I thought this was a great fund raising idea: St. Jude is auctioning off UGG Australia Classic Boots painted by numerous celebrities including Keith Urban, Brooke Shields and Kelly Ripa. the many boots will be auctioned off from December 1-4 will 100 percent of the proceeds to benefit St. Jude. I thought this was such a great idea and will definitely raise a lot of money!

I have really enjoyed this class and am a little sad for the semester to be over (but very ready!). I learned a lot about how to be a better PR professional and I will take what I learned in this class with me when I graduate.

The article can be found at: http://www.stjude.org/stjude/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=00962f4277e70110VgnVCM1000001e0215acRCRD&vgnextchannel=e2b24616a86d1110VgnVCM1000001e0215acRCRD

I learned alot about my focus organization and it’s founder while I was doing the bio sketch assignment. Danny Thomas truly had a vision for St. Jude from a very early time in his life, through his success as an entertainer he was able to make it the world wide know organization it is today. I had fun with this assignment and will probably learn more about Danny Thomas because of it.

I have always seen posters and advertisements around Christmas time for St Jude’s Thanks and Giving Campaign but did not know about the addition fund raising efforts that are put into the busy holiday season for St Jude. The “Give Thanks, One Step At A Time” campaign starts the week before Thanksgiving and encourages participating community members to walk 5 miles to raise money for St Jude. The 5K event helps support the Thanks and Giving Campaign in addition to special in store promotions that will donate proceeds to St Jude. This is a great fund raising idea and great way to get people involved with others in their community for a good cause.

I found this article about Carnival Cruise Line’s new campaign and thought it was very inventive. In an effort to boost travel on their cruise line they began the “Fun for All, All for Fun” campaign with a event involving a giant beach ball in Dallas. Involved in this event was a giant barn sized pinata containing 8,000 pounds of candy. Because of a technical difficulty with the wrecking ball that was to break the pinata, it remains intact and guarded while stories continue to be written about Carnival’s new campaign. While this may not have been planned, it is a good PR move non the less.

The article can be found at: http://www.adweek.com/aw/creative/ad-of-the-day/article_display.jsp?creativeId=269895

We all know that in Public Relations you have to be able to adapt to changing circumstances and technology; I think our assignment this week really showed that. We were supposed to have our SMNR’s posted to Google Pages, but because of the difficulty to use we are no longer using it. While yes, I think most of us are happy about that decision it is a good example of the importance of being flexible in this profession.

I found this story on PRSSA and though it was a very interesting way of involving people in the Presidential election. Basically this chip company created a red, white and blue chip for July 4th and now created an application on Facebook to allow people to share their idea, concerns, etc… about the country and the direction it should be going in. When the election is over and the new President is inaugurated, the company will compile all the user generated information and deliver it, along with a case of chips, to the new president.

They hit a bit on why they chose Facebook instead of another social network for this campaign, simply because Facebook users are primarily mid 30’s to 40’s and have a higher income and education than other social networks. I thought this was a very different tactic to take and I’m interested in seeing how it will play out.

The article can be found at:

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/index.cfm?fa=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=93283

I thought this was very interesting, New Jersey now requires that all children get flu shots before enrolling in preschools and day cares. While I know the New Jersey Public Health Council had their hearts in the right place here it is causing a lot of debate. Many parents understandably don’t want to be forced to vaccinate their children, some maybe for religious reasons, other for more ethical reasons. I don’t have children so I don’t know how I would respond to this, but if it was me I would want the state to pay for the vaccinations. Many families may not have the money, particularly if they have more than one or two children. I think this is a good idea although it could have been handled differently.

The article can be found at:

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/ColdandFluNews/Story?id=6051917&page=1

I found this article on PRSSA, it is an interview of Craig Newmark the inventor of craigslist. In the article he talks about how PR is changing and involving so many online outlets. He suggests that one day press releases will become a thing of the past, opting for Facebook style outlets such as LinkedIn. He also says that young people are getting a whole new idea of what privacy is because of constant messaging on Facebook and MySpace. It is an interesting article, he has some good point about the future of PR, I wonder how many of these things will come to life in the coming years.

The article can be found here:

http://www.prsa.org/supportfiles/news/viewNews.cfm?pNewsID=842347597

I like this article because it offers another way for people to support St Jude. Through Target’s REDCard (Visa card, Credit Card or Check Card). Anytime you use the REDCard at target they donate 1% of your total purchase to St Jude and 1/2 % anywhere else Visa is accepted. I like shopping at Target so this just gives me one more reason to shop there. Even though I don’t have a REDCard, I would rather shop somewhere that is willing to help the communities that support them.

On another note: some people have asked me why St Jude is so important to me, so here you go. I visited St Jude when I was about sixteen years old, we took a tour while passing through Memphis on our way home from vacation. I saw all the kids who are being kept alive because of what St Jude doctor’s and researchers are doing everyday. I saw the parents who aren’t having to pay a dime for their children to receive treatment. Since that day I have never been able to get those kid’s faces out of my mind. That is why I chose St Jude, to share their mission.

The article can be found here:

http://www.stjude.org/stjude/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=28cde07d82bfb110VgnVCM1000001e0215acRCRD&vgnextchannel=002392d79e557110VgnVCM1000001e0215acRCRD

I found an article on the PRSA website about an NYU Journalism student who was blogging about her new media class, she professor saw it and order her to not write about the class anymore. The blog was however for a comment on a PBS blog, so it had the ability to be seen by more people. But is it right that a student who is expressing her feelings about the course she is taking is prevented from doing so again. Does that fall under free speech?

If this is ok for a professor to do what else can they get away with? Can they say we can’t discuss our feelings about a class in the coffee shop or the library? Where do you draw the line?

 The article can be found here:

http://prsa.org/supportfiles/news/viewNews.cfm?pNewsID=842347582