The Pitch Blog

Wolfram|Alpha and Microsoft Bing Announcement

I like Bing - I like it alot, actually. Wolfram … has a $50 iPhone application. I don’t need to do that much math.

We are pleased to announce that Microsoft’s Bing decision engine is one of the first Wolfram|Alpha Webservice API customers. Starting today, Wolfram|Alpha’s knowledge, computed from expertly curated data, will enrich Bing’s results in select areas across nutrition, health, and advanced mathematics.

Our blog post can be found here: http://url.wolfram.com/9CynG.8/

Microsoft Bing’s blog post can be found here: http://url.wolfram.com/8_o8_9q/

News Release - Deschene Announces Exploratory Committee for Secretary of State

I’m not sure why I get a lot of political news releases. I don’t like politics that much anymore…

Decorated Native American Veteran Announces Exploration of Secretary of State Race

Today, State Representative Chris Deschene (D – Window Rock) announced the formation of an exploratory committee for the position of Arizona Secretary of State.  His decision to explore a statewide campaign for 2010 is rooted in his experience as a legislator, attorney, veteran, engineer, father and community leader.
“I was brought up to value personal responsibility and was taught that service to your community and country is the highest of callings,” said Deschene who graduated from the US Naval Academy and spent 10 years with the US Marines.

The Secretary of State is the second highest constitutional office in Arizona and the person elected to that office is first in line to succeed the Governor.  Yet, when you look at the Secretary’s official website homepage today, the duties are described as “primarily a filing office.”

Deschene understands that the Secretary of State must do far more than move paper.  Serving as the guarantor of clean, transparent and fair elections is just one of the office’s important duties.  But, additionally, previous Secretaries of State have used the visibility of the office to speak out on critical issues confronting the state.

“We face challenges like we never have before,” says Deschene.  “Those challenges are not going to wait for people to get done with their political fighting.  We either get our state moving forward again or we hand off to our kids an Arizona that can’t deliver a quality education and can’t provide job opportunities for people who want to earn an honest living.  That is unacceptable.”

Deschene is Navajo and follows in the tradition of those Native Americans who served the US Marine Corps as “code talkers” during World War II. Chris Deschene was a Major and the Executive Officer of Special Forces Reconnaissance within First Recon Company, First Marines.  He served a peace-keeping mission in Ethiopia and was deployed as a military advisor in countries throughout the Persian Gulf including Kuwait, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Chris Deschene grew up in the Lechee Chapter of the Navajo Nation and graduated from Page High School in 1989.  Chris earned his undergraduate degree at Annapolis in 1993 and graduated from ASU in 2005 as part of a rigorous two-track program where he received both his law degree and a Masters in Mechanical Engineering.  Chris is a founding partner of the law firm of Schaff & Clark Deschene, LLC.  He and his wife Shaun have two sons, a two-year-old and a 6-month-old.
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Zolitics Releases Latest Moving Numbers Trailer

Um, okay. I read the press release three times and still am not sure what I’m reading. But Obama loves it!!

* **BREAKING NEWS* *Obama says, “Moving Numbers is the * *One Show I Never Miss.” **Maybe.*** *New Trailer for Show Just Released.* Pittsburgh, PA, November 13, 2009 — According to an anonymous unnamed source, President Barack Obama was possibly overheard saying that the new web comedy hit *Moving Numbers*, is “the one show I never miss.” The source also said that other unnamed sources present were pretty darn sure they heard the President state that he believed “the success of *Moving Numbers*will lead to 1.4 million American jobs being created or saved.” *Moving Numbers* offers viewers a behind the scenes look at the often dysfunctional but always entertaining Sanders for U.S. Senate campaign and the special election to become Pennsylvania’s next Senator. The 12 episode series began this week, and can be seen at Zolitics.com, which is the worlds’ first political entertainment network. A new trailer for *Moving Numbers* can be seen by clicking on this link . Republican media consultant John Brabender, one of the creators of *Moving Numbers*, said, “it has been great writing for the show because I finally have a candidate who says exactly what I tell him to.” Democratic media consultant Tad Devine, also one of the show’s creators, said that even though the show is fictional, he intends to do all he can to make sure Republican Bob Sanders is defeated by his Democratic opponent Patrick Doyle. Last week *Politico* broke the story that a highly viewed attack ad against Sanders was actually written by Devine. The story can be viewed by clicking here . Devine refused to comment on the controversial ad, but did state that it was his hope that President Obama will be willing to come to Pennsylvania to campaign on behalf of State Senator Doyle. Brabender and Devine are in the middle of a 12-week, 1-city media blitz promoting the show, and earlier this week appeared together on C-SPAN’s *Washington Journal*. Other creators of the show include Republican Strategist Leslie Gromis Baker, former White House Political Director Sara Taylor, Democratic Media Advisor Julian Mulvey, online computer expert Mark Starcher, and Hollywood Producer Mike Mihalke. A trailer for *Moving Numbers*. which the *Pittsburgh Tribune Review* called “*The War Room* on Steroids,” can be seen by clicking this here .

Another Embargo

I kept this one, after a long confusing conversation on how un-agreed upon embargoes are the norm in this industry, and that it’s based on trust. But, how do you know I’m trust-worthy?

50th Anniversary CLIO Awards Announces

2009 Moving Image Awards & Design Awards Winners

— Moving Image Awards recognizes Television/Cinema/Digital and Technique and Design Awards recognizes all Design —

New York, N.Y., May 15, 2009 – The CLIO Awards, one of the world’s most prestigious international advertising and design competitions honoring creative excellence and innovation in the industry, today announced the winners for the Moving Image Awards, which recognizes Television/Cinema/Digital and Technique, and the Design Awards, which recognizes all Design. The Moving Image Awards were held at The New Joint and the Design Awards were held at AGO, the legendary Vegas eatery owned by Hollywood icon Robert De Niro and restaurateur Agostino Sciandri, in the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas on May 14.

In honor of the monumental 50th Anniversary CLIO Awards, the 3-day CLIO festival featured decade-themed award shows. The Moving Image Awards celebrated the 1970s and 1980s with a video montage remembering the television advertisements that were made popular during those two decades. During the show, Barry Manilow received an Honorary CLIO Award for his production of some of the most famous advertising jingles of all time for companies such as State Farm, Band-Aid, Tab and Stridex. Manilow also performed a live onstage medley of his 1970s advertising jingles.

Charles Edward Greene, known as “Mean Joe” Greene, a former all-pro American football defensive tackle who played for the Pittsburgh Steelers, received a special CLIO statue for his appearance in the famous 1979 Coca-Cola commercial, “Early Showers.” The commercial featured a kid (Tommy Okon) giving the injured Greene a Coke after he had to depart the game, prompting him to smile and give the kid his team jersey.

Festival attendees also had the chance to meet their favorite advertising icons such as: Nestle’s “Nesquik Bunny”, StarKist’s “Charlie the Tuna”, 9Lives’ “Morris the Cat”, Kraft’s “Kool-Aid Man” and the “Michelin Man” who graced the CLIO Ad Icon Walk of Fame red carpet and told the story of their legendary brand icons.

CLIO proudly announced the following special awards:

· Agency of the Year - Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Miami & Boulder

· Network of the Year – BBDO Worldwide, New York

· Production Company of the Year – MJZ, Los Angeles & London

· Advertiser of the Year – Volkswagen

The evening’s list of Grand and Gold CLIO winners are as follows:

2009 TELEVISION/CINEMA/DIGITAL & TECHNIQUE: 83 CLIOs Awarded (15 Gold, 25 Silver, 43 Bronze)

Gold CLIO Awards are as follows:

· Amber Music, New York, Music-Original, “Damn Boots” for Nomis Shoes

· BETC Euro RSCG, Paris, Media, CANAL+ Cinema “Versailles, Mafia” for CANAL+

· Cut+Run, Santa Monica, Editing, “Gymnasts” for Audi RS 6

· Johannes Leonardo LLC, New York, Apparel/Fashion/Footwear, “Damn Boots” for Nomis Football Boots

· kempertrautmann gmbh, Hamburg, Visual Effects, “Filter” for Audi TDI

· Ogilvy & Mather Advertising Taiwan, Taipei, Cinematography, “Soap” for Wego

· Ogilvy & Mather Japan, Tokyo, Cosmetics/Beauty, Esthe WAM: Hair Removal Course “Beauty Bowling” for Esthe WAM

· Park Pictures, New York, Sound Design, “This Is Your Final Wake Up Call” for Nike

· Partizan, Los Angeles, Direction, “Dance” for T-Mobile

· RKCR/Y&R, London, Music-Licensed, “Love At First Flight” for Virgin Atlantic 25 Years

· Saatchi & Saatchi, New York, Toiletries, “Bulldozer, Pre Nup, Lice” for Crest

· Saatchi & Saatchi, New York, Toiletries, “Bulldozer” for Crest

· TBWA\Chiat\Day, New York, Confections/Snacks, “Piñata” for Skittles

· The Mill, New York, Animation, “It’s Mine” for Coke

· Wieden+Kennedy, Amsterdam, Music-Licensed, “Library” for Coca-Cola

2009 DESIGN: 30 CLIOs Awarded (1 Grand, 3 Gold, 7 Silver, 19 Bronze)

Grand and Gold CLIO Award is as follows:

· ART+COM, Berlin, Environmental Design, for Mechatronical Installation (Grand CLIO winner in Design)

· COLLINS:, New York, Corporate Identity, for The Alliance for Climate Protection

· Euro RSCG Duesseldorf, Duesseldorf, Brochures-Product/Service, for Quirin Bank

2009 HALL OF FAME WINNER

· Goodby, Silverstein and Partners, San Francisco, “Aaron Burr” for California Milk Processors Board

All in all, congratulations to the CLIO winners. It IS prestigious, so yay!

Put Down the Twinkies ... from Catevo

Got two pitches - well a pitch and then follow-up pitch - from Caveto:

What do you call a self-described big fat guy with a talent for branding, marketing and social media? That’s what we’d like to know. Jonathan Ressler is now at The Catevo Group, and he needs something to put on his business cards.

You, on the other hand, need the $250 we’re giving away. Start by suggesting a title for Jonathan and voting for your favorite at http://givemeatitle.catevo.com/. The most votes wins. If your title is tops, you get a $250 gift card.

Jonathan’s pretty excited, but pick something good – we’re hoping he’ll be stuck with it for a very long time.

For rules, FAQs, the usual legal gibberish and a great picture of Jonathan with a monkey on his back (no, seriously, it’s on his back), visit http://givemeatitle.catevo.com/.

And then, this one:

As I sent yesterday, The Catevo Group is holding a contest for its new employee where you or anyone else can give him a title. “The Mouth That Roared” is currently in the lead, but the number of suggestions is continually increasing after the Raleigh News & Observer ran this great story yesterday. Or, if you’d rather hear it straight from the horse’s mouth, check out Jonathan’s newly-posted youtube video.

Now, I’m not a big fan of stunt PR - it’s a short lived bump in coverage, and doesn’t get the message and key messaging points out to the public. It’s a stunt. But credit is due, she’s gotten some good press.

My take? His title should be “Twinkie Master” or something along those lines. Now that I work out all the time, I can be one of those self-righteous workout people and say he needs to get to a gym for his personal health. Come on, join Twit2Fit!!

San Francisco Considers 'Do Not Mail' Resolution

ADVISORY: SAN FRANCISCO CONSIDERS ‘DO NOT MAIL’ RESOLUTION
Large numbers of Anti-Junk Mail Citizens, Pro-Junk Mail Groups to Testify

SAN FRANCISCO—Frustrated citizens, consumer activists, and environmentalists will attend a committee hearing Monday that will decide if a resolution calling on California to create a Do Not Mail Registry will come before the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. A Do Not Mail Registry would give citizens the choice to stop receiving unwanted junk mail.

Opponents of the resolution, including representatives of the direct marketing industry and postal unions, are also expected to turn out in large numbers.

Bills calling for Do Not Mail Registries have failed in more than 20 states over the last three years, despite widespread frustration with junk mail’s nuisance and excess waste. A 2007 Zogby poll revealed that 89% of Americans polled supported the creation a national Do Not Mail Registry.

WHAT: San Francisco City Operations & Neighborhood Services Committee hearing on the Do Not Mail Resolution (Sponsor: Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi; Co-sponsors: Supervisors David Campos and Bevan Dufty). The Committee, comprised of Supervisors Alioto-Pier, Daly, and Dufty, will listen to testimony from citizens and experts supporting the resolution, including a retired postal worker and small business owners.

WHEN: Monday, March 23, 2009 at 12:30 p.m. (press conference on City Hall steps) and 1:00 p.m. (hearing, Room 244).

WHERE: San Francisco City Hall, Room 244.

Download a copy of the resolution here.

“Junk mailers have stifled all efforts to give Americans what they want: a free, enforceable, and comprehensive solution to junk mail’s waste and annoyance,” said Ginger Cassady, of ForestEthics’ Do Not Mail campaign. “San Francisco has the chance to be the first government body in the United States to represent the will of the people on this issue.”

Launched in March 2008, more than 92,000 Americans have signed the petition at http://donotmail.org, which calls for the creation of a national Do Not Mail Registry.

100 billion pieces of junk mail are mailed to Americans each year, which requires the logging of 100 million trees and produces the greenhouse gas emissions of over nine million cars. Junk mail distributed in the United States currently accounts for 30% of all the mail delivered in the world, though 44% of it goes to landfills unopened.

ForestEthics, a nonprofit with staff in Canada, the United States and Chile, recognizes that individual people can be mobilized to create positive environmental change—and so can corporations. Armed with this unique philosophy, ForestEthics has protected more than twelve million acres of Endangered Forests. Visit http://www.donotmail.org for more information.

Maybe it’s just me - but I love junk mail (come on, it’s dry cleaning coupons!!), plus it’s mail when I don’t get mail. :)

Embargoed Release from Mindtouch

Embargoes only work if the person that is sent the embargo agrees upon an embargo. I get embargoed press releases all the time, and have had PR people say that they are relying on my sense of fairness and journalistic integrity not to post … but isn’t the real hook of news to have the story first, and better, than anyone else? Hell, I wrote about the joke of all this a while ago.

So, I got a pitch - with bullet points - on an embargoed press release for next week from Mindtouch.

Here it is:

In a climate of marketing budgets and teams being slashed, marketers are constrained and having to do more work with fewer resources. But at the same time marketers know that social media tools and services are must-haves, so I’m hoping you might be interested in writing about this to let your readers know there’s help to achieve this…

On Tuesday 3/24, MindTouch will reveal the Social Media News platform powered by MindTouch that helps marketers thrive amidst budget cuts and downsizing, and at the same time meet the growing need to implement social media tools and services.

Here’s the summary:

- Turns static online newsrooms into feature-rich Social Media Newsrooms (SMNs) for publishing Social Media Releases (SMRs).

- Provides a flexible and extensible platform that empowers users to capitalize on the broader Web ecosystem by having the freedom to integrate the newest and best-of-breed Web 2.0 apps.

- Offers sophisticated collaborative publishing for streamlined news creation that enables everyone involved in the news creation process to collaborate at all stages prior to a final-approved social media release going live.

- Enables users to create SMRs that are private and password-protected until the day of the announcement, which enables users to share the SMR with journalists/bloggers under embargo so they have access to all the information, images, videos and other materials that they need in order to write their stories prior to the news being publicly released. No more emailing press releases or other materials.

- Allows businesses to have their SMNs/SMRs skinned and integrated into their existing websites or create as standalone sites.

I realize, as a PR guru yourself, you are swamped with work and emails to catch up on, but wanted to quickly let you know of this news and am hoping that in addition to writing about this on your blog, you may also be interested in streamlining your news creation process and bringing your newsroom to life by using the Social Media News platform powered by MindTouch.

If this is of interest and you can agree to the embargo of Tuesday, March 24 at 8:00am PDT, let me know; and I will send you the link and password to our pre-release social media newsroom, which contains the news release, video, screenshots, whitepaper and more.

Thanks so much for your time!
-Allison

Allison Bethurem
FutureWorks PR | San Francisco, CA

Beyond so much of the obvious - is this anything new that I cannot do with other products out there - shouldn’t the first thing in pitching be to know the audience? Those that know me know that I view the SMR as a pile of crap. It’s not a secret that I think it’s crap, and am not a big supporter of it. As for the new news room, just go look at Cisco and see how you need to do it. And, how you can do it internally.

Oh, and do I really need the release, since she gave me the whole meat of the release? PR 101, people, PR 101.

Verasun loves me - they really love me

I’m on their media list, and get every press release.

• VeraSun Energy Corp. (NYSE: VSE), one of the nation’s largest ethanol producers, today announced recipients of its 2007 VE85™ Awards, recognizing five independent fuel marketers for retail sales, promotion and education of VeraSun’s branded E85 for use in flexible fuel vehicles. 

• VeraSun Energy will hold a ceremonial ground breaking on Thursday, April 24, 2008 to commemorate the construction of its oil extraction facility at its biorefinery in Aurora, South Dakota. The facility will utilize a technology designed to extract corn oil from distillers grains, a co-product of the ethanol production process. Please join us. (Um, I’m NEVER in SD).

• VeraSun Energy Corp. (NYSE: VSE), one of the nation’s largest ethanol producers, today announced that Greg Schlicht has joined the company’s executive team as senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary.
• VeraSun Energy Corp. (NYSE: VSE), one of the nation’s largest ethanol producers, today announced the startup of its 110 million gallon per year (MMGY) production facility located near Bloomingburg, Ohio. With the closing of the merger between VeraSun and US BioEnergy becoming effective April 1, 2008, the Bloomingburg biorefinery represents the 11th VeraSun facility in operation, pushing the company’s annual operating capacity to more than one billion gallons.
• VeraSun Energy Corp. (NYSE: VSE), one of the nation’s largest ethanol producers, today announced that Melissa Ullerich has been named vice president of communications. Ullerich previously held the position of director of marketing and communications since joining the company in the fall of 2005.
• VeraSun Energy Corp. (NYSE: VSE), one of the nation’s largest ethanol producers, today announced it received the CSX Chemical Safety Excellence Award for the second consecutive year. The award reflects the company’s commitment to rail car maintenance and safety as well as continuous safe tank car loading.
• Enterprise Rent-A-Car and VeraSun Energy Corp. (NYSE: VSE), one of the nation’s largest ethanol producers, today announced the first “VE85™/FlexFuel” rental branch location in South Dakota. The Sioux Falls location is the newest Enterprise branch to receive the E85/FlexFuel designation as part of a nationwide effort to promote the expanded availability and use of E85, a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. Enterprise will commit to fueling its Sioux Falls FlexFuel vehicles with VeraSun’s branded E85, VE85™.
• VeraSun Energy Corporation (NYSE: VSE), one of the nation’s largest ethanol producers, today announced it will release its fourth quarter and fiscal year 2007 results before the market opens on Wednesday, March 12, 2008.
• VeraSun Energy Corp. (NYSE: VSE), one of the nation’s largest ethanol producers, and The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) today announced the opening of 20 VE85™ fueling locations at existing E85 Kroger convenience stores in Texas. Kroger will offer VeraSun’s branded E85, a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline, for flexible fuel vehicles at 20 different locations in and around the Dallas and Houston metro areas.

Que Pasa? No clue.

QuePasa Corporation (NASDAQ: QPSA), one of the largest, bilingual, bicultural, Latino online communities, today announced the appointment of Jeff Valdez as Chairman of the Board.  In that role, Valdez will help guide the company as it continues its growth in the online Latino market.

Am I getting this because I used to be in Scottsdale? I did get pitched by B/W/R’s SR VP, though, so that’s nice. 

There’s money to be made in outreach education, methinks.

Pay $5K for "Experts"

Ecommerce experts Jeremy “Shoemoney” Schoemaker, Neil Patel, Aaron Wall, Andy Liu, and Brian Clark will meet on April 3-4, 2008 at San Francisco’s Intercontinental Hotel for the Elite Retreat, along with a group of 35 guests. The small group conference for online businesses puts attendees in direct contact with Internet industry experts.

The subhed says: Ecommerce, Search Engine, Social Media, Programming and Website gurus from around the world will meet in April at San Francisco’s Intercontinental Hotel for the Elite Retreat. Jeremy “Shoemoney” Schoemaker hosts and leads this conference that connects online businesspeople with leading Internet industry experts.

Guess none of them are PR experts, since they sent me an attachment with the release that was cut and pasted into the email. Wow, what a racket though - what is $5K times 35?