Giveaway goes awry!

On April 5, 2007, radio station Q100 and Six Flags Over Georgia hosted a special event: free admission form 6 to 9 a.m. On the surface, it sounds like a great idea, but some errors in planning caused the event to be a disaster.

Both Six Flags and Q100 underestimated the number of people who would show up for the fun. They did not take into account that many Atlanta-area schools were on spring break, greatly increasing the number of children who could go to Six Flags on a Thursday. Also, having the promotion during rush hour was not the smartest idea. Everyone knows Atlanta traffic is bad enough, but pair that with families headed for a free day at Six Flags and you're left with one thing - unhappy drivers on packed roads. at 2 a.m., 300 cars were already in line waiting to enter the park. By 6:15 a.m., after the park had only been open for 15 minutes, it had reached its maximum capacity of 10,000 to 15,000. I-20 was backed up through the three surrounding counties. And if the traffic conditions weren't bad enough, lack of communication with GDOT caused commuters to not be informed about the congestion, creating even more congestion.

This event gone bad is the perfect learning experience for any PR professional, old or new. It really shows the value of planning and evaluating all the possible situations that can develop. Realizing that so many things are connected and effect each other - spring break means more kids with free time which leads to more traffic and back-up during rush hour. Had the radio station and park better prepared, they could have had a front page article in the AJC because of how good their event was, not how disastrous it turned out to be!

To read the AJC's article, go here:
http://www.ajc.com/search/content/metro/stories/2007/04/06/metsixflags0406a.html?COXnetJSessionIDbuild25=WbQbGvvQMVqTxw7dpkcsRJk23dXrHwFLYTgWGC9th7h9HZ1hFhmW!-1060416133&UrAuth=`N]NUObNYUbTTUWUXUVUZTYU^UWUbU\UZU`U`UcTYWYWZV&urcm=y

Ethical PR

I was at a "working interview" for a PR firm in Atlanta earlier this week, and an advertising representative from an Atlanta magazine came in to speak to the group about some possible ad opportunities for our clients. During the meeting, she explained that most of the editorials written in their magazine are about restaurants, people, etc. who advertise with them. She even quoted a price for an editorial, but got caught up in her words multiple times, saying the editorials were $1,000, then other times saying they had a value/worth of $1,000. This all got to be very confusing, and then one of the associates at the firm started to ask about it. She said the publication sounded much more like an advertorial as opposed to editorial publication. The rep said they write on anything that they feel is of interest to their readers, but it just so happens that most of their articles are about advertisers. The PR associate then explained that if it is an advertorial publication, then it is her duty, as an ethical PR practitioner, to explain that to her clients. She also stated that "editorials" that are paid for should say "special advertisement." The ad rep was clearly flustered and trying to cover up and hide her tracks, but she knew she was caught in the act.

It really made me happy to see that there ARE ethical people and PR practitioners and firms out there who are loyal to their clients, but also the general public. In today's society when PR really gets a bad name sometimes, this experience really gave me a fresh and inspiring perspective.

Timing is everything

We finished our Bateman project last Wednesday, and I must say, I feel the biggest load has been lifted off my shoulders. I've had a great experience with this project, learning more than most of my previous experiences combined. One of the biggest things I learned is the importance of time. Many times during this project, our group met, thinking the meeting would last an hour or two. However, three or four hours later, we were still working away. We quickly learned that we, as a team, were most productive when we had large chunks of time to bounce ideas off each other and work uninterrupted. Towards the end of our project, when we were on deadline, our meetings lasted for seven, ten and twelve hours. When we took our book to the printer, we thought we could just drop it off and pick it up later in the day. Little did we know that we would spend five hours there, reformatting things that we had made with the wrong information. Basically, whenever you think something will take an hour, always add at least two more!