Happy Friday the 13th: Twitter Party

 

 

I don’t know about you but I’m in the mood for a party. A Twitter party that is.  Twitter offers many ways to connect with other people and a great way to connect to a group all at once is via a Twitter Party. Here’s the definition of a Twitter Party from the “Twitter Party Guide” page:

A twitter party is a fast and fun virtual party, using the twitter platform. Usually held in the evening, twitter parties typically last 1-2 hours and are a wonderful way for people to connect and discuss a topic of choice. Most twitter parties have an expert panelist and party host to keep the party on topic.

For more information on how to throw a Twitter Party click on this link:  www.twitterparty.com 

Twitter Parties are great for doing a giveaway, launching a new product or just getting the buzz going on your brand.  If you are throwing the party, then it’s your role to keep the party on track, or rather on topic.  And to test this out, I am going to host the first Build-A-Buzz Twitter Party next Tuesday, November 17.  The topic of the party is “anything goes!”.  You can ask me direct questions, advice, etc. about how to build buzz for your brands.  I’ll provide more details on Monday.  

Until then, go on Twitter, join if you haven’t already, and search for some Twitter parties that you can participate in.    See you at the party!

Celebrity Thursday: Jessica Alba

Aside from being in the top ten of any men’s rating list (she was ranked #1 by Askmen.com in 2006), she’s also known for her role in the Fantastic Four blockbuster movie series.  At the ripe young age of 28 she’s made over 20 movies and was nominated for Golden Globe for her lead role in the TV series, Dark Angel.  Nowadays she’s wrapping up production of a new movie and spending quality time with daughter Honor and husband, movie producer Cash Warren.  

Jessica Alba
c/o Brad Cafarelli
Bragman/Nyman/Cafarelli 
8687 Melrose Avenue 8th Floor 
Los Angeles CA 90069 
Phone: 310-854-4800 
FAX: 310-854-4848 

Final note:  Jessica is also one of the celebrities that received the Build-A-Buzz Celebrity Gift Basket. Thanks to all of the companies who participated, including: Be Genki, Baby Wedge, Eternal Creation, Hortensia Handmade, Minimink, Pinky Mckay and Scout Collection.

Holiday Gift Guides: Short Leads

Can you believe Thanksgiving is almost here and Christmas is less than six weeks away. Yikes.  Anyway, what should you be doing now to capitalize on the uber important holiday buying season?  Well, for one, you should be targeting short leads for inclusion in their holiday gift guides.  By short leads I mean newspapers, radio, blogs, TV, etc., any media that is essentially not a print publication.

For example, morning shows like NBC’s Today Show are accepting pitches through November 15.  And syndicated shows like Ellen, Oprah, The Rachael Ray Show and Dr. Phil, are also accepting pitches for their holiday segments. These may be lofty goals, imagine getting on Oprah???, but you can at least give it a college try.  Who to contact? Well, these shows are very difficult to penetrate as you can imagine.  They literally have tons of producers in charge of different topics, and most do not divulge their email addresses.  Your best bet is to send your kit/pitch via mail.  Just look on their websites for the mailing addresses in the Contact Us section.   Here’s one for the Today Show:

The Today Show
30 Rockefeller Plaza
Room 380E
New York, NY  10112-0015
Today@nbcuni.com

Unfortunately, I can’t give you the exact producer as I would lose their trust.  They specifically asked me not to divulge.  However, you can still send your holiday gift pitch and products via this email and address.

 

Celebrity Thursday: The Case for Celebrity Gifting

Last week I asked you to send me your pitches so I can pick the best one to use as a case study here on the Daily Buzz.  Well, one pitch that stood out was from Promom Couture (www.promomcouture).  The pitch started out with a statistic about their industry and the buying power of women.  It was an interesting statistic and the pitch went exactly like this:

“Here’s a fact: U.S. women spend more than $3.7 trillion annually on consumer goods and services, plus another $1.5 trillion as purchasing agents for businesses.  There are over 90 million moms in this country who deserve the recognition that our brand delivers with style, sass and sex appeal.  What do moms want?  We know what they want before they know it!”

“We’ve developed quite a following, and our reputation was given an international catapult when one of our favorite celebrity clients, Cindy Crawford, was on Oprah talking about her favorite things and she showed off her promom couture t-shirts.  Since then, we have received orders from Norway; UK; Australia; Saudi Arabia; and more.  Our designs have been seen on The Today Show; channel 46 CBS Mornings; TLC’s Kate +8 and more…Additionally, the following celeb moms have gone promom: Kate Hudson; Tina Fey; Steve Carrel’s wife Nancy; Julianna Margulies; Diane Lane; Mariska Hargitay and so many more.  Recently, U.S. News & World Report did a piece on promom couture because First Lady Michelle Obama sent us a personal note letting us know how much she likes her promom tees.  Additionally, Stacy London (style guru/What Not To Wear maven) suggested promom couture tees on The Today Show last month as the “perfect addition to any mom’s wardrobe.”

Now what’s amazing is that a tee shirt company, a product as ubiquitous as it gets, garnered such attention.  What clinched it for them?  Well, lots of luck, but most of all securing the support of a major celebrity like Cindy Crawford.  Cindy’s endorsement of the product and her appearance on Oprah was great in itself, but for her to actually pull out the tees on the show and call them one of her “favorite things” is just incredible.

This campaign had the right mix: an interesting product that resonates with a specific target market (in this case moms), selection of the right celebrities that fit that target profile (including the First Lady), creativity and perserverance — all leading to a big payoff.  Believe me, I’ve been doing this 20 years and you can’t get any better than this.  It’s very rare that you would get such a result by just sending product to a celebrity but the thing is you just never know.  It’s a gamble, but one that pays off big if you win.

So it behooves you to at least give it a shot and send products to celebrities because you never know if they will eventually become your biggest fan.

Today’s Buzz Tip comes from Marina Echavarria, owner of Realm Media Productions and creator of Build-A-Buzz.  Catch up on all the Buzz at www.buildabuzz.wordpress.com <http://www.buildabuzz.wordpress.com> .

Celebrity Thursday: Hugh Jackman

TODAY’S BUZZ TIP | October 1, 2009

This one is for the boys.  Hugh Jackman just had his opening night on Broadway together with his only co-star Daniel Craig in “A Steady Rain”.  The play is getting rave reviews.  It’s about two long time friends who also happen to be cops in Chicago.  Guess there’s a lot of heated dialogue. The play was also helped by a bit of press before the show opened.  Apparently during a preview earlier this week someone forgot to turn off their cell phone and Hugh got more than a little miffed.  He stayed in character and basically told them off.  Good for you Hugh.

Hugh Jackman
c/o Whitney Tancred
Rogers & Cowan PR
8687 Melrose Avenue 7th Floor
Los Angeles CA 90069
Phone: 310-854-8100