Swag Is Good PR

Swag Is Good PR
by Holly Jones

The news is all a buzz about the upcoming Oscars this Sunday evening. Millions of viewers will tune in to see celebrities wearing designer gowns, jewelry worth millions of dollars and, oh, yeah, to see who wins the awards.
But the biggest draw for both companies and celebrities is the media lounge usually located just outside the awards show. Within this lounge is millions of dollars worth of products waiting to be picked up by the celebrities. These products are called swag, which (according to www.Urbandictionary.com) are promotional products used for the purpose of promoting a label rather than make a profit. Basically, free publicity.
However, the company will profit from it in a different way. It is very good PR to have a celebrity seen wearing your companies product. Weather it is a watch, handbag or snow gear, that product will sell if a celebrity wears it. Not only will the celebrity be seen, but be photographed. Those pictures now reach millions of viewers both in print, on-line and on television.
These viewers are the target publics for the companies PR team. People who watch celebrities will more than likely purchase items their favorite celebrity is wearing. The PR team is creating brand awareness, not only for the viewers but also for the celebrity.
Although, there are some drawbacks for the swag celebrities receive. The IRS would like a chunk of it. Since 2005 celebrities now have to be held accountable for the value of each product they accept. Some of the products could be worth $1,000 to $30,000.
This goes to show how much value is placed upon celebrities. When what they wear is more important then what they stand for or believe.

Fashion: PR vs. Advertising

Fashion: PR vs. Advertising

by Linden Chalfant

Today, thousands of people tune in to E! to learn about the latest Hollywood gossip. Thousands of people subscribe to celebrity gossip magazines to read about the latest love interests, the latest addictions, the latest trends. One thing that these two outlets inadvertently do is provide a large base for fashion PR.

Advertising is immensely costly and the research and analysis that go into finding a target audience and a certain niche don’t always pay off. Therefore, advertising can be unbelievably costly and potentially not even work well. As many people all over the world are tuning in to learning about celebrities and people in the media, fashion PR firms are trying to link a client’s product to the ones that we all find so influential.

Because of this, major brands are now linking with fashion PR firms to get their product on a celebrity. This proves to be more cost effective and much more influential than placing an advertisement on television or in a magazine. A brand can spend much less by sending free items to the fashion PR firms and then letting the PR firm find a way to get the item into the arms of a celebrity. For example, there was a brand of baby blankets that was really great, but it didn’t get the recognition that it deserved. The brand was making sales here and there for the satin-lined fleece blanket up until Suri Cruise was photographed clinging onto one in a magazine. The second that this happened, this brand was unbelievable successful. There were backorders for these blankets in all different colors and sizes. This just goes to show how public relations through product placement makes a much larger difference than straight advertising.

Blogging Could Change the World

When I think about what is going on with public relations today, blogging is definitely at the top of the list. Blogging is a new medium being used that can be very influential to a company or individual’s credibility and/or public reach.
There are so many different kinds of blogs out there. If you do a simple search using the Google Search Engine, for “blogging” it returns 103,000,000 hits. This shows us that blogging has reached tremendous numbers in popularity. For any given subject you can almost guarantee that there is a blog out there about it.

“I think the best blogs cover the kinds of things that traditional media don't think are important enough to cover, or don't want to tie their names to,” Brian Lam, editor of Gawker blog said.

As a young female in today’s society I am interested in celebrities and all the gossip that comes with being a celebrity. About a year ago my roommate introduced me to a celebrity gossip blog called Perez Hilton: celebrity juice, not from concentrate. I was always buying the celebrity magazines such as People and Us Weekly, my roommate had already seen all the pictures and heard all the stories in these magazines. She had read them on perezhilton.com. I instantly became obsessed with his blog, checking it daily. My roommate and our obsession with celebrity gossip introduced me to the phenomenon that is blogging.

The author of perezhilton.com, Mario Lavandeira, was recently named number 5 in Detail magazine’s list of “50 Most Influential Men Under 45”. The magazine article points out that while perezhilton.com is bringing in 2.6 million viewers a week, Us Weekly only bring in 1.8 million readers. The article also mentions the influential power that Lavandeira has; stating that, “piano-pop singer Eric Hutchinson’s album jumped to No.5 on iTunes after 2 Perez mentions”.

Seeing the success of blogs all over the world including perezhilton.com. I think it would be incredibly beneficial for the U.S. Government to consider starting a blog. The blog would allow members of the House and Senate to voice their opinions on situations in the government. I truly believe that blogging done the right way could really change the way citizens of the United States feel about their government and the officials that run their country.