“Billboard in Oklahoma says parking meter invented there. Reason #200 why I hate Oklahoma.”
This recent tweet from one of my former Dallas colleagues caught my eye. Having lived in Dallas for the past 10 years, I’d heard my fair share of Okie jokes, but this tweet really made me stop and think about my own home state pride. It’s something I never considered I had in my first 23 years of living in Oklahoma. I wasn’t ashamed of my home state; it was honestly just something I never thought about—until last year.
My wife and I were sitting outside Eskimo Joe’s during a trip back home for an Oklahoma State football game, and we decided right then and there that we wanted to be back in our home state. We noticed that we missed the little things we took for granted while living in Oklahoma, from the pace and quality of life to an overall appreciation for how Oklahomans treat each other. A five-year plan became a five-month plan, and in November we were officially Oklahoma residents again. What we didn’t truly realize was the dramatic changes and progress that both Oklahoma City and Tulsa had undergone during our 10-year absence.
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I’m headed to Miami this week for We Media, a collection of media innovators, researchers, journalists and big thinkers who will dig deep to understand what’s next for media. Part of the conference is sponsored by Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation, led by my friend, Bob Ross. I’m honored to be a part of the panel discussion on Why Community Matters with Chris Tolles, CEO of Topix.
Chris asks a few key questions in his recent blog post about the role of local media. I liked the direction Chris is going with the discussion with an excerpt of his comments here.
“When I think about ‘Community Matters’, it occurs to me that the question is what is the purpose of community? Is it to extol content for the community? Or is it to generate content that the community creates? And then, the larger question becomes how to monetize ‘community’? There are 2 billion users coming online in the next ten years. How do we monetize the value of their content? And, further, how do we deal with “truth” in community-generated journalism? On a community site, truth is subjective. Newspapers must be very cautious about libel issues, and objectionable content is muted.”
I’d like to position a few thoughts for attendees and observers to think about prior to Wednesday’s session.
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OKLAHOMA CITY – Saxum Public Relations, an integrated public relations, strategic marketing and creative firm, today announced it has hired Christina Oden as an account supervisor for its Tulsa office. She will begin work at Saxum in April.
In February, Saxum’s CEO and President C. Renzi Stone announced the agency will open a Tulsa office during the second quarter. Saxum is currently in the process of selecting the office location.
“We are excited to welcome Chris to our team,” said Chris Payne, Saxum vice president and general manager of the Tulsa office. “With deep roots in the business community from her years as executive director of the chamber’s TYPros program, Chris brings extensive public relations and event experience to Saxum. She will play a valuable role in servicing our Tulsa clients and helping grow our business.”
As an account supervisor, Oden will be responsible for managing communications and public relations services for multiple client accounts.
“I am really looking forward to joining Saxum and playing a role in building upon its already impressive client base in Tulsa,” Oden said.
Oden comes to Saxum with more than 10 years experience in public relations, marketing, advertising and community relations. Before joining Saxum, she served as executive director of the Tulsa Metro Chamber’s Tulsa’s Young Professionals group. Oden also served in marketing positions for the St. John Health System, Wyandotte Advertising and Kuhn & Witternborn Advertising in Kansas City, Missouri. She also has served as board member for Oklahoma State University’s School of Journalism and Broadcasting and the Association for Women in Communications and is a graduate of Leadership Tulsa. She has a bachelor of arts in advertising from OSU.
With a local, regional and national client base covering a variety of industries, the Saxum team focuses on creating lifelong client relationships through proactive communications that are customized, multi-dimensional, strategic, team-focused and results-driven.
Saxum offers a variety of public relations services to its clients, including strategic counsel, corporate communications, crisis communications, media relations, social media and training workshops. Saxum’s wholly owned creative company, Maxus Creative, offers a host of creative services, including print and brand identity, Web and interactive design and video and motion graphics production.
The company is a member of IPREX, one of the world’s largest international public relations networks. Saxum has been recognized three years in a row as one of the fastest-growing companies in the greater Oklahoma City area, and Stone has been named one of Oklahoma’s and the industry’s top leaders under the age of 40 by multiple organizations.
For more information on Saxum Public Relations and Maxus Creative, visit www.saxumpr.com and www.maxuscreative.com.
Thinking back to my days as a student at Gaylord College, I remember an encounter with an executive of a Fortune 500 company.
He asked me what I like most about public relations. I quickly answered, “Working with nonprofits.” He looked at me, puzzled, and said, “Why? There’s no money in nonprofits!” My interest in helping nonprofits with public relations has nothing to do with monetary reward, but with the reward of helping a cause larger than myself.
Many nonprofits do operate on a limited marketing budget, so working in the industry often requires inexpensive, creative solutions to meet objectives. Here are some recommendations on inexpensive ways to market your nonprofit without blowing your budget.
- Establish a social media presence. Social media channels like Facebook, Twitter and You Tube are free to join and can increase your nonprofit’s visibility in the community. These sites can also improve your search engine optimization.
- Develop corporate and community partnerships that make sense. The Made in Oklahoma Coalition (client), a group of Oklahoma food manufacturers who work to promote local Oklahoma products, has established a successful partnership with local food banks. A portion of proceeds from the sale of MIO paper towels and cookbooks benefit the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma and the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma Food 4 Kids program.
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My professional life has recently come full circle. Saxum Public Relations, a creative public relations firm that I started in Oklahoma City nearly seven years ago, announced this week that we have hired veteran Tulsa public relations professional Chris Payne, APR, from Dollar Thrifty Auto Group as vice president and general manager to run an office we are opening in Tulsa soon.
This business decision had a lot of personal investment and thought. For starters, I’m a Tulsa native. Following a terrific experience as a student in the Jenks Public School System, I attended the University of Oklahoma, where I was privileged to play basketball for the Sooners. Four NCAA tournaments later, I graduated with honors and began looking for a job. I chose Oklahoma City as my home because I was offered a job there. Then, I married an Oklahoma City girl and the love of my life, Lee Anne.
Ten years later, I find myself a native Tulsan living in Oklahoma City. There are not many of us. As someone who always thought I’d spread my wings and fly somewhere far away, Oklahoma City and Tulsa offer unique and rewarding experiences without having to leave a state where we’ve put down solid roots.
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OKLAHOMA CITY – Saxum Public Relations, an integrated public relations, strategic marketing and creative firm, today announced it is opening an office in Tulsa and has hired Christopher Payne, APR, to serve as vice president and general manager of the Tulsa office.
“As a Tulsa native, I am excited to announce that we will be opening an office in my hometown,” said Saxum President and CEO Renzi Stone. “We already have an existing client base in the area, and we see tremendous potential for growth.”
Payne comes to Saxum with more than 20 years of public relations and strategic communications experience. He previously served as senior manager of corporate communications for Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, Inc., a global corporation and one of Saxum’s newest clients. Payne worked at the company for nearly 17 years, having started as a manager of corporate communications for the Thrifty Car Rental brand. Prior to joining Thrifty, he spent four years working for public relations and political consulting agencies in the Dallas area, leading a number of regional and national accounts.
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I recently heard an NPR story on my morning drive about an increasing number of customers switching from large national banks to small community banks because of the recent bailouts and bonuses. As people make decisions on where to keep their money, financial institutions everywhere are utilizing social media as a new way to reach out to their existing customers and gather new ones.
The Financial Brand, an interesting Web site that offers information about just that – financial brands – offers an extensive 80-page report about how financial institutions can “harness the power of Twitter.” Granted, you may not have the time to review such an extensive report, but it’s interesting to know that the research is out there. Highlights include:
- Promote new products and offers
- Share personal finance tips
- Express their brand and reveal their personalities
- Build community outreach programs
- Provide information about community events and activities
- Increase exposure for their charitable and philanthropic efforts
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It was the battle of Nike versus Michigan State University fans using the social media powerhouse, Facebook, as their megaphone. At stake was whether MSU would replace its 30-year-old Spartan logo with a redesigned Nike creation.
MSU alums, students and fans became aware that the university planned to change the current logo when a new version was uncovered in January on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Web site. MSU’s athletics department soon found itself facing angry fans that were fiercely loyal to its current logo.
Fans created a Facebook page, “The Old Spartan Logo.” Within a few weeks, more than 63,000 people had joined. To put that number in perspective, The Oprah Magazine page has less than 7,500 fans. Even beloved basketball coach Tom Izzo became involved when he publicly berated fans opposed to the change, “For all of you out there complaining, shame on you.” (That included yours truly, a 2003 alumnus.)
In the end, the fans on Facebook won. Athletics Director Mark Hollis announced Feb. 5 that MSU’s current logo will not change. Nike will still design new uniforms, bringing all MSU athletic teams into a unified look, but the logo will stay untouched.
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The earthquake in Haiti may go down as the first international disaster to truly display the power of social media.
In the wake of a massive disaster, people usually want to know two things: 1) What happened? and 2) How can I help? Social media provides a platform to answer both of these questions quickly and easily.
No longer do we have to wait for updates from traditional news outlets, rather, through social media sites, citizens are journalists. Those directly impacted by the earthquake in Haiti were able to search for information and help through social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Skype, Flickr and YouTube. Thousands of photos taken directly from the devastation in Haiti were broadcast on social media sites 24 hours a day for several days. According to a Jan. 20 study by Pew Research, 13 percent of Americans – including 24 percent of those younger than 30 – say they have received or shared information about the Haiti earthquake through Twitter, Facebook or another social networking site.
As the lines between traditional and new media are beginning to merge, we see mainstream news organizations utilizing social networking for news and information. Nick Wrenn of CNN International Digital Services said, “We immediately moved someone supervising social media and our iReports to the Haiti desk.”
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If you ever rode on a subway in America before Apple’s iPod debuted in October 2001, then you remember that people were listening to Sony Walkmans or (gasp!) nothing at all. Go to any bus station or train station today, and a huge percentage of riders will have the little white Apple ear buds protruding from their ears. The iPod is a very popular gadget for the top socioeconomic classes. Studies show penetration still has a way to go with lower groups, but we haven’t heard anyone at Apple complaining.
Now, think about today. If you travel to any airport, ride public transportation or have spent the night at a hotel before, then you have seen printed newspapers in use. Today marks a major change for printed news as we know it.
Apple introduces their Tablet to the world today, aka the Kindle Killer (much to Amazon’s dismay), at an exclusive event in San Francisco. We’ll know more as reviews come in, but book publishers have been scrambling in recent weeks to make sure their electronic books are available, and I’m sure newspaper publishers will be next in line to sign up. Finally, journalism has a tool that could make paid content the new normal.
Whether you live in Tulsa, Oklahoma or Timbuktu, the Tablet is being billed as the electronic tool that will change how consumers receive their news, interact with social media channels and change how we all read books.
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