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Ragan Insider   |  Ragan Staff

10 examples of guerrilla marketing campaigns

Curious about this guerrilla campaigns? (Maybe your boss isn’t so keen on them.) According to Mashable , these “promotions costing no more than a few dollars can have a big impact on the consumers.” Take a look at 10 “excellent”  examples of guerrilla campaigns.

Ragan Insider   |  Steve Crescenzo

When is crap not C.R.A.P.?

We finally answer the age-old question: If something looks, feels, smells and tastes like C.R.A.P. … could it actually be good communication?

Ragan Insider   |  Ragan Staff

In controversial move, ExxonMobil continues to fund climate change skeptics

It seemed ExxonMobil planned to ditch its strategy of funding lobbying groups that are skeptical of climate change. “In its 2008 corporate citizenship report, published last year, ExxonMobil said it would cut funds to several groups that ‘divert attention’ from the need to find new sources of clean energy,” according to the  Guardian . ExxonMobil must’ve been referring to 2010, because the Guardian reported yesterday that the oil company continues to fund groups sk…

Ragan Insider   |  Ragan Staff

NFL coaches to players: Don’t use Twitter

As professional football players report for training camp this month, they received new instructions from their coaches: Don’t use Twitter. “Football coaches are a password-protected lot, preferring to dispense so little information that most days, they would struggle to fill 140 characters,” Judy Battista wrote for The New York Times . “They worry that the casual nature of Twitter could inspire the budding bloggers in their locker rooms to inadvertently disclose more than they sh…

Ragan Insider   |  Ragan Staff

6 things TSA did wrong in its YouTube response

To help quell complaints over its full-body scanners and enhanced pat-downs, TSA administrator John Pistole recorded a 90-second  YouTube video aimed at travelers. Good idea considering the popularity of video — bad execution, writes communicator Ike Pigott. He identified  six areas where TSA erred in producing the video. “Pistole is a nice enough man, but he doesn’t fit the right template for a spokesperson who alleviates fear,” Pigot writes. “He’s a rather …

Ragan Insider   |  Ragan Staff

To thwart bloggers’ claim, Palin spokeswoman posts statement to Facebook

Did you hear the nasty rumor about Sarah and Todd Palin divorcing and Sarah then planning to move to Montana? It’s been circulating on various blogs. On Saturday, Palin’s spokeswoman Meg Stapleton took the unusual step to issue a statement on Facebook denying the rumor. “Stapleton said in an interview that she issued the statement because of the volume of media inquiries about the allegations,” wrote Politico ’s Jonathan Martin. “Noting that some outlets were pressing …

Ragan Insider   |  Ragan Staff

Nielson findings about Twitter’s unfaithful members could be way off

A report by Nielson Online said only 40 percent of those who sign-up for Twitter return to the site after one month. That’s much lower than during the nascent days of MySpace or Facebook. Thing is Nielson might be way off on Twitter. The report didn’t say how Nielsen came to these numbers, Ian Paul writes for PC World . “If the evaluators simply determined Twitter’s popularity by measuring visits to Twitter.com from Web browsers, then Nielsen’s numbers are completely inaccurate.&#…

Ragan Insider   |  Ragan Staff

Patty the PR pro: Owner of small PR firm questions president, lands on cover of The New York Times

Out of the way, Joe the Plumber. During a town hall meeting, Patty Briguglio, owner of the small PR firm MMI Associates in Raleigh, N.C., pressed President Obama last week on the taxes small businesses will pay for healthcare reform. Her stern, but good-natured insistence led to a photo opportunity that landed her on the cover of Thursday’s New York Times .

Ragan Insider   |  Ragan Staff

How much do you make? This Citigroup PR man earns a million bucks a year

Meet Edward Skyler, Citigroup’s new executive vice president in charge of internal and external communications. The 36-year-old former aide to New York Mayor Bloomberg will reportedly earn more than $1 million a year — a lot of money, sure, but not unusual for PR pros in the financial industry, reported FINS , a Web site from The Wall Street Journal .

Ragan Insider   |  Ragan Staff

12 annoying types of Facebookers

Do you fit into any of these categories? Like maybe “the town crier,” the person who has to break news before anyone else on Facebook. Be honest. Related PRNewswire (press release) New survey says nearly half of business executives don’t want their employees to friend them on social networks.

Ragan Insider   |  Ragan Staff

Former Backstreet Boys’ publicist, 25, shops around his memoirs

Jonathan Jaxson, a publicist the bloggers at Defamer love to trash, is shopping around a memoir about his life called Don’t You Know Who I Am Yet??? He’s 25, and formerly represented the boy-band the Backstreet Boys. Here’s an excerpt: “It was … my obsession with the happiest hours of my life, the Rosie O’Donnell Show that kept me desiring fame, as I thought it would be my escape to always be financially secure and finally make a life of my own with friends that could last a lifetime….

Ragan Insider   |  Ragan Staff

Online complaints push shady businessman to top of Google search — multiplying his profits

An  investigative report in Friday’s New York Times uncovered a years-long scheme by Vitaly Borker, who is behind the website DecorMyEyes.com , to game Google searches by practicing such terrible customer service — he has threatened the lives of unwitting consumers — that his site lands atop organic search results. In public online forums, he has told angry customers: “My goal is NEGATIVE advertisement … I never had the amount of traffic I have now since my 1st complain…

Ragan Insider   |  Ragan Staff

PR man victim of PR spam—from former co-worker

This is funny stuff. Geoff Livingston, PR pro and blogger at The Buzz Bin , has been the recipient of mass e-mail pitches from many in the public relations world—including a former co-worker. “Here’s someone who knows me, worked with me for three years, and doesn’t have the courtesy to call me or even send a personal email requesting that I consider her story,” Livingston blogged. “Instead, I get the worst form of spam possible: An unrelated, unwanted press release.&#8…

Ragan Insider   |  Ragan Staff

Poll: Walmart is the best corporate symbol of America

A new poll by Vanity Fair and ‘60 Minutes’ found that respondents “overwhelmingly selected Walmart as the best corporate symbol of America today,” reported Brian Stelter for The New York Times . “Walmart was selected by 48 percent of respondents, while the first runner-up, Google, was selected by only 15 percent. The other options were Microsoft, the N.F.L. and Goldman Sachs.”