Nicolas Sarkozy turns to Twitter to boost his Presidential Race

Nicolas Sarkozy did something clever: he is boosting his online presence on Twitter, the popular microblogging. The official account of M. Nicolas Sarkozy, President of the French Republic, is being fed in part by M. Nicolas Sarkozy himself as a private citizen.

During an interview on Europe 1, Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, the French Minister of Ecology, stated that she is all in favor. Not surprisingly, she is slated as becoming the official spokesperson of the future candidate. "This offers direct means of communication. I find it fun. I understand that it is based on the concept that NS (=Nicolas Sarkozy) will write and tweet the message himself."

The first tweet appeared on February 15, 2012 was signed NS. The message said: "I accepted the invitation of TF1 to appear in the news segment at 8pm tonight and I'll meet you all there." All that was missing: XOXO!

Two hours after the tweet hit cyberspace, the NS Twitter account already boasted 15,593 followers. To compare: main rival François Hollande has 147,186 followers.

Even in traditional France, politicians are harnessing the power of social media!

Is Pinterest Good for Companies, Firms and Freelancers?

Pinterest has been hailed as the latest must-have social network for companies, firms and freelancers. Mashable, the Huffington Post and TechCrunch all predicted a bright future for Pinterest. According to comScore, Pinterest hit 11.7 million unique monthly U.S. visitors, crossing the 10 million mark faster than any other social media site before.

Pinterest is a virtual pinboard, not unlike pinning stuff (photos, recipes, business cards and the like) in your cubicle at work or on your fridge at home. Pinterest allow for digitally organizing and sharing images and links on themed pinboards. Users can also share their pins on Facebook and Twitter.

As with LinkedIn and Facebook, users can create a branded Pinterest page to promote their business, expertise, brands, events or any other info. This could support their corporate brand or service offering.

Pinterest could therefore be relevant for marketing strategy, since it serves as a clever addition to the existing social media mix. As with other social media, it also allows for monitoring competitors’ activities, brands and IP.

Will Pinterest become the next Facebook or Twitter? I don’t know, but it worth monitoring! Since Pinterest is free to use, there is no harm in trying it out. In the mean time: happy pinning!

(Image courtesy of TechCrunch)

Vermont Prison Inmate Inserts Pig on Vermont Police Car Decals

Vermont State Police cars feature 16-inch decals consisting of the state police crest. The official crest depicts a spotted cow against a background of snowy mountains.

However, the latest batch of decals depicts something different. A Vermont state trooper discovered that one of the spots on a cow contains an image of a pig.

The recalls were produced by a Vermont correctional unit's print shop. The State of Vermont uses correctional facilities for some of its print products, including the cruiser decals. Someone working at the print shop changed the emblem from the officially sanctioned design.

The prank image of a pig has been shown 30 police cruisers for the last year.The sixty 16-inch door decals will be removed as soon as it is practical.

State police spokeswoman Stephanie Dasaro stated that the inmates’ version is “an apparent reference to the pejorative word for police.”

She pointed out that "it dishonors the memory of those past and present members, especially for those who have lost their lives in the line of duty."

The "source and timing" of the change to the design is under investigation.

Police Major Bill Sheets said in a statement that "while some may find humor in the decal modifications, the joke unfortunately comes at the expense of the taxpayers."

The new police car decals will be made by next week at a cost of $780.

Lessons to be learned:

1. always check your printed materials before distributing it
2. check the quality of your graphic designer and/or print shop
3. turn a setback into an advantage. I strongly advise the police to raffle off the “pig decals” for charity

The Art of Retracting a Press Release

Suppose you provide communications support to a global, non-profit entity, such as the global milk sharing network (Human Milk for Human Babies).

During your PR activities, you come across a woman who is asking for milk for NY friend currently living in Paris. The friend has a hard time finding enough milk for her baby, and turned to the hm4hb website for assistance.

As a PR professional, you see a golden opportunity to get the purpose of the non-profit across. Since the French webpage of the non-profit is not very active, you boost it with a press release, promoting that webpage. You then send the release to about two dozen French media outlets, including Le Monde that picks up the story. Le Monde also talks with the director of the milk bank in Paris who claims that milk sharing is governed by French law. It is therefore illegal to share milk via a website A TV5 reporter states the same.

The non-profit, fearful of French police showing up at its French offices, wants to retract the press release. Just pulling the French and English version down from the website will not do the trick.

So what are the options?

1. Amending the press release and resending it to all media and journalists, including Le Monde and TV5.
   Lesson to be learned: obvious mistakes are best handled this way, especially for listed companies.
   
   
2. Reposting the press release on the website.
   Lesson to be learned: leverage the power of your website (and social media) to do damage control.
   
   
3. Replacing the press release with a letter explaining the intentions of the non-profit.
   Lesson to be learned: asking forgiveness always put a company in a positive light.
   
   
4. Getting legal advise on the law in France. Lesson to be learned: always have legal look at a press release before sending it out.
   
   
5. Do nothing. This way, its will blow over; quite likely sooner rather than later.
   Lesson to be learned: least said, soonest mended.

But the best strategy (of course) is to avoid the need of retracting anyway!