Social Networks and Public Relations Webseminar

Last week I joined an interesting web seminar about social networks, social media and their usage in public relations. The main focus was, how create efficiant online programs, what social networks have which impact in which communications market and some case studies about effective/non-effective online communications programs. The web seminar was hosted by some colleagues [...]

Monitor legislative work

Just read this interesting post in Thomas Pleil’s weblog about the new service LexFeed, that can help a lot with certain political monitorings.
What is LexFeed
A service that helps to track legislative work of parliaments in several countries.
What technology
Feedburner, page2RSS and changedetection. That makes it easy to implement in online monitoring software to track and [...]

Building Brands for Green Businesses

GreenBiz just published a great article about the topic brand management for green businesses, that came up at the West Coast Green Conference. The site also links to a fantastic presentation that shows the principles of green branding.
Article

Going green: make sure to deliver the right message to the public

No shades of grey when going green
By John Wilkinson
While advisers should take a bigger role in promoting responsible investing, they must make sure they are delivering the right message to the public, according to Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA) development manager Megan Lewis.
Lewis said investors were now more responsive to talk about green [...]

3rd International CSR-Conference “Corporate Responsibility and Governance”

When: 08.10.2008 - 10.10.2008
Info: The 3rd International CSR Conference, held at Berlin’s prestigious Humboldt University, deals with the topic of “Corporate Responsibility and Governance”. Global governance relates to the universe of mechanisms, institutions, rules and/or regulations with which different actors (governments, companies, NGOs, and civil society) discuss and decide global issues. Connecting the leading [...]

Green marketing vs. Green washing: Interview with Ketchum

Penny Burgess, General Manager of Ketchum Shanghai, discusses in an interview the fine line of communicating CSR programs in China.
Part 1
Part 2

Environmental performance important for company’s brand power

Last week, consultancy agency Interbrand published its 2008 report of the 100 top brands. The authors argue that a good environmental performance is becoming more and more important for the company’s brand strength.
Successful sustainability initiatives have become a key component of global firms’ brand strength, according to Interbrand. Rune Gustafson, London chief executive at Interbrand, [...]

Green communications: case studies, how-to and how-not-to

Some case studies
Two months ago the conference “Green Communications 2008: The Case Studies Conference” has taken place. Now you can download several case studies that were presented at the event:
Defining what “green” means to your company: a case study from AMD presented by Andrew Fox,
Eaton Corporation - Doing Business Right presented by Matthew Greene, and
Earth [...]

Hill & Knowlton’s Guide to the French presidency of the EU

Similar to former guides for other EU member countries that took office of presidency of the EU, H&K published the guide to the French presidency. File has been published a while ago, but still worth it to read.
Guide

Advertising on product package

Advertisers always look for new ad spaces. The web magazine Cherryflava shows an example of product package advertising…on bread wrap.

Link to Cherryflava

Image campaign: Asia Pulp and Paper

Asia Pulp and Paper was and still is faced with a lot of issues. The paper manufacturer has long been attacked over alleged illegal logging and unsustainable practices. Criticism against Asia Pulp and Paper from groups like Greenpeace and the WWF centers on accusations of illegal logging practices and destroying rainforests in the Indonesian island [...]

Build and maintain brands in virtual neighborhood environments

In a recent report, Nigel Hollis, Chief Global Analyst of the marketing research agency Millward Brown, shows how marketers should use social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace to build and maintain brands.

(Social Network Structure)
Report (pdf, August 2008)
Further info

Australian event: Corporate Social Responsibility Summit 2008

With a new federal government, the ratification of the Kyoto protocol by Australia, the pending introduction of a carbon cap and trade system, a global focus on climate change and a low carbon economy, along with the war for talent, increased pressure to manage and report non-financials, growing poverty, increased social and health problems - [...]

New Efforts to Make Long Commercial Breaks Sizzle

The NY Times published an interesting article about TV networks’ bets on a panoply of pod-busters — unconventional content meant to entice viewers to pay attention during the commercial breaks, which are also called pods.
Full article

2008 ImagePower Green Brands Survey

A new survey, conducted in the US and UK, asked participants in each country to rank their greenest brands.
Top brands in the US
1. Whole Foods
2. Burt’s Bees
3. Trader Joe’s
4. Tom’s of Maine
5. Toyota
6. Seventh Generation
T7. General Electric
T7. Honda
9. Whirlpool
10. Aveda
Top brands in the UK
1. Body Shop
2. Marks & Spencer
[...]

NY Times article bout Irak related Governmental PR

…worth reading, well investigated. The NY Times published three days ago an article about structures and strategy of Governmental Public Relations to influence the opinion about the Irak situation…
Article

BusinessWeek Beijing PR article

Just read an interesting article about PR strategies to face Chinas Olympic Games communication crisis:
Extreme Beijing Makeover
Three top PR pros tell BusinessWeek how they would guide China through its Olympic Games crisis
by Burt Helm
A hailstorm of criticism has beset China ahead of the Beijing Olympics. The Games have become a lightning rod for China’s [...]

CSR Conference in Brussels

Just received an invitation for another CSR conference. On the 12th and 13th June 2008, the School of Business, Media & Politics’ upcoming conference on Corporate Social Responsibility, to be held in Brussels, will focus on relevant CSR aspects for businesses. The programme looks interesting, especially the CSR Agenda setting panel and the Innovative CSR [...]

White Paper: Corporate Social Responsibility in Asia Pacific

Edelman has released an interesting CSR white paper, that examines the changing nature of CSR in Asia Pacific.
Press release: “…The white paper emphasizes that CSR must be embedded into business strategies and operations. According to Alan VanderMolen, President – Asia Pacific, Edelman, “CSR is not ‘good PR’. Understanding what CSR is and what it is [...]

Trusted Brands 2008

The results of the 8th Reader’s Digest Trusted Brands consumer survey is available. The survey’s primary objective is to find out which brands Europeans trust the most in a range of consumer product categories, and to investigate what trust means in terms of brand choice. Research was conducted locally in 16 European countries, including Russia [...]