"Put it to them briefly, so they will read it; clearly, so they will appreciate it; picturesquely, so they will remember it; and, above all, accurately, so they will be guided by its light."--Joseph Pulitzer (1847-1911), newspaper publisher

Even though this quote is probably directed more to newspaper writing, I want to talk about my feelings on writing in general. Writing can move people. Have you ever read a book where every time you look at the cover again, thoughts or emotions come back? It's so surprising how simple words, when put together, can have that effect. I'm so grateful that I can learn how to write better and more efficiently in this major. Often times, I find that it just takes practice. Which is why I need to update this blog more. I need the practice. Even if I end up writing press releases all day long, I will want to continue with 'just me' writing. Hooray for putting thoughts down on paper!

"Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell."--William Strunk and E.B. White, in The Elements of Style

I love this quote! It goes to show that writing should always tell the story to the point that it can. I want to work towards this in everything I do. I need to let every word tell.

Online Reputation

TO: Couper D.Sorenson
FROM: Mackenzie Love
DATE: Dec. 7, 2009
Subject: Online Reputation

I was able to find a lot of information on you (Couper) and was impressed with what I learned. I would suggest keeping all your profiles up to date for whenever prospective employers are searching for your information.

Couper D. Sorenson was born on September 26, 1986 making him 23 years old to date. His Facebook page was open publicly which is where I received most of the information. He is from Erda, Utah, a small town in Tooele County, Utah. He has a conservative political view and is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He graduated from Grantsville High School in 2005 and served a 2 year LDS mission to Michigan. He met his wife, Kaleena Lucy Kartchner in high school and married her on Friday, May 9, 2008 in the Salt Lake LDS Temple. They had a reception that evening from 6:30-8:30 at the Stansbury Park Stake Center in Tooele, Utah. From his wedding announcement, Couper is the son of Gregg and Denise Thompson and the late Casey L. Sorenson. According to The White Pages, his home address is 510 W. 3560 N. in Tooele, Utah. Couper is currently living in Logan and attends Utah State University, studying public relations and marketing. He plans to graduate by 2012. Couper is currently a bus driver for the CVTD (Cache Valley Transit District). Based on a blog by his wife, www.coupleena.blogspot.com, I was able to find out more information. Couper likes watching The Office and The Biggest Loser. Couper’s immediate family enjoys beet canning and has a dog named Barkley. Couper will be going to Australia over Christmas break with his wife, his sister-in-law Summer, his brother-in-law, Davey and his niece Sky. Couper’s personal blog, www.coupersorenson.blogspot.com is named Coup’s Thoughts and currently has approximately 27 profile views. He has blogged since August, 2009. Based on his blog he believes “being open with others and listening to their points of view is the only way to learn and understand”. He said this was one of the reasons why he started this blog. He also said spelling is one of his biggest struggles and that he is going to read through everything (for school). Couper is a great writer and has published many press releases. Couper interests include sports and motorcycles, good books, public relations and his wife. His astrological sign is Libra and his zodiac year is the Tiger. Also based on his Facebook page, Couper is a Detroit Tigers, Utah Jazz, and BYU Football fan. Couper is a member of many Facebook groups with some including “Max Hall is Classless”, “Bring Mountain Dew Pitch Black Back!”, and “Adventure Playground at the Whittier Center.” Based on his profile in the Social Media Club in Cache Valley, his goals are to finish school and find a job that he enjoys doing. He also listed his love for the sporting world, supporting local sports teams and programs, and his interest in business and understanding business practices. Couper has a twitter account listed as coupdawg8 and currently has only one tweet, which was “sitting in public relations learning the good stuff” on Oct.1. Couper’s e-mail address is couper.sorenson@aggiemail.usu.edu.

JCOM 2300 Thoughts...Public Relations Crisis

For an assignment, I studied up on a few PR crisis situations and how they’ve been handled. In 2005, Wendy’s fast food restaurant was involved in a crisis. A woman had found part of a human finger in her chili she had ordered. Instead of ignoring the situation, Wendy’s went right to work on letting the media and public know of the situation and what they were doing to fix it. Lou Williams, owner of a crisis PR firm, said specialists “should tell it fast and tell the truth.” This is exactly what Wendy’s did. Although this happened, I think Wendy’s reputation was saved by being honest. As one of the core values of public relations, I think honesty is the best policy. People feel more comfortable when they have been told the truth. Especially if it’s a popular organization that many people hope and believe in. Even in the case of fast food.
Johnson & Johnson has a crisis a while ago with their Tylenol capsules containing poison and causing several deaths. Johnson & Johnson immediately went to the media and public with press conferences, took all Tylenol packages off the shelves in all stores and became the first in the industry to use the new tamper resistant packaging just six months after the crisis occurred. The crisis situation I enjoyed reading about most was when Pepsi Cola set up a crisis management team after hypodermic needles had been found in Pepsi cans. They put public safety first, went to find and fix it, and communicated quickly while taking responsibility for solving the crisis. The team used video news releases (VNRs) to show consumers that Pepsi canning processes could not be tampered with. Craig E. Weatherup, Pepsi CEO and president at the time, said, “A can is the most tamper-proof packaging in food supply. We are 99.99 percent certain that this didn’t happen in Pepsi plants”. The public relations team was what got that quote out to the media. They sent out several videos showing how fast the can was blown out, inverted, filled and closed all n less than a second Within 48 hours, the first video was seen by 296 million viewers, three times the number that usually watches the super bowl. By the end of the week Pepsi spokespersons had conducted more than 2,000 interviews with the media. All of this was done through public relations! I’ve come to understand how important it is to have specific knowledge on how to handle an organization’s crisis.

JCOM 2300 Thoughts...Super Size Me

I will never eat fast food again. Okay maybe that’s a little harsh. But my mind has definitely been changed after watching Super Size Me, a documentary about American obesity and Morgan Spurlock, an independent filmmaker who follows 5 rules …

1. he will eat McDonalds everyday for 30 days
2. he can only buy food from McDonalds and has to try every menu item at least once
3. he has to eat 3 meals a day
4. If they ask if he wants his meal supersized, he has to say yes … hence the name.
5. He will attempt to walk as much as a typical American citizen, averaging 5,000 standardized distance steps per day

Within the first 5 minutes, I learned since 1980, American obesity has doubled and that in the fattest state, Mississippi 1 out of every 4 are obese. Right now, obesity is 2nd to smoking in preventable deaths and Fortune Magazine came out with an article, Is Fat the next tobacco? Spurlock’s reasoning for the experiment was to prove the reasoning behind the spreading of obesity in America and the validity of lawsuits that were filed against McDonalds foods for being physiologically addictive and physically harming. In the beginning, Spurlock was in top shape, all his blood tests ran well, and he weighed in at 185.5 lbs., a perfect weight for his 6’2” height. Within 5 days, he gained 195 lbs, 5% of his body weight. At his second weigh in, after 12 days, he had gained 17 lbs. He describing going “McCrazy”, and having “McSweats” and “McTwitching”. At the end of his experiment, Spurlock had gained 24.5 lbs., a 13% body mass increase, a cholesterol level of 230 and experienced chest pressure, accumulating fat to his liver, depression and other physical and physiological problems. After watching the film, I wondered why McDonalds is still, to this day, one of the top fast food restaurant chains in the world. I came to the conclusion that McDonalds has excellent marketing, advertising and public relations teams. In the documentary, Spurlock said per year, food and vegetables spent $2 Million on advertising, Hershey Foods spent $200 million on advertising, while McDonalds spent over $1.4 billion on advertising. I’m sure that number is even higher now since the documentary was filmed in 2004. It just goes to show that even though a company may be corrupt or not the best for society, they will be fine if they have good PR and advertising.

JCOM 2300 Thoughts...Reputation

I found what happened with Tiger Woods over the past week to be very interesting from a public relations perspective. Tiger Woods, the famous and billion dollar golf player was found early Friday morning next to his SUV that had crashed into a tree and fire hydrant with the back windows shattered. Tiger Woods, at the time was unconscious but his neighbor, who had found him, called police for help. After the incident, Tiger Woods would not make any comments to the media and said he and his family were handling the situation alone. I wondered why he was so reluctant to release any information, thinking the worst case scenario is that he had been drunk or recklessly driving. After information had been released, it was found that Tiger Woods had been involved in several affairs and his wife, after finding out, hit him and the back windows of their car with a golf club (ironically). Woods did not want anyone to know because of his reputation and his name. After this came out, I found it fascinating that someone as prominent and respected as a world class golf player would keep this information from the media and the public. If I was a personal public relations consultant for Tiger Woods, I would suggest an immediate press conference announcing exactly what happened and what would be done to fix it. Although Tiger Woods had been involved in several affairs, his character may have been in more danger if he had waited any longer to explain the situation. This follows back to why it’s so important to answer to the public or media when a crisis happens. The information is put out there along with the comfort to investors or customers that things are being worked on and the situation will be fixed. As a public relations specialist, reassurance and coming to the public first is always eminent.

Final Proposal Letter

Executive Summary

MultiMediaWise, a digital media company in Logan, Utah, asking Canon to sponsor the company, through new professional equipment and promising a 6% return of the revenue generated within the year.

Emily Reynolds
Vice President, Direct Sales Group
Canon, U.S.A., Inc.
One Canon Plaza
Lake Success, NY 11042

Mr. Joe Weis
President
Canon Business Solutions - Mountain West
332 West Bugatti Ave.
Salt Lake City, UT 84115

Dear Emily Reynolds/Joe Weis,

Based in Logan, Utah and founded in 1998, MultiMediaWise offers clients residing in Cache County and beyond a service unmatched in experience, quality and specialization in both production and satisfaction. We are the only established company based in Northern Utah that offers these services and to date, have over 20 businesses we serve. MultiMediaWise’s main market includes businesses in Cache Valley as well as any business we can serve across the country. We specialize in graphic design, video production, web design and social media. We are seeking to establish our credibility through the use of professional quality equipment. From our research, Canon offers the highest level of quality available on the market. We would be seeking a budget of $10,000 in equipment from Canon, U.S.A., Inc. to establish ourselves among the top of multimedia production. We are offering Canon, U.S.A., Inc. the opportunity to be recognized within our market and through our clients as a premier provider of high quality equipment. We are also offering Canon, U.S.A., Inc. 6% of revenue generated from our production work.

We agree completely with Canon’s Corporate Philosophy of Kyosei, the idea of “all people, regardless of race, religion, or culture, harmoniously living and working together into the future.” We also agree that Kyosei gives permission for everyone to strive to do their best, with the knowledge of the responsibility of our actions and the implications they have for other individuals, groups and the planet as a whole. We’ve seen and read the examples of Canon U.S.A. extending to programs and causes that support the well being of the communities we work and live in. We’ve been impressed with Canon U.S.A.’s funding of programs at national parks such as Yellowstone National Park as well as the PBS Nature Series. Canon U.S.A. encourages environment work through the Environthon, one of the largest high school environment educational competitions for students, as well as the National Parks Science Scholars Program that helps graduate students conduct research contributing to scientific knowledge in national parks across the Americas. Canon U.S.A. also sponsors a wide range of sports organizations including the Professional Golf Association (PGA), National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), and the U.S. Open Tennis. We’ve also been impressed with Canon U.S.A.’s support in the American Cancer Society, the Radiological Society of North America, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and the American Museum of Natural History. Something we found comparable to the opportunity we’re offering is Canon U.S.A.’s joint program with Arizona State University in building a world-class “Sustainable Digital University”. Through using Canon digital technology, a new university standard has been set for digital work. This also ensures Canon U.S.A.’s national leadership role in sustainable research, education and solutions.

Canon U.S.A., Inc.’s President & CEO, Mr. Joe Adachi, said “… we take great pride in developing innovative digital solutions, technologies, and products that make it easy to create, manage, and share images and information better, faster and more efficiently.” As representing innovation and leadership, we would like to convey Canon U.S.A., Inc.’s message through our work in Northern Utah. The equipment we are working with is incomparable to Canon’s advanced products. Having access to Canon equipment is difficult unless ordered online and shipped to Logan, Utah. We are committed to having high quality photo and video work for our clients and potential customers. Through using Canon equipment, Canon’s brand name would be visible on every project with a script saying ‘shot by Canon equipment’ or ‘filmed by Canon equipment’. Every business that benefits from our work will also display Canon’s logo. The 6% revenue generated from our production work will go directly to Canon, U.S.A., Inc. for every project involving photo and video work.

With the production of new and updated equipment happening so rapidly, MultiMediaWise is seeking to have an on going partnership with Canon U.S.A that will allow us to continue to have the latest in professional production equipment. By doing so it allows MultiMediaWise to continue to show it not only understands how effective multimedia can be, but it shows they are committed to updating and using the best possible equipment on the market today. MultiMediaWise is committed to providing cutting edge production work for their customers including having the best technologies and equipment to continue to separate itself from its competitors.

Northern Utah continues to be developed, and is becoming one of the fastest growing areas within the state of Utah. With this growth comes a larger consumer market and the need for professional camera equipment will continue to rise as the community continues to grow. MultiMediaWise can be a cornerstone for Canon U.S.A to gain momentum within the Northern Utah market, through branding and imaging messages attached to all of their productions. The region will become aware of the superior quality that Canon U.S.A offers for professional photography and video equipment. MultiMediaWise will be certain to attribute our superior production and photography work to having great equipment provided through Canon U.S.A., Inc. Canon has the opportunity to have a strong influence in the Northern Utah professional production equipment market through MultiMediaWise exclusively working with Canon U.S.A., Inc. professional equipment. By doing so more professional equipment will be purchased in Northern Utah.

MultiMediaWise will be expecting a response from Canon U.S.A. within two weeks and will hope to move forward with the proposition and have the equipment shipped before the years end.

President Preston Parker, will be appointed as Director of Exchange for MultiMediaWise to work directly with Canon U.S.A. and will be the lead contact for Canon U.S.A. Parker identified the need for a multimedia management company in Northern Utah and in doing so has created a professional team that manages social media, graphic design, web design, and video production for local businesses. MultiMediaWise continues to manage accounts for over 20 local businesses and is identified as the premiere multimedia management firm in Northern Utah. Past productions include, Bahama Llama, SocialSAM, Utah State University, ClearPoint Instruction, and HumanArt.

We are simply asking that Canon U.S.A., Inc invest two brand new EOS 7D digital cameras ($3,399.00) with various wide angle lenses ($2,599.00) and one XLS 2 ($3,999.00) digital video camera to MultiMediaWise. What we are willing to offer in compensation is a 6% return of our annual revenue to Canon U.S.A., Inc. This should be a fair and reasonable agreement considering that not only are we providing a means of re-payment for your investment, but also MultiMediaWise is willing to promote Canon U.S.A., Inc in all of our professional work that encompasses the greater part of the northern region of Utah. The investment should not exceed our original budget request of $10,000. We have only seen retail prices for these cameras and that was what the retail price totaled. The actual cost to Canon U.S.A., Inc should be much cheaper than our initial budget quote.

We feel that both organizations can greatly benefit from this transaction to help further promote our businesses in the state of Utah. We view this transaction as a win - win situation. Both parties benefit in increasing business repertoire while neither side preventing or slowing goals and desires that we have in place for our respected organizations. MultiMediaWise would like to hear of your interest by the 17th of December. More more details, contact information is below. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Mackenzie Love
PR Specialist
MultiMediaWise
mackenziel@multimediawise.com
Logan, Utah 84321
http://www.multimediawise.com/

JCOM 2300 Thoughts...Live the change you wish to see

For a PRSSA activity, we had Sarah Reale come and speak to us about her job as Utah State University’s public relations and marketing director. She gave us tips on what works now compared to what was done in the past. She all gave us an article that, through reading, has made me realize the importance of remembering the basics of public relations and it’s functions. The article is called The State of PR, Marketing and Communications: You are the Future by Brian Solis, a co-founder of the Social Media Club and principal of Future Works, an online public relations/communications firm. The article talks about where public relations stands today. “Contrary to popular belief, social media isn’t killing public relations, but the business of public relations IS in a state of paramount crisis. It’s not without merit however. Perhaps up until now we have been our own worst enemy,” Solis said. Many think that social media will produce the death of public relations but as Solis said, public relations will always have to step up and become more than people make it out to be. Solis said our future lies in the ability to shift “PR” from a business of publicity to a schedule of true “public” relations. He also said the public relations industry should embrace the socialization of the Web which will bring out a “more meaningful, relevant and lasting renaissance.” It’s interesting to think what the future of public relations holds as social media grows more and becomes more advanced. If public relation specialists can remember most of the time, it is about the people and ‘public’ aspect, then the future of technology or anything related won’t affect the field of PR.