Day: July 18, 2003

I am taking a much needed vacation for a week so there will be no posting on PR Opinions until Monday, July 28, 2003.

I hope you won’t miss me too much!

Up2Speed have published a list of business blogs.  It’s worth a look.

On the upside they have included Cape Clear’s corporate blog and on the downside….

“I am not so much interested simply in B2B blogs written by business-nerds that track a particular niche but are really written in someone’s basement and have nothing to do with supporting an actual business venture.”

Jeez, I’m a business-nerd. Now that’s embarrassing.

The Sacremento Business Journal has a detailed piece on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to refer the Nike case back to Californian courts. Effectively the case centers around whether PR content comes under free speech or commercial speech. If the Californian courts find it is the latter then PR content (press releases etc.) is therefore subject to the same regulation as advertising etc.  Although this law is unique to California, it will affect any firm operating in California – read everyone.

The Portland Business Journal has a firm rebuttal from the PRSA.

I think the quote from Paul Vetter, president of the local PRSA chapter (see below) is a little over the top.

“Vetter sees a chilling effect from the decision, with companies cutting back their public communications to reduce their chances of ending up in court.“

I’ve never been truly comfortable with the term “Buzz”.  It’s a little esoteric for my tastes.  Don’t get me wrong I understand the value it’s just that the term is a little fuzzy.

A new book published under the auspices of BrandWeek entitled “Buzz: Harness the Power of Influence and Create Demand”, which follows in the footsteps of previous books like “The Anatomy of Buzz”, is sure to create more interest around the whole Buzz concept. (Note: I didn’t say it would create Buzz 🙂

Richard Bailey points to an article in Fast Company that examines how smaller firms are using Buzz to compete with larger companies.

When I read the piece I couldn’t get the thought out of my mind, that maybe what we are doing is creating an alternative channel.  Most companies use a sales channel to distribute and promote goods in a traditional sense, but with Buzz there is an alternative influencers’ channel.  Where the “goods” are ideas.

I think that’s a nice way of looking at it and we could then stop using the term Buzz which makes me cringe every time I type it.

This is a typical buzz-related quote:

“Finding the superconnectors is the key to a targeted, successful buzz strategy. Go to the trend spreaders and plant yourself intelligently on their radar.” According to a May 2001 McKinsey & Co. study, 67% of U.S. consumer sales are influenced by word of mouth.