Final Press Release 2: Image Building

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Date:  Sept. 28, 2010      

Burger Planet

1934 Burger Blvd.

Gary, Indiana 46406

Contact: Hans Ketchup
VP of Communications
219-555-2345

BURGER PLANET TO INTRODUCE HEALTHY MENU ITEMS

GARY, Ind. – Quick service restaurant, Burger Planet, has launched a campaign on health by adding healthy items to their menu, and by teaming up with a celebrity fitness expert. Burger Planet aims to show its customers that they not only care about their customers, but that they are also committed to offering healthy choices.

Jayne Petersen, president and CEO of Looking Glass, Inc., author of bestselling book “Looking Good in a Leotard,” and fitness trainer for Opal Whitcomb, one of the most beloved talk show hostesses of all-time, has teamed up with Burger Planet for the new health campaign. Burger Planet’s Corny the Clown will be joining Petersen in health-conscious appearances at restaurants and shopping malls all over the country. On May 12 Petersen will be at the health campaign kick-off at the Burger Planet franchise at Times Square in New York, New York.

The new menu items that Burger Planet added include gourmet salads, white meat chicken breasts and fruit packets. The fruit packets come in re-sealable plastic bags and can be substituted for the Hemisphere French Fries in any of the traditional Burger Planet combo meals.

Petersen said “Burger Planet has been a leader in the Quick Service Restaurant industry in offering healthy menu choices. The company believes in encouraging customers to live healthier, active lifestyles and I have spent my life trying to teach women that lesson.” The message she emphasizes most is that of moderation. She wants women to know that it is okay to have a hamburger and fries as long as they stay active and eat healthy.

James E. Mullenbach III, CEO, said that for the last seven decades Burger Planet has been successful because of the emphasis on their customers. By listening to their customers and putting them first Burger Planet is the best in the industry. “Our customers desire healthy choices, of which we offer many,” Mullenbach said, “The hiring of Jayne Petersen fits perfectly in the company’s overall focus on healthy lifestyles.”

Burger Planet was founded in 1934 by James E. Mullenbach I, current president of the QSR Association. Since then, Burger Planet has served over 52 billion customers at their 8,921 franchises in every state and in 17 countries. Burger Planet is headquartered in Gary, Indiana, and is the current leader of the Quick Service Restaurant industry.

Media Contact:
Katie Landgren, PR Specialist
801-555-4422

katielandgren@gmail.com

-END-

Draft Press Release 2: Image Building

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Date:  Sept. 28, 2010      

Burger Planet

1934 Burger Blvd.

Gary, Indiana 46406

Contact: Hans Ketchup
VP of Communications
219-555-2345

BURGER PLANET TO INTRODUCE HEALTHY MENU ITEMS

Jayne Petersen will team up with Burger Planet’s Corny the Clown in health-conscious appearances at restaurants and shopping malls all over the country.

Burger Planet has teamed up with fitness guru Jayne Petersen to launch a new campaign on health. On May 12 Jayne will be at the health campaign kick-off at the Burger Planet franchise at Times Square in New York, New York.

For this campaign, Burger Planet has added some new healthy choices to their menu. These include gourmet salads, white meat chicken breasts and fruit packets. The fruit packets come in re-sealable plastic bags and can be substituted for the Hemisphere French Fries in any of the traditional Burger Planet combo meals.

Jayne Petersen helped Opal Whitcomb, one of the most beloved talk show hostesses of all-time, to lose weight and keep it off. Jayne preaches messages of moderation, and said that she joined the Burger Planet team because “Burger Planet has been a leader in the Quick Service Restaurant industry in offering healthy menu choices. The company believes in encouraging customers to live healthier, active lifestyles and I have spent my life trying to teach women that lesson.”

James E. Mullenbach III, CEO, said that Burger Planet cares about their customers and that they are committed to offering many healthy choices. By listening to their customers and by putting them first, Burger planet has been able to be successful for seven decades.

Burger Planet was founded in 1934 by James E. Mullenbach I, current president of the QSR Association. Since then, Burger Planet has served over 52 billion customers at their 8,921 franchises in every state and in 17 countries. Burger Planet is headquartered in Gary, Indiana, and is the current leader of the Quick Service Restaurant industry.


Media Contact:
Katie Landgren, PR Specialist
801-555-4422
katielandgren@gmail.com

Final Press Release 1: Announcement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Date:  Sept. 14, 2010      

Social Media Club of Cache Valley                                                                                

851 N. Main St.

Logan, UT 84321

Contact: Preston Parker, President

661-772-7537

SOCIAL MEDIA CLUB OF CACHE VALLEY TO MEET FOR QUARTERLY “TWEET-UP”

LOGAN, Utah – The Social Media Club of Cache Valley (SMCCV) will be gathering on Tuesday at 6:30 at Café Sabor to educate people about social media, like Facebook and Twitter. The club is very hands-on, and everybody is welcome to attend the meetings. These meetings provide excellent networking opportunities with people who have professional experience with social media.

The SMCCV is a non-profit organization that is very focused on helping people. Not only can people benefit from the club, but businesses in Cache Valley come to find out how to better promote themselves. The club doesn’t do the social media for people or businesses, but it provides an education and gives people an opportunity to apply what they learn. Preston Parker, President of SMCCV, said that “most members are trying to promote themselves or their organizations … there tends to be a reason for why they want to learn about social media.”

The club meets every month on the second Tuesday, and once a quarter SMCCV meets at Café Sabor for a “tweet up,” a night where the members focus mainly on Twitter and spend time “tweeting” back and forth. For the months that the club isn’t at Café Sabor, the club meets at Borders.

The meetings aren’t just theoretical, philosophical discussions, SMCCV has fun at their meetings too. They get together once a month and discuss a variety of topics and share ideas, they have door prizes, name tags, and they like to give stuff away.

SMCCV was started in August of 2009 after Preston Parker and two of his colleagues went to a social media conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. This conference made an impression on the three men and they decided that Cache Valley could benefit from a club of its own. All seven of the board members are volunteers, and they all have previous experience consulting as individual for social media.

There is no membership fee to join the Social Media Club of Cache Valley, just go online to http://www.SMCCV.net and click on “Join Now,” or go to http://www.facebook.com/smccv and click on “Like.”

Media Contact: Katie Landgren, PR Specialist

Phone: 801-555-0826

E-mail: katielandgren@gmail.com

Draft Press Release 1: Announcement

Social Media Club of Cache Valley                                                                                            

851 N. Main St.

 Logan, UT 84321

Contact: Preston Parker, President

661-772-7537

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Date:  Sept. 14, 2010       

LOGAN, Utah – The Social Media Club of Cache Valley (SMCCV) will be gathering tonight at Café Sabor to educate people about social media such as Facebook and Twitter. These meetings provide excellent networking opportunities with people who have experience with social media consulting.

The SMCCV is a non-profit organization that is very focused on helping people, the board members are all volunteers. Preston Parker, President of SMCCV, said that “most members are trying to promote themselves or their organizations … there tends to be a reason for why they want to learn about social media.” Not only people can benefit from the club, a lot of businesses in Cache Valley come to find out how to better promote themselves.

United Breaks Guitars

        Dave Carroll, an aspiring country music singer, was in Chicago, Ill., on a layover in spring of 2008. While he was there he witnessed the United Airlines baggage loaders throwing his guitar around down on the tarmac. His $3500 Taylor guitar was broken. This was not a welcome sight to the musician who was on his way to Nebraska for a week-long tour. He alerted three of the United employees who failed to do anything about the situation. Carroll later contacted United Airlines to ask for compensation. The Airline refused to pay for the damages, and as you can imagine, this was a frustration for Carroll.
        Since country music is about telling a story, the misfortunate situation provided Carroll with an opportunity to write a song. He and his band, Sons of Maxwell, wrote a song, “United Breaks Guitars,” and made a music video out of it that they posted to YouTube. Today, this song has over nine million views. The popularity of the video let Carroll to write two more songs about his experience. These YouTube videos caused United Airlines’ shareholders to lose $180 million.
        In 2009, United Airlines finally changed their position on the issue – they offered to pay for repairs for Carroll’s guitar, and they also offered Dave $1,200-worth of travel vouchers. This would have been a great public relations move had this been the immediate response from United Airlines. Unfortunately, United Airlines failed to recognize this public relations opportunity and lost more than customers. Once United offered Carroll compensation, he turned down the money and suggested that they donate it to a charity of their choice.
        Many major corporations, like United Airlines, need to improve their public relations. They need to get past the idea that since they are a large corporation, they can get away with almost anything. If United Airlines would have been more cooperative and customer-oriented from the beginning they could have avoided the whole fiasco.
        Some of the biggest things that United could have done to improve Carroll’s experience would be to immediately apologize for the damages the baggage handlers caused, and to tell Carroll that the baggage handlers involved would be spoken to in order to remind them to respect the passengers’ items, especially the fragile items like Carroll’s guitar.
        Another action that would have spoken volumes to Carroll would be to quickly repair, or replace his guitar. That is all that he wanted in the first place. Since Carroll is a musician, one of his most important tools is his guitar. Had this action been taken, perhaps such a harsh song would not have been written about the experience. United Airlines could have been perceived by the public as a company with excellent public relations; they would have retained many of their customers and also saved millions of dollars.
       Doing the right thing is not especially difficult. United Airlines needed to admit that they were wrong. Sometimes just wishing for the “wrong” to go away can bring some serious repercussions. United failed to see the big picture of their immediate actions and they found themselves to be in big trouble. Being in a customer oriented industry you have to be willing to sacrifice to meet the needs of your customers and to keep them happy.
        United Airlines’ public relations department had the opportunity to take this unfortunate event to show off how great their organization is. With these acts alone not only will Carroll think twice before flying United, but so will I. The decision to not compensate Carroll right away has hurt their reputation. Perhaps many of United’s clients would not have the power to wreak havoc like Carroll did, but experiences and word of mouth can do almost as much damage as a single YouTube video. Perhaps if an event like this occurs in the future, United will be more sympathetic towards their client and will think twice about how to handle the situation.

Letter to Cousin

Dear Tucker,

Just the other day you asked me about my intended career as a public relations professional. The questions that you raised were excellent, and I have some answers for you. Just to remind you, you asked me what Public Relations is and what Public Relations professionals write about.

The job of a Public Relations practitioner, essentially, is to relate to the public. I know that it may sound very basic, but it is actually a very complex position. Public Relations professionals typically work at any given organization. They are in charge of knowing human behavior and knowing the best way for the organization to best serve itself and its public, which is any given group of people that have the same thing in common. The PR professional is in charge of getting information out to its public, whether it is on the television, the internet, or in the newspaper.

There are still more questions remaining, however. What is information, and how do public relations people get it to the media? The “information” that I am referring to is anything newsworthy, such as a big event that an organization is preparing for, a crisis within the organization, or even a new product that is being released. I am a little bit hesitant to add this last item to the list – I do not want you to confuse public relations with advertising, as advertisements are paid for, and the goal of public relations is to get the media to want to run a story.

Public relations includes a lot of writing. One of the main ways a professional gets information out to the media is by sending out a press release, which essentially is a news story. A press release gives a journalist all of the facts and quotes that are necessary for the story; they typically include the specifics for the story or event that is being promoted, general knowledge about the organization, and contact information in case the journalist has any questions. If done correctly the journalist shouldn’t need to change anything from the press release as they send it out to the public.

There are many different responsibilities of a public relations professional. Many highly-developed skills are needed, but a broad understanding of the public they are relating to is most important. The PR professional must be able to adapt and change as fast as their public does. Communication is the key for a PR professional to be successful; without communication nothing would be possible.

Tucker, I hope that this has helped you understand what I am going into. I love understanding people and trying to find a way to relate to them. It is a very challenging, but also a very rewarding career.

Sincerely,

Katie