As reported in the Idaho Statesman this week. Congratulations Joanne!

Idaho's chapter of the Public Relations Society of America has announced its slate of officers for 2009. The chapter will be led by president Joanne Taylor, director of public relations and social media strategy at Drake Cooper, a Boise-based marketing communications agency. Taylor has more than 20 years of experience in public relations management, having led PR efforts for three publicly traded companies and several clients at Drake Cooper. She has served on the PRSA Idaho Board of Directors since 2005 and is an adjunct professor at Boise State University.

Here's a link to the story in the Statesman.

You can also find Joanne on Twitter and befriend her on Facebook.

Labels: Drake Cooper employees, Drake Cooper PR, Joanne Taylor, PRSA, Public Relations

Idaho's gold medal winning cyclist Kristin Armstrong loves chocolate milk. Armstrong is an active proponent of chocolate milk as a refreshing and refueling choice for post-workout thirst quenching or general enjoyment.

Last Thursday, Armstrong worked with Drake Cooper, United Dairymen of Idaho and North by Northwest to shoot a commercial promoting chocolate milk as her beverage of choice. Armstrong is sponsored by the United Dairymen of Idaho (Drake Cooper's new client.) Check out the pictures for a sneak peak.

The commercial will soon be appearing on a TV near you, but feel free to check out the finished product below.

Labels: Advertising, Chocolate milk, Dairy, Drake Cooper PR, food and beverage, United Dairymen of Idaho

Interesting article here. The article discusses how the SEC has recently officially stated that companies can meet full disclosure requirements by posting information on their web sites and blogs - something not previously allowed. PR professionals will be freed from the constraints of traditional media that had been binding them to meet legal requirements. As larger companies begin to take advantage of this new convenience, I predict we will begin to see a revolution in the traditional news release.

The article says this "opens the door for the 'Social Media Release,'" a tactic that the author points out should supplement, not replace, a traditional release. The social media release is a much richer way to offer information to the media, utilizing Web 2.0 components such as YouTube, iTunes, Flickr, etc. The Drake Cooper PR team has been studying the social media release in the past months, and we included it as a capability of ours in the dairy pitch. Read the article for a more detailed explanation of the significance of the announcement.

If you can't get your mind wrapped around what we mean by "Social Media Release," I would compare it to the way cnn.com presents the news versus how a traditional, tangible print paper presents the news. Take this article, about gorillas, for example. If you read that in the Wall Street Journal print edition, you would get the text you see there, and nothing else. That's comparable to our traditional release. Covers the basic information and tells you how to find out more. Alternatively, on cnn.com, you can click on the tabs at the top of the story for more integrated information - there's a tab for read, video, map and background. A social media release allows you to explore, interact and learn more about the subject, just like cnn.com does with their news. It goes light years beyond an e-mail full of text about a topic. Here's a screenshot of one social media release template:

One thing I personally am unsure of regarding these will be where we host them...do we get our clients to put them on their websites? Do we post them on our site? Will there become an open source site for anyone to post this type of releases to - a Wikipedia of news? Will the Statesman allow PR professionals to upload something like this a place on their site for their access? All of the above?

This social media release could work well for a number of our clients...now if we can just get them to consider posting their news this way.

Labels: Drake Cooper PR, gorillas, news release, Public Relations, social media release

I have the pleasure of escorting some local media the opening night of the of the Sun Valley Summer Symphony Series at the new Sun Valley Pavilion this Sunday, and I am really looking forward to it. The pavilion is a real marvel as far as design and engineering, and I know the Sun Valley community is very excited about the new venue. The striking structure is completely unique and different from any structures in the region. It will serve as the permanent home for the Sun Valley Summer Symphony, the largest privately funded, free admission symphony in America, and host many other events year round.

A little bit about the pavilion: The outdoor entertainment venue is made of wood, tensile fabric, copper shingles and travertine rock imported from Italy. The structure was developed and engineered by FTL Design and Engineering Studio of New York City. More than 1,500 concertgoers will fit beneath the white, tensile fabric that stretches a half acre from the main design feature, a soaring 75-foot arch. The roof is horn-shaped and covered with reflective copper shingles. The distinctive shape of the roof and the arch allow the structure to blend seamlessly with the breathtaking beauty of Sun Valley and classic view of Bald Mountain. The white fabric tends to appear that it is "glowing" in the soft evening light. It's going to be gorgeous.

For more information: http://www.sunvalley.com/SunValley/info/act.ent.sym.aspx

Labels: Drake Cooper PR, Pavilion, Public Relations, Sun Valley, travel and tourism