On the Radar Screen: A PR Bust? Online Gaming Site Publishes Topless Photos
By its own admission, editors with gaming site, next-generation.com, debated whether their move to publish online photos of bare-breasted French model Vanessa Demouy - a Lara Croft look-alike (Lara Croft is the heroine in the Tomb Raider I and II game) - was a wise PR move. Editor Christian Svensson admitted to PR NEWS last week that the decision to spotlight a naked Demouy from the waist up was "partially to be bold, a trial thing." He adds that it's unlikely to be repeated in the future, even though the feature was one of the site's highest trafficked stories in the more than two years the site has been up. In four days, it scored more than 120,000 page views.
Svensson also says that the move generated several dozen letters, about 10 of them (from several parents, women and industry leaders) criticizing the editorial call (obviously none of the letters were filtered from 14-year-old boys who were appalled by the online content provider's decision!)
Still, when your customer audience includes parents who wouldn't expect such explicit and dicey stuff, such a move will result in business scrutiny. Ironically, site staffers acknowledged online that the move went against their publishing philosophies, so they tagged the photos with this blurb: "While Next Generation Online usually doesn't publish material such as this, the editors felt that our mature readership would appreciate the accompanying materials."
Bet that kept their immature readership from peeking - huh? (Next Generation Online, 415/468-4684)
Harrah's New Customer Safety Officers Save A Life
Harrah's Entertainment, Inc., Memphis, certainly never intended to hit this kind of PR jackpot in connection with its decision to equip 16 casinos across the U.S. with automatic external defibrillators for guests or employees who suffer cardiac arrest.
But on Jan. 6, a 75-year-old customer's chances for survival were increased - due to that on-site aid -when he collapsed at the casino's Laughlin location after he suffered cardiac arrest while playing a slot machine. Kits, which cost about $2,500 each, include cardiopulmonary resuscitation bag/burn/airway kits; oxygen; glucose; and bandages, splints and dressings. (Harrah's, 901/762-8629)
Cyber Study: Counselors' Academy Sends Out Internet Usage Survey
The Counselors Academy (part of the Public Relations Society of America) is surveying PR pros about their Internet habits. In its debut survey mailed out to communications executives, the academy's 37-question poll dips into a range of queries: a breakdown of firms' PR applications for varying PR functions (such as crisis communications, issues research and investor relations); what monthly connection costs run; whether staffers have individual e-mail addresses; and valuable Web sites for those in PR. Expect results later this year. (Counselor's Academy, 212/279-4800)
Trend: Softdrink Consumers Are The Most Brand-Loyal of the Bunch
If you're in the business of manufacturing soft drinks or hair products or sell insurance, you have the most brand-loyal customers, according to the book, "Predatory Marketing: What Everyone In Business Needs To Know To Win Today's Consumer," authored by C. Britt Beemer who surveyed 1,002 adults in the U.S.
According to Beemer, the highest-rated product categories that spawn brand loyalty are: soft drinks (33.9 percent); insurance (32.6 percent); hair products (30.6 percent); bath soap (30.9 percent); health and beauty aids (29.9 percent); automobiles (29 percent); coffee (28.9 percent); mayonnaise (28.1 percent); laundry products (26.4 percent); over-the-counter medicines and pain relievers (26.4 percent); and toilet paper (26 percent). (Broadway Books, 212/782-8941)