I don’t know who Nancy Pelosi and the House of Representatives have doing they’re public relations, but did you catch her YouTube video which was created to kick off the House’s new YouTube Hub?
Here’s the video, just in case you missed it.

I feel bad for the Speaker of the House. A Rick Roll? Really?
It’s so old – and got even older after Macy’s tried to do the same thing at their 2008 annual Thanksgiving Day parade.
Nancy, if this was your (or your PR people’s) idea to look cool, hip and with the times, you’ve made a big mistake.
The Speaker …read more

How do you create news when it’s the slow season for your business?
Ask Ben & Jerry’s, the ice cream gods.
They used a major PR tactic, called piggybacking. I talk about piggybacking on Startup Spark’s Monday Media Marketing Minute and at my other blog: The Power Publicist.
The folks at Ben & Jerry’s created a new ice cream flavor in honor of Obama’s inauguration. Called “Yes Pecan,” it pays homage to the president-elect’s battle cry, “Yes, we can.” Plus, they added a bonus, proceeds go to a charity that helps people get involved in the politcal process.
You may think it’s silly. But …read more

Did you know you’re reading one of the top 30 PR blogs according to Matthew Watson (with some help from Ad Age)?
I’m very honored. Thanks to all who help make Common Sense PR a success.

Sure, no airline is perfect. But I have to admit Southwest comes pretty darn close.
Why? They know that good PR comes down to one thing: happy customers. It’s a tough job, especially when you are an airline.

But when they do it, they do it well.
I just learned on Twitter, directly from Southwest (Yes, even they are on Twitter!) that they’ve teamed up with The Container Store to wrap passengers gifts at the Southwest Airline Gates in Dallas, Denver and Phoenix.
It may not seem like a big deal but think about it for a moment…
Thousands of passengers carry their gifts on …read more

It’s official. Pownce is closing it’s doors mid-month.

Pownce was once named ‘The Hottest Startup in the Silcon Valley’ and now it’s founders will be heading towards SixApart.
Pownce will a great example for Twitter, especially when thousands migrated to Pownce when the not so ‘tweet’ micro-blog  had major problems, and a PR situation to deal with.
But when it came to PR, Twitter had much more buzz. And from what I can find, the main buzz Pownce had was that it failed even before it’s public launch a year ago. Perhaps a PR firm could have helped?
Although the founders of Pownce have …read more

Chris Brogan recently told the story of a company who after a direct mail piece was delivered, their targeted market began discussing online.
It’s a great story about the power of social media and it’s effect on communications.
But reading this has made me realize, like all communication tools, there must be policies in place to assure that the ’slippery slope’ would never happen in the first place. This is especially true since a recent survey from PRWeek show that only 29 percent of CEOs believe that social media is important and useful in marketing.
PR policies? Really? Yes, really.
Just as you would …read more

If you can piggyback on one of the hot news stories in the next few days, you can get some great publicity for your business.
Here are some of this week’s hot stories:

The election: what it means to your target market
What breed is the ‘First Puppy’ going to be? Are you involved with pets? This is a no-brainer.
The unemployment figures. Great story if you’re hiring! Also a great story for job coaches, resume writers, etc.
The McCain/Palin relationship. Attention relationship experts: this one’s for you.
Transitions: How to make them work.  If you are an expert in change, you may want to pitch …read more

When we think of media relations, we often think of traditional media.  That’s good. But in today’s age, if you really want to create a pre-launch buzz, you should push your efforts to bloggers.
Bloggers have become so influential these days that some media campaigns can rely solely on blogs, without even turning to mainstream media outlets.
Why? Bloggers create a conversation with your target market, unlike traditional media which is a one-way push. By allowing your market to talk about your product even more, you create even more interest.
So how do you reach bloggers? The same way you reach a trafitional …read more

Common Sense PR is back.
After a hiatus, I have been asked to take the ‘reigns’ of Common Sense PR.
Who am I?
Glad you asked.
I’m Shannon Cherry, APR, MA and I’m known as The Power Publicist. I’ve been in the PR and marketing business for more than 15 years… ok, closer to 20, but I didn’t want to reveal my age :).
I did start my career while in college, however, as a reporter and anchor for a small television station. I learned the ins and outs of the media business first hand. So when I decided to change careers, public relations was …read more

If Microsoft doesn’t want to buy Yahoo, why do executives keep talking about the acquisition-gone-wrong?
The continued dribble of comments about potential side-deals and semi-deals must be distracting to Microsoft employees, who are in the middle of the company’s transformation from Bill Gates’ company to an entity that embraces open architectures and web-based apps interconnecting in a cloud.
Does MSFT even know what messages it wants to be sending investors, regulators, the public and customers?
Microsoft Says Chances of Yahoo Takeover Negligible (Reuters)
Shocker: Yahoo Shoots Carl Icahn as Microsoft Messenger (Kara Swisher)
For a mega-corporation, Microsoft is acting like a teenage boy at a …read more