Informational Interviews

 
Over the past few months I’ve had the opportunity to have an informational interview with two prominent public relations professionals in Eugene, Ore. I wanted to share some key points that I learned from them.
I first interviewed Bridget Baker, Director of Corporate Public Relations at The Register-Guard. Ms. Baker described how the newspaper industry is severely [...]

PR Help?

I have a PR problem that I need help with.
A nonprofit organization that I intern at set a huge goal of fundraising a million dollars last year. They did not reach that goal. This year, they are trying to set a new goal, and they are contemplating setting a goal for a smaller, more reasonable [...]

Internships — Free labor?

A couple of weeks ago, I came across a blog based off of the book “Stuff White People Like” (thanks for the tweet Ali!).  Post #105 was unpaid internships.
Although I don’t consider myself white — I am half Japanese and consider myself mixed — I feel like this post refers to me. Perhaps this blog [...]

Product placement. Can’t escape it!

As promised on my last blog entry, this post is going to be all about product placement in movies and TV. Anyone who has seen a movie or watched TV recently has been exposed to product placement. Unfortunately for consumers, it’s a new way for companies to drill their brand into the minds of the [...]

Facebook oh Facebook

It’s about time I wrote about Facebook. It is not only my favorite social networking Web site but it has a fertile ground for public relations work.
The other day I was watching television with some friends and we saw a cell phone commercial. The commercial’s main focus was that you could update your Facebook status [...]

Hooked on YouTube

Do you remember what life was like before YouTube? Where would you look for entertaining home video clips, advertisements, music videos, commentaries, movies and television shows? Now, we are used to watching what we want, when we want it. Instant gratification.
I was inspired to write about YouTube after reading a classmate’s blog post on YouTube [...]

(The Sad) PR Portrayal in Movies

My friends always ask me… what exactly is public relations? I sigh and tell them that PR is so broad, but then I explain to them in detail what I want to do as a PR person. Sometimes they still don’t understand and I have to suggest a famous person or a movie role that [...]

Public Relations at the University of Oregon

Although I have nothing to compare it to, my education at the University of Oregon has been pretty amazing. It took me forever to figure out what I wanted to do in life, but once I started taking classes at the j-school, I felt that I really fit in.
My colleague Courtney Smith talks about social [...]

Second Life — From a PR Perspective

I don’t play Second Life but I understand the appeal. I enjoy simulation games like The Sims 2, but I understand they aren’t quite the same thing.
To me, I think it’s crazy to do PR and advertising on a video game — in a virtual world. I mean, there are plenty of PR opportunities on [...]