Corporate Anthems – theme songs of big, soul-less businesses. An artist-prankster (Johannes Grenzfurthner of monochrom) checks in with employees of KPMG to see how well they know their corporate song. (Sorry about the annoying BMW ads.) Via Boing Boing.
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Now playing: Devo – Devo Corporate Anthem
via FoxyTunes
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That’s all, folks! Enjoy the holidays.
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Now playing: Porky Pig – Blue Christmas
via FoxyTunes
Red River College decided to take a pass on the traditional holiday card this year and opt for a video version styled after an episode of The Office, starring RRC President Jeff Zabudsky as the college’s version of Michael Scott.
The RRC team did a nice job with the video. It isn’t perfect by any means, but it’s a refreshing change from the usual holiday fare colleges and universities churn out.
It’s especially nice to see a college CEO having fun. AS RRC’s Colin Fast explains on Karine Joly’s blog, Zabudsky was all for the idea. “He had a blast and didn’t hesitate to do anything we asked. He was really keen on developing a fun card concept and realized he might have to ham it up a bit for that to happen.”
The video is also available on YouTube, and more details about the production from Colin Fast on Karine Joly’s blog.
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Now playing: Over The Rhine – I’m On A Roll
via FoxyTunes
You may have read on this blog about our university‘s campaign to introduce our new name — Missouri University of Science and Technology — to various audiences. We call it the hello campaign, and it features brief video clips introducing students, alumni, faculty and staff.
The campaign is now the subject of a parody by a group of enterprising students. (Enterprising in the truest sense, as they’ve created a t-shirt business poking fun at the university.) Here’s the video they’ve posted in response to the campaign.
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If I were wearing my official university spokesperson hat, I wouldn’t be sharing this. But this is a personal blog, so what the heck. I love parody in all its forms, so I tip my hat to these guys.
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Now playing: The Clash – Clampdown
via FoxyTunes
No wonder public relations gets such a bad rap. Even PR’s comrades in marketing, the ad folks, are presenting PR in a negative light and perpetuating the slick spin-doc stereotype.
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I’m referring, of course, to Apple’s latest Mac vs. PC TV ad. The one I saw last night features a PR spokeswoman for the PC guy (John Hodgman) who tries to put a positive spin on the problems with Microsoft’s Vista operating system. It’s one of three new Mac vs. PC ads Apple has rolled out recently, and as Digital Journal reports, the new ads are more mean-spirited than previous ones.
I haven’t seen the other two ads — only the “PR Lady” piece — so I’m not qualified to comment. But it isn’t the mean-spiritedness that I mind as much as it is the way fellow marketers are perpetuating the corporate PR stereotype. For instance, as Digital Journal reports, “When PC admits how many users have gone back to XP after facing challenges with Vista, the PR rep says: ‘By downgrading he means they’re upgrading to an older, more familiar experience.'”
Besides, what PR person ever says “No comment”? Again, another stereotype.
It seems the new PR Lady ad might say more about the state of corporate ad agencies today than the PR business.
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Now playing: Albert King – Can’t You See What You’re Doing To Me
via FoxyTunes