No Such Thing as Info-Overload? (and Other PR Blog Jots)

Attention Crash a Myth?
Shel Holtz
Arguing that there can be no information overload as long as the information is important or relevant to you, Shel Holtz argues that the Rubel-inspired “attention crash” meme making the rounds lately is actually a myth. He points out that when we care about the information we’re getting, we can never have enough. Shel thinks that just as celebrity junkies can never get enough gossip on the latest moves of Paris Hilton, and political junkies will never tire of sites devoted to Beltway gossip, social media junkies will never truly experience the much-anticipated crash. “It seems that everything that goes around comes around—this is almost word-for-word the same fear expressed a decade ago. And I still don’t buy. I still believe that we can’t get enough information about the stuff we care about. As I noted earlier, we’ll simply get used to it, make necessary adjustments, apply new tools to help us filter the stuff we care about from everything else and everything will be just fine.”

"Simspons" Missed Opportunity?
Young PR
While I recently hailed “The Simpsons Movie” social media marketing as the best of the summer movies, Paull Young thinks they missed an opportunity with their converted 7/11 Kwiki-Mart promotion. He argues that the campaign should have included a dedicated website for visitors to upload photos and connect with other “Simpsons” fans and share photos and videos of store visits (definitely a good idea, although I’m not sure his idea for an in-store computer would fly). I still think the film did a great job online, but am starting to think my exuberant praise may have been slightly biased. “At the very least, stick a computer terminal in the store where the public can visit a microsite featuring photos and videos from each of the Kwik-e-Marts uploaded by their peers. Punters could upload their pictures in-store or at home - tag them, share them with their friends, stick them on their websites/social network pages and easily help 7-11 and the Simpson’s share this stunt with the world.”

Buzz or Product Placement?
Strategic Public Relations
Kevin Dugan ponders a recent Today show interview, in which Lester Holt sat down with Mark Malkoff, a comedian intent on visiting each of Manhattan’s 171 Starbucks locations in a single day. As it turned out, Malkoff accomplished his goal, and Starbucks was able to cash in on national television. Kevin thought at first the interview might be network news product placement, a theme that’s been wending its way through public relations blogs of late, but seems to settle on the idea that Malkoff is using a powerful corporate brand to promote his personal one. “I'll argue that, while Malkoff's stunt is creative, he's doing little more than hitching his wagon to Starbuck's brand. But the end result is priceless -- some serious air time on a national network (during a slow news day). It's one more example of the power of a passionate customer and a brand with some serious gravitas.”

On the List
The Buzz Bin
Geoff Livingston questions our apparent need for “royalty” in any community; he seems to argue that the social media “A-list” can be seen an extension of America’s celebrity obsessed culture. But how important is to actually be A-list, in terms of influence? Geoff admits that he too can be star struck at times, but is quick to point out that the content produced by our marketing stars is not always necessarily of the utmost quality. He notes that sometimes, becoming famous to a small group may be better in the end than becoming widely known, quoting Brian Oberkirch’s thoughts on the matter. “How true. And so, while it’s easy to get bedazzled by the brilliance of our A-Listers and have our heads in the cloud, we should keep our feet on the ground. Remember what’s important, one reader at a time. That’s the community we seek to participate in.”