Heinz catch up with ketchup

Heinz have launched their first ever limited edition product, a balsamic vinegar ketchup - and the launch has been largely via social media. 57 bottles went out to food bloggers and 'VIPs' at a food breakfast, and their facebook fans will be the first of the public to be able to buy the new product - with the first 3000 to 'like' it being first in the queue.

AdAge report that Neil Kleiner, head of social media at Havas' Media Contacts (the PR firm) said, "This is a great PR stunt. It's unexpected for Heinz - which is not the first brand you think of in terms of social media - so it has created a lot of buzz. People go to Facebook to engage with friends; they are only interested in brands if there's something in it for them, like discounting, vouchers or exclusives."

The campaign has added another 9000 fans to their Facebook page (which already had 45,000), appeared on food and other blogs such as the Huffington Post, and Heinz are also launching an augmented reality app with recipes - and yes, it's also been in the Daily Mail, the Telegraph, and even the new York Times...

News? What news?

From Tom Chivers' (Telegraph journalist) twitter feed: "PR email: 'Opportunity to film and photograph model and eco champion Donna Air, modelling a dress made entirely of sheep’s wool insulation'. You don't get that sort of opportunity everyday". Hardly newsworthy, eh? But look out for it over the next week or so...

Can you see the future?

Yes, you can do better than looking at an IKEA light rigged up to look like a crystal ball, like this lass here, when looking into the future... As a PR professional, your ability to predict the next trend, the next smash hit, the next big news, is key to your success for 2 reasons:
1) people won't read old news - you have to be cutting edge,
2) new ideas spark creativity - a new idea with your tired old product may create something extraordinary.
Here are some useful sources for trend spotting: trendwatching.com, TrendHunter magazine, YouTube trends blog, Mintel (including this consumer trends article), Euromonitor, Office for National Statistics (UK government) e.g. this report on household spend, and watch the newspapers and magazines too - here's a repeat of a Trendwatching.com article in the Independent...

Blackberry in a PR jam

As Blackberry users continue to experience email and internet outages, leaving them with 'essentially, a phone attached to a tiny typewriter' (thanks, Tom Chivers of the Daily Telegraph) we have a great example of crisis management, or not, as in this case. Chivers has also penned this excellent blog entry about the failure of Blackberry's PR in the face of crisis, comparing the company's response to that of Apple: "it's hard to imagine a crisis like this enveloping Apple, but if it did, you'd expect round-the-clock crisis management, constant, helpfully communication and swift resolution". Interestingly - Apple's handling of the iPhone 4 antenna gate story was neither helpful nor swift. How we forget...

'OMG. Someone dissed the Bloggess. The fallout? Spec-tac-u-lar'

The Bloggess is a blogger extraordinaire who frequently comments on PR 'professionals' and their profligate use of bribes, pointless press releases and offers of coupons to encourage her to promote their wares. So although her reply to a grammatically and aesthetically disturbing email about the "Kardashian's (sic)' and 'pantyhose' was both witty and biting, she didn't expect to be copied in on an unwisely 'reply-all'ed email calling her a 'fucking bitch' (sorry for the language but that's a direct quote from a vice-president of a PR firm).
Cue uproar across the blogosphere and amongst the twitterati: not only had Erica (presumably an account exec) threatened not to send any more 'advertising opportunities' through to the Bloggess (who routinely rejects such opportunities anyway) but the unfortunate PR VP (Jose) accused her of being snarky, rude and unprofessional. Exactly the best PR approach with an influential blogger followed by many other bloggers, who all tweet too and are more than happy to tear PR professionals apart - the very PR professionals who seem to believe bloggers are at their beck and call. Beware PR people: the bloggers are way more powerful than you... (N.B. the above title is from BushBabeofOz on Twitter)