The need for Online Reputation Management

As it turns out, nothing can kill your prospects for fast growth  than a few unkind words posted by an alienated employee, “wronged” customer,  competitor or even a prankster. And its ease for anyone to do that given the ease and the anonymity of online communication. What’s more, if the comments are in  interactive communities , you can have a crisis in your hands.

 Most companies and executives don’t have any level of online reputation monitoring.

Yet, one simple thing that a company can do which will enable them to take corrective measures and a prevent a crisis: monitoring online reputation.

Put in place an online reputation monitoring system. For starters one can go to Google Alerts now, set up an account for free and put some keyword phrases  like the company name, products/services, and top executives.

That’s at least a start to getting your new online reputation protection program underway and can prove to be exceedingly valuable information.We will be talking more about online PR in the blogs to come.....

Interactive Games Teach Kids Diabetes Self-Management Skills

There is a Nintendo plug-in from Bayer called Didget, which helps encourage children with diabetes to build good blood glucose testing habits. The DIDGET meter from Bayer Diabetes Care links to the Nintendo DS consoles and is designed to help children with diabetes manage their condition by rewarding them for consistent testing and meeting personalized glucose target ranges.
It is the first of probably many more examples to come in the healthcare industry of creative and inspiring marketing with a purpose. This initiative has caught the attention of everyone in the pharmaceutical sector. There is no doubt that today it is more important for companies to get into “to the heart of the consumer”. Bayer successfully managed to do this by understanding the mind of a child and the fact the regular blood glucose testing although important is not fun for a child. The game attracts children and also at the same time manages to provide children with information that enables them to learn more about diabetes in general and the relationship between food, insulin, and blood glucose control. To sum up , there is an Entertainment Value, Target Market Engagement and Relevant Education. These 3 elements — Entertainment — Engagement — Education — are the Secret Sauce to build a strong campaign.

Definitely, it is a great case study for Indian healthcare companies and should help drive them into a new ways of encouraging education, testing, and treatment of conditions for all ages.

-Aman Gupta

More than PR:Air New Zealand flight attendents get naked

Air New Zealand cabin crew stripped off for a new advertisement where they carry out their duties wearing nothing but their uniforms painted on with body paint. More than 90 Air New Zealand staff members featured in the bold campaign, with eight having only body paint. The advertisement was created to promote the airline’s fares, which "have nothing to hide" - there are no extra fees for things like in-flight drinks or checking in. It was designed to differentiate Air New Zealand from their competitors which it succeeded in doing! On youtube.com this video has already received over four million Internet views.3,394 people have rated this video giving it average of 4 and ½ stars.Air New Zealand also developed an air safety video titled “Bare essentials of safety from Air New Zealand” to recapture the attention of passengers who often ignore the safety instructions.

This is a great example of a company going beyong traditional PR in its campaign. More are now devoting time and funds to creating campaigns loaded with features and content to lure potential clients. Gone are the days of relying solely on print ads, brochures and billboards. As companies and industries compete, the need to promote brand awareness also rises.The marketing guys at Air New Zealand understood that nudity sells and developed a unique and ingenious advert around this. Unique being the keyword- No airline has done anything like it before.The campaign then took a life of its own with news and media channels picking it up automatically. The safety video clocked 1.2 million views in the 4 days it was up. Those are pretty impressive figures. The video is fun to watch and it manages to keep your attention. The video also does something else – it positions the airline as an innovative and open-minded organization.



The bottom line: its important for any PR campaign to go that extra mile and truly drive home the message & connect with its audience. How does one do that? It has be creative enough to capture attention which is not an easy feat today .

- Aman Gupta
CEO, Imprimis PR