Gearheads: The Sterling Communications Blog

PR Hindsight: Trade Show Twist Turns to Twitter Tirade

This article is part of an occasional series where Sterling Communications examines PR efforts that have missed the mark, and posits how things could have been done differently.

Why It’s Important to Set Expectations for Off-Site Media Meetings

To the dismay of trade show and conference organizers, there’s a growing trend of cost-conscious companies exhibiting their wares in hotel suites in the vicinity of convention centers, rather than on the show floor itself. For other companies, it’s about privacy, not cost. They aren’t ready to be on display in an uncontrolled setting, but still want to meet with select partners, investors and media in “whisper suites."

For a public relations agency, this means you have to lure busy media folks off the show floor in order to meet with your clients. While it’s possible to arrange a 1:1 chat in a quiet (hah!) corner of the floor or in an adjacent lounge, you’ll prefer to have the reporter, analyst or blogger visit your suite if you have cool demos that require more than a laptop. And therein lies the challenge.

A Super Company Makes a Super Blunder: Was Groupon a Victim of Groupthink?

I last blogged at the end of the year about product placement being shamelessly integrated into television programming. I’d like to shift gears now and focus on the actual TV commercials themselves. And, what day more than any other do people not only willingly watch commercials, but actually look forward to them? The Super Bowl! This year, one ad particularly stood out among the rest, but for all the wrong reasons. 

“The people of Tibet are in trouble. Their very culture is in jeopardy.” Hearing these words, combined with images of snowy mountains and Tibetan children, my heart filled with hope, with the thought that a PSA could coexist with Pepsi and Budweiser ads in a new era of Super Bowl broadcasts. My hopes were quickly dashed, as the sweetness of this “Tibetan relief” ad abruptly turned sour. Just as the ad questions whether all hope is lost, actor Timothy Hutton appears onscreen at a restaurant and answers, “No, because they still whip up an amazing fish curry! And, since 200 of us bought at Groupon.com, we’re each getting $30 worth of Tibetan food for just $15 at Himalayan Restaurant in Chicago.”