned in previous posts that every so often in a publicists life, a major occurrence happens that can change history in a good way or instantly combust your client and its brand into flames.

So, we have here the Journal of Pediatrics who conducted a study of a $20 billion a year industry ( how much is that every two weeks?). It should be noted that studies such as these are excellent publicity tools as we see the increased exposure of the Journal of Pediatrics in just about every major news source this week. It has all the components of an excellent Public Relations campaign neatly wrapped up, tied with a bow and attached to the brand recognition of the Baby Einstein Co.

The Journal of Pediatrics has out all its guns to push its findings to the front of the news line including using lead author of the study, Frederick Zimmerman as a spokesperson. We even see authors of books and such jumping into the mix taking full advantage of the frenzy.

The root of this PR debacle for the Baby Einstein Co. is that the study was based on educational videos as a whole, not specifically the Baby Einstein Co.!!

Susan McClain’s comment is rather weak and passive and doesn’t defend a brand that is being labeled useless. And, maybe videos from the Baby Einstein Co. are indeed useless in making your baby smarter but, it feels like, seems like and reads like, the Baby Einstein Co. is taking the fall for the baby video industry as a whole. Brainy Baby Co.—the other leading educational baby-video manufacturer is smart. They have not entered the mix with a comment, steering whenever possible, attention away from them, letting Baby Einstein Co. defend the baby video industry and overall existence.

The other issue I have here is that the Baby Einstein Co. used their general manager as the spokesperson in the Newsweek story. In an attempt to salvage what might be left of brand confidence why wouldn’t they use a higher ranking spokesperson? Think about it. If you lost brain cells every time you drank a cup of coffee at Starbucks ( I know that’s extreme) would you want to hear from the stores’ general manager or the CEO?

Prescription: It’s too late to tell a patient whose had a heart attack that maybe they shouldn’t have eaten that rack of ribs last week or tell Baby Einstein Co. that maybe they could have ramped up their messaging of the interactive value of their brand before this study came out. Like a nasty cut, all you can do is wait for hit to heal and hope it doesn’t leave a big scar.

Read the Newsweek story here:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20167189/site/newsweek/page/0/