marie

Wow! It’s been over a month since I’ve posted in this blog! After going to my parent’s for 2.5 weeks (probably the longest time I’ve been at home in over 3 years), I feel disconnected from the world. Their computer runs Windows 95 and they are only able to get dial-up Internet. After a few days, I almost enjoyed being cut off from the world. I enjoyed family time and “me” time. I could have gone to town and used the library’s high-speed connection or my mom’s office’s connection, but I thought…hey, is it vacation if I’m stuck inside in front of a computer? And I decided a break would be nice.

 But now, I’m back, hopefully with fresh ideas and renewed motivation!

 I’ll end my “hello again” post with a couple of PR problems that I noticed recently that could have been easily fixed.

a) While shopping at a department store over the break, I found that the “up” escalator was working, while the “down” escalator was turned off and blockaded. My cousin and I went to the second floor to shop. However, when we walked by the down escalator, there was no information telling us where to find the elevator. We knew there had to be an elevator somewhere, but it took us almost 15 mintues to find one and a lot of frustration. We did not even bother looking at anything else in the store because we just wanted to leave. A simple sign could have saved us a lot of irritation–and saved some negative word-of-mouth publicity.

b) My roommate works at a chain restaurant while going to school. They have several problems with their employee relations, as most restaurants do. But, recently, it seems their actions keep getting worse. Last night, several servers showed up for their 6 p.m. shift and were sent home immediately. Instead of making a phone call when they knew the servers weren’t needed, they caused their servers to get dressed, drive across town, just to be turned away. The servers probably would have preferred a phone call and appreciated the advanced notice. This type of oversight is common at the restaurant and leads to less satisfied employees, which can change the morale of the servers, which in turn changes the service and experience of the patrons.  

Wikipedia is changing its rules for posting articles, though the rules for revisions seem to be the same.

 I’m at work and don’t have a lot of time to do more research in other news sources, but here’s an article from the Montgomery Advertiser that you can look at and find out more!

Last night, my roommates and I were in the mood for a movie. While at the video store, we couldn’t find anything that just screamed “rent me,” so we went to the Christmas section. Unfortunately, we weren’t really wanting a Christmas movie–because every title we thought about renting will be on TV in the coming weeks, so we didn’t want to waste money. Yes, we are poor college students. Anyway, we ended up in the classics and children’s sections and rented Mary Poppins and Lady and the Tramp. Yes, good, fun movies.

As we perused the aisles, we were looking at foreign and independent films. I love these types of movies, but unfortunately don’t rent them often, since most people are leary of renting movies they’ve never heard of or can’t understand the language. While looking at the covers, I thought about how important it is to have an interesting cover on both movies, books and music. How often do we walk up and down aisles and pick up what looks interesting or has a great title? I also thought about the marketing of independent and foreign films. What a job! Maybe later I can write a more cohesive post about this. Right now, these are just random thoughts being entered, and I feel like I’m not doing a great job.

Because of this, I’ll end with a Christmas picture for you, Auburn style. It is of me and two of my roommates, taken before the Iron Bowl. Enjoy and Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving break is finally here! Even though I am a senior, I still miss the vacation days that I had in school my whole life. It’s odd how we go to school for 13 years with at least one vacation day a month, then go to college where we get one day after the first week of each semester, a week for Thanksgiving (less than 3 weeks before school ends) and a week for Spring Break. Enough complaining. The break is finally here!

My break started Friday afternoon. My last class was canceled, so I was able to work a few extra hours. Work was hectic because we got in a shipment of 5,000 books celebrating Auburn’s 150th anniversary. To find out more about the book and other events, visit the 150th year website or the gift website. Both gift items’ photographs were taken by my boss. My cousin came to visit this weekend, so Friday night was spent introducing her to my friends and hanging out.

On Saturday, the Iron Bowl happened! Auburn won 28-18. It was exciting and crazy. The day was somewhat bittersweet at times, because I kept remembering that this was my last home game as a student. However, the game overruled my feelings. After the game, we visited Toomer’s Corner, which is famous for being rolled (toilet papered) after a win. 

Sunday was a lazy day. My cousin and I went to eat at Niffer’s, a local restaurant that serves the best homemade potato chips and mexicali dip you will ever have. That night, I kept the nursery at church and then rented a movie to watch with friends and roommates.

Today, I worked before going to lab to work on my final project. My project is coming along nicely, though I would like to have more completed. My templates are almost finished. After I finish the templates, I have to start working on the meat of the project–the pieces for my portfolio and my resume. It is going to be a lot of work, but plan to work on it while I am at home this week.

Tomorrow, I’ll work and go to lab again. Then, on Wednesday, it’s packing and heading home, with a stop to pick up my sister.

Happy Thanksgiving! 

After reading all of the wonderful sports articles about Auburn in my daily newspaper online reading, I turned to CNN.com to see what was going on in the rest of the world, since this week has been consumed by the Iron Bowl for me. I found an article there reporting on a case in Philadelphia, Pa., where a body lay in a morgue unidentified for over 2 years.

The body has now been identified, and a city health official has issued an apology to the famly of the victim. The body could not be identified because it was decomposed. However, the medical office failed to check with recent missing person reports, and the victim had been missing for two weeks when her body was brought into the morgue.

Even though an apology was issued, the family is not satisfied. They feel the mayor should have given it.

This article led me to think about the importance of having an apology come from the right person and through the correct type of medium.

In this particular situation, a family has been waiting for two years to find their daughter, sister and friend. When the friends and family of the victim could have grieved and then moved on with their lives, they were instead left to worry for two years. I think the PR people for the city should think about how they would feel if the victim had been a friend or family member. What would comfort them and who would comfort them. No amount of money or “I’m sorry’s” will bring the victim back or erase the disastrous mistake made by the officials. However, the family needs to know that the city cares about them and that this will not happen again to another family.

I started to write about the amazing Auburn vs. Georgia game that I attended this weekend. But, after looking over the aggregator for our class, i realized that everyone was writing about it.

 Instead, I am going to write about our upcoming game against Alabama! I know, it isn’t that much different, but this is Amen Corner, the greatest two weeks of football for Auburn. This weekend will be exciting. On Thursday night, there are various activities planned throughout the community. On campus alone, a student can attend a free concert with Ludacris (rapper) or with the Sounds of Auburn (all of the different musical groups in the music department). In nearby Opelika, the Metropolitan Opera will be in town performing for a $10 ticket. And that’s just on Thursday with affiliation to the university!

As friends continue calling, I’m wondering how many people will be sleeping at my apartment. There are four of us that live together, and thankfully we have a large place, because the calls keep coming! I’m also interested in how many people are coming to Auburn just to tailgate, not planning on buying tickets to the game. I know many people that went as far away as Athens to tailgate, and I know of several friends that are coming to Auburn this weekend with that purpose. For those that read my blog and don’t understand how amazing the tailgating experience can be, go to Al.com, which is a combination of several state newspapers, and look at the information about the Iron Bowl. Maybe this will help. The RVs are already rolling in, I’m sure, and by Wednesday, it will become surreal.

 WAR EAGLE! Go Tigers! Bring it on Bama! 

Keep Opelika Beautiful, Inc. is a local affiliate of the Keep America Beautiful organization. Recently, KOB won an award for its efforts to clean up cigarette butts in Opelika, Ala. An article in the Opelika-Auburn News tells more about the program.

Right now, the Opelika Rotary Club has sponsored several cigarette receptacles re place around downtown. As I read this article, I couldn’t help but think about the opportunity for community involvement by a business. However, there are pros and cons for buying the receptacles ot help the KOB.

Here are the pros I thought of:

• Helping the city look nicer for its citizens and visitors
• Helping cure an epidemic–people smoke and will throw their butts away on the ground if they have nowhere else
• Great way to get positive publicity–put name on container, or if buy enough, KOB will recognize your effort
• Easy way to do something noticable and helpful. No work, just give money to the KOB

Here are the cons I thought of:

• Some people against smoking might think you were endorsing it
• Longevity of the campaign–how long will the impact of your donation last. Will the containers be noticed or even used
• Is throwing money at a problem enough to make the public think you did something of worth for the city?
• What else could you do to make your contribution help the community more, becoming a part of the community rather than an “arm’s length” away?

The KOB is a great organization. This summer when I interned at the Opelika Chamber of Commerce, I had the opportunity to meet Shirley Flora, who is the heart of the KOB. Mrs. Shirley is a ball of energy. She works part-time and takes care of her husband, but she made me, a 21-year-old college student, tired. She goes into the elementary schools to “preach” recycling and taking care of the community you live in. She also works with youth, this summer on a project planting trees. She works tirelessly to keep those she works with interested. The t-shirts she got for the youth were something they would actually wear. she was proud of the lime green color  and cute design. As Mrs. Shirley said, even if it’s free, they won’t wear the shirt if it’s ugly, and then you’re just wasting your time. Besides, everyone likes a good t-shirt and if you wear a shirt, others will see it and ask you about what it is about, or you will simply remember where you got it, and in the case of the KOB, why you received it.

How busy are Brittany Spears and Kevin Federline’s publicists? (or do they use the same one?) Does Shar Jackson need a publicist to speak for her? These questions come to my mind after reading this gossip article on MSN.com that looks into allegations of trouble on the “home front” in the Spears-Federline union.

I know that gossip columns and magazines have to be taken worth a grain of salt. Pictures say more than words–but sometimes the words can speak the truth. Whether they are having marital problems or not doesn’t concern me; in fact, I could really care less, though it would be nice for the marriage to work since they now have a child together.

Earlier today, I read another article with essentially the same quotes from Shar Jackson, Federline’s former girlfriend and mother of his two children. After reading both articles, I began to think about the work of a publicist and how I would react to all of the negative articles about my clients.

In the case of Spears and Federline, they seem to thrive on the negative, sometimes seemingly asking for more or creating situations that breed it (uhm, did you ever see their MTV show Chaotic?).

How much can a publicist do if the client doesn’t see anything wrong with his/her image? Afterall, these are adults you are working with, not children. You can not control them 24 hours a day, seven days a week–even if they warrant it. As a publicist, you try to make the public like your client and show the positive sides of their personality and careers, such as when the client gives time/money to a charity or has a new movie released.

In Spears and Federline’s case(s), they are OK being seen the way they are, yet get upset when people don’t agree to their lifestyle. And then come the allegations that Brittany is getting “fed”-up with K-Fed (sorry, I couldn’t resist). The publicist then must deal with Jackson’s comments that make perfect sense–if he left her when she was 7 months pregnant with his child, why would you expect him to be mature enough to have another child and remain at your side?

Was Brittany simply going home to take her son to visit his grandmother and get some R&R or was she running home for some motherly protection and TLC while her marriage crumbles? Can her money keep K-Fed? Does she really laugh at his album? How does his lack of musical talent affect her career if she releases another album?

I must admit, she has a reason to keep an amazing publicist on retention until she cleans up her act and goes back to the days of her first album, when she acted more like an everyday girl and less like a Hollywood diva. 

This weekend, I traveled about an hour away to Hamilton, Ga. for a retreat with the college ministry of the church I attend here. I left late Friday afternoon and enjoyed a busy drive on the interstate. That night, we had a Bible study and then there was a bonfire! Afterall, you can’t go to a camp setting without having a large fire and s’mores while sitting around talking. It was a great night. The next day, we woke up early (well, early to us because it was a saturday). As I walked down to eat breakfast at the pavilion, I saw beautiful colors of red, orange, yellow, gold and numerous greens. There was a small pond at the bottom of the hill by the pavillion where we ate our meals.

Yesterday, I drove home and could really enjoy the scenery. About 20 minutes of the drive was not on the interstate, it was just through the woods–literally. Having the sun shining in the car, good coversation and music was just what I needed. I love Auburn and school, but sometimes, a nice weekend (or even half of a weekend) away can let you get the perspecitve back on what is important.  

This year is flying by. There are only 2 more football games, then my senior season is over–no more football as a student. Fall is here…I’ve gotten a new jacket, pulled out the sweaters and long-sleeved shirts (although they are being put back in the drawer as the weather heats back up into the 80s this week). And not only are the seasons of the year changing, My seasons are changing. I’m beginning to work on final projects in class, study for exams and look for potential jobs to apply for. I also am making plans of things to do during finals week–like finish my portfolio, narrow down jobs and begin sending out my resume.

So, not only is Christmas approaching, but also the rest of my life.