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Balancing Big Data issues

Posted by Elena del Valle on November 30, 2012

Ethics of Big Data book cover
Ethics of Big Data book cover

Photos: O’Reilly Media

Big Data, the gathering of enormous sets of information on individuals, has become part of doing business. Retailers rely on it to offer products their customers have browsed or purchased in the past based on individual profiles and detailed information they keep on their customers activities on and offline in proprietary websites, social media sites and from other sources. In some cases retailers have developed the ability to guess a customer’s interests based on certain behaviors. This was the case earlier this year when it became known that a chain store was able to guess when a customer was likely to be pregnant causing a wave of controversy.

A recent The Washington Post article (Who are the doctors most trusted by doctors? Big data can tell you.) by Ki Mae Heussner explored what doctors think of their peers in a big picture way. According to that article, an activist is examining referral information gathered from government sources through a Freedom of Information Act request and creating a DocGraph designed to outline the relationships between physicians. The graph seeks to chart, relying on Big Data, how doctors interact with each other, refer patients and select doctors for themselves.

In Ethics of Big Data Balancing Risk and Innovation (O’Reilly Media, $19.99) Kord Davis and and Doug Patterson, ask readers about their organization’s policies for gathering and using huge datasets of personal information. In the 82-page softcover book the authors examine Big Data ethical questions and propose to readers that businesses should take into account issues of privacy and identity when making policy decisions about data gathering and storage.

They believe a company’s use of data can directly affect brand quality and revenue. As examples they point to Target, Apple, and Netflix. They suggest companies should align their behaviors with company values in order to preserve the trust of customers, partners, and stakeholders. The book is divided into four chapters: Big Data, Big Impact; Values and Actions; Current Practices; and Aligning Values and Actions

Davis, former principal consultant with Cap Gemini, has spent nearly 20 years providing business strategy, analysis, and technical consulting to 100 organizations including Autotask, Microsoft, Intel, Sisters of Mercy Healthcare, Nike, Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), Northwest Energy Alliance (NEEA), and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Patterson has experience teaching business ethics and as a facilitator of conceptual topics.


Ethics of Big Data book cover

Click to by Ethics of Big Data


Listen to podcast interview with Denise Larson, cofounder, NewMediaMetrics, about brand attachment of Hispanic consumers

Posted by Elena del Valle on November 26, 2012

Denise Larson, cofounder, NewMediaMetrics
Denise Larson, cofounder, NewMediaMetrics

Photo: NewMediaMetrics

A podcast interview with Denise Larson, cofounder, NewMediaMetrics is available in the Podcast Section of Hispanic Marketing & Public Relations, HispanicMPR.com. During the podcast, she discusses brand attachment of Hispanic consumers with Elena del Valle, host of the HispanicMPR.com podcast.

Denise developed the Emotional Attachment approach and metric in 1997 and acquired patent pending status in 2002. She founded Thinking Right, LLC where she applied Emotional Attachment to clients such as Kraft and P&G. In 2004, Denise partnered with Gary Reisman to found NewMediaMetrics.

To listen to the interview, scroll down until you see “Podcast” on the right hand side, then select “HMPR Denise Larson” click on the play button below or download the MP3 file to your iPod or MP3 player to listen on the go, in your car or at home. To download it, click on the arrow of the recording you wish to copy and save it to disk. The podcast will remain listed in the November 2012 section of the podcast archive.

 


Academics discuss political public relations

Posted by Elena del Valle on November 16, 2012

Political Public Relations book cover

Political Public Relations book cover

Photos: Spiro Kiousis, Jesper Stromback

In Political Public Relations: Principles and Applications (Routledge, $49.95), a 338-page softcover book published in 2011 targeting an audience of students and practitioners with an interest in the developing field, fifteen men and three women, many of them in academia, discuss political public relations. The editors of the book, Spiro Kiousis, PhD*, and Jesper Stromback, PhD, believe that although political public relations plays an important role in society little theorizing or research takes place.

They participated in the book project to encourage integrative theory and research to connect public relations, political communication, political science and related fields. Stromback is Lubbe Nordström Professor and chair in Journalism, and professor in Media and Communication at Mid Sweden University, Sundsvall, Sweden. Kiousis is associate professor and chair of the Department of Public Relations, College of Journalism and Communications, University of Florida.

Spiro Kiousis, co-editor, Political Public Relations
Spiro Kiousis, co-editor, Political Public Relations

“The recent presidential election campaign highlighted the ongoing importance of effective public relations and communication in winning an election. While the temptation to relegate traditional strategies and tactics as obsolete is high, the success of each candidate at different phases of the campaign rested on their ability to use both traditional channels (such as debates) or social media channels (such as YouTube), said Spiro Kiousis, co-editor, Political Public Relations by email.”

The book includes fifteen chapters. The first two chapters define political public relations and identify its roots. The next two are about news management, agenda indexing and building. The next chapters address political campaigning and presidential elections. The remaining chapters discuss corporate issues, political marketing, strategic framing, crisis communication, relationship management, government communication, digital issues, research and future issues as well as diplomacy, foreign relations and global political public relations.

“Oftentimes public relations in politics is misunderstood as being only about spin och news management, but at heart, political public relations is about organizations seeking to establish, build an maintain beneficial relationships and reputations with its key publics to help support its mission and achieve its goals. As such, public relations has always been an intrinsic part of politics and is key to long-term success both when campaigning and governing, and this book highlights both the principles and applications of public relations in politics,” said Stromback by email.

Jesper Stromback, co-editor, Political Public Relations

Jesper Stromback, co-editor, Political Public Relations

The book’s definition of political public relations is “the management process by which an organization or individual actor for political purposes, through purposeful communication and action, seeks to influence and to establish, build, and maintain beneficial relationships and reputations with its key publics to help support its mission and achieve its goals.” A book related website, political-public-relations.com, most recently updated September 2012 and run by the editors, extends the conversation beyond the book.

In addition to Kiousis and Stromback, the contributing authors are Paul Baines, PhD, W. Timothy Coombs, PhD, Mathew Eshbough-Soha, PhD, Guy J. Golan, Kirk Hallan, Robert Heath, PhD, Nigel Jackson, John A. Ledingham, PhD, Paul S. Lieber, Darren G. Lilleker, Diana Knott Martinelli, PhD, Juan Carlos Molleda, PhD, Karen Sanders, Kay Sweetser, PhD, John C. Tedesco, PhD, and Damion Waymer, PhD.

*Elena del Valle and Spiro Kiousis serve on the University of Florida Public Relations Advisory Council


Political Public Relations book cover

Click to buy Political Public Relations


Marketing Assistant/Associate Professor Robert P. Stiller School of Business

Posted by Elena del Valle on November 15, 2012

The Robert P. Stiller School of Business at Champlain College invites applications for a full-time Assistant/Associate Professor of Marketing beginning July 1, 2013.

The Stiller School of Business at Champlain College seeks a talented teacher and engaged faculty member to join a community of practitioner and teaching faculty who are committed to helping students change the world through business.

Click to read the entire Job Ad for Marketing Assistant/Associate Professor Robert P. Stiller School of Business

National Hispana Leadership Institute 2012 Executive Leadership Training Conference and Mujer Awards

Posted by Elena del Valle on November 13, 2012

Information provided by Event Partner

NHLI 2012 Executive Leadership Training Conference and Mujer Awards December 9–11, 2012 in Washington D.C.

The National Hispana Leadership Institute’s 2012 Executive Leadership Training Conference and Mujer Awards brings together Latinas and NHLI’s accomplished alumnae from across the nation for two days of cutting-edge leadership and professional development, networking, educational and inspirational keynotes and workshops facilitated by top-level Latinas from across the country.

At the Mujer Awards Gala, celebrated since 1993, which will be held on Monday, December 10, NHLI will close the conference by paying tribute to the achievements and contributions of exceptional Latina leaders. Past honorees have included journalist and TV anchor Maria Elena Salinas, NCLR’s President Janet Murguia, and actresses Rosario Dawson and Eva Longoria.

Conference attendees include local and national leaders in corporate America, non-profits, government, media, higher education, as well as entrepreneurs, students, artists, authors and others.

We look forward to seeing you on December 9–11, 2012 in Washington D.C.!

http://nhli.org/conference_register.htm

NHMC, UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center findings point to important media role shaping public opinion

Posted by Elena del Valle on November 12, 2012

NHMC reports

Earlier this year the National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) released the findings of academic studies and a national poll that outline the role of the media in “breeding hate and shaping public opinion about Latinos and other groups.” The organization’s leadership believes the research presented “underscores the need for accuracy and fairness in our media.”

The research indicates that hate speech on commercial talk radio has led to social network interest in the radio program hosts and their guests; and that this social network passes its content to affiliated social media websites, resulting in voices promoting hatred toward people of color, people of certain religions and LGBT people. According to the report, “Media personalities and political figures representing the Republican Party and/or affiliated with the Tea Party dominate the social network, leaving little room for alternate points of view. Media powerhouses such as Premiere Radio Networks, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications, and Fox News are key components of this social network.”

A poll of non-Latino Americans found that their source of news is often television. Sixty six percent of respondents to the poll said they watch major network and cable newscasts for information and 30 percent said they trust Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks or online-only news sources. These individuals rely on news and entertainment media in forming impressions about Latinos and immigrants, according to poll analysts. The poll led researchers to conclude that Latinos and immigrants are commonly portrayed negatively in news and entertainment media prompting many non-Latinos to believe that “media-promoted negative stereotypes about these groups are true.”

The poll analysis indicates that conservative talk radio and Fox News audiences while less likely to be personally familiar with Latinos are more likely to hold anti-immigrant and anti-Latino views. Some survey respondents erroneously, according to the executive summary, believe that Latinos and undocumented immigrants are the same, and 17 percent of survey respondents said they believe that the majority of United States Latinos are undocumented.

The results of the studies were published in the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center. They are: Quantifying Hate Speech on Commercial Talk Radio from November 2011,  Social Networks for Hate Speech Commercial Talk Radio and New Media from July 2012 by Chon A. Noriega, director, UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, and Francisco Javier Iribarren and Using Biological Marketers to Measure Stress in Listeners of Commercial Talk Radio by Hermes J. Garban, Iribarren and Noriega.

The UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center supports interdisciplinary, collaborative, and policy-oriented research. The W.K. Kellogg Foundation provided support to make the research possible. Matt A. Barreto, Sylvia Manzano, and Gary Segura of Latino Decisions produced and designed the research study, and implemented the data collection. The National Hispanic Media Coalition was founded in 1986 to increase positive portrayals of Latinos in media, based on a fundamental understanding that the media has the power to shape opinions of and behavior towards Latinos and other demographic groups.

Management consultants propose strategies for connected business environment

Posted by Elena del Valle on November 9, 2012

The Connected Company book cover
The Connected Company book cover

Photos: O’Reilly Media, Dave Gray photo by Maia Garau, Thomas Vander Wal photo by Matt Balara

Many companies today are divided internally according to function which is fine in a stable environment but in an uncertain environment these companies become brittle, say Dave Gray and Thomas Vander Wal. To overcome uncertain times companies need to sort their organizational structure into Holarchies that function independently forming a Connected Company which they believe is flexible, strong and adapts well to change.

Gray is the author with Vander Wal of The Connected Company (O’Reilly Media, $24.99), a 287-page hardcover book published this year. In it they discuss the changes they see taking over the business environment and how they believe companies need to respond to them. Organizational and management innovation are necessary in order for the essential business model innovation and adaptation required to match today’s fast pace, Alexander Osterwalder proposes in the book’s Foreword.

Dave Gray, author, The Connected Company

Dave Gray, author, The Connected Company

“The driving principle of the industrial revolution was the division of labor. The driving principle of the next revolution is connection,” said Gray by email in response to a question about who would benefit from reading the book.

Change is essential, the authors say, because customers are embracing disruptive technologies faster than companies are able to adapt. The book is divided into five sections: Why change, What is a connected company, How does a connected company work, How do you lead a connected company, and How do you get there from here.

According to the book, connected companies should be more like organisms than like machines. As such they should learn, have a purpose, obtain feedback from customers, and experiment. They should be made of networked pods with control of their own fate.

Companies that gravitate toward this model will have an advantage, the authors say. To do so they must embrace organic growth, leader driven change, pilot pods and network weaving.

Thomas Vander Wal, contributing author, The Connected Company
Thomas Vander Wal, contributing author, The Connected Company

Gray, senior vice president of Strategy, Dachis Group, is a management consultant who works with companies to develop and execute winning strategies. His previous book, Gamestorming (O’Reilly), sold more than 50,000 copies and has been translated into 14 languages, according to his bio.

Vander Wal, principal, InfoCloud Solutions, advises companies on social business, digital content, and personal-to-social information. He is on the steering committee of the Web Standards Project, and helped found the Information Architecture Institute, according to his bio.


The Connected Company book cover

Click to buy The Connected Company


With video engine maintenance fluids maker targets audience with comic TV, online ad

Posted by Elena del Valle on November 5, 2012

 Kevin O’Shea, brand manager, Gold Eagle Co.

Kevin O’Shea, brand manager, Gold Eagle Co.

Photo, video: Gold Eagle Co.

Gold Eagle Company released Chainsaw Psycho, a national television and online ad, a spoof of the 1974 cult chainsaw massacre movie, to promote its brand of fuel-system revitalizers, Start Your Engines! Shot in Conestogo, Canada and produced in one week by five people under the supervision of Matthew Ninaber, a Poptent community member, and his team at High-Rise Studio in Ontario, the ad was designed for a target audience “not limited to but mostly for men” and “people with a sense of humour.” Scroll down to watch the ad video.

“We wanted to do something entirely different with this TV spot to illustrate how Start Your Engines! works and overemphasize its immediate solution to those untimely life moments when your small-engine equipment malfunctions,” said Kevin O’Shea, brand manager, Gold Eagle Co. “This TV spot also marks an exciting new direction for Gold Eagle’s marketing approach.”

In the Halloween-themed spot a chainsaw killer is about to take his next victim only to discover his chainsaw won’t start. The victim, lying on the floor awaiting his doom, gives the killer advice for small engine trouble shooting and offers the killer a bottle of Start Your Engines! The spot concludes with the victim extolling the benefits of the product just before the chainsaw starts.

The commercial appeared on YouTube and aired on national television in October 2012 on HGTV shows, Property Brothers, House Hunters International and Yard Crashers, and the DIY network on Yardcore, House Crashers and The Vanilla Ice Project. Marketing executives for the company estimate landing page traffic went from nothing to 692 views between September 1 and October 28 of this year. YouTube analytics, a spokesperson shared, indicate that viewership of the spot was just under 23,000 views. Gold Eagle Co. is a privately held Chicago based maker of engine maintenance fluids and fuel additives.