Swipe File

COMM-211

Intro to Public Relations

Prof. Silcox

Swipe File

In-Kyu Kim

5/3/2015

Kim 2

Swipe File #1: Team Conan O’Brien YouTube Channel

Conan O’Brien, a famous talk show host for his 16 years-long engagement of Late Night

show by NBC, lost his contract back in 2009 due to the channel’s decision to replace him with

someone else. Conan, in desperate effort to revive himself from the dismissal, created YouTube

channel and started to upload his own comedy skits, coverages, interviews, etc., which quickly

became a viral hit. Called “Team Coco,” from his name Conan, his YouTube channel has over

2.6 million viewers and each video he uploads is viewed by millions of viewers easily. I picked

this as a good example of online social network marketing utilizing mainly video contents.

Web Address: https://www.youtube.com/user/teamcoco

Citation: Team Coco. (n.d.). Retrieved November 23, 2014, from

https://www.youtube.com/user/teamcoco

Kim 3

Swipe File #2: ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

Although this campaign supporting the ALS patients, or more popularly known as Lou

Gehrig’s disease, did not start by the ALS Association, a non-profit group supporting patients

worldwide, this I believe is a good example of (voluntary) celebrity endorsement and how

powerful those opinion leaders’ participation in activities of a good cause could be in a PR

perspective. The challenge, in form of people being showered with a bucket of iced water

captured in a video, went viral and millions participated, including President Obama, Bill Clinton,

Bill Gates, and many other popular opinion leaders and other celebrities.

Web Address: http://www.alsa.org/fight-als/ice-bucket-challenge.html

Citation: Ice Bucket Challenge. (n.d.). Retrieved October 10, 2014, from

http://www.alsa.org/fight-als/ice-bucket-challenge.html

Kim 4

Swipe File #3: Hyundai’s TV/Web Advertisement Campaign: A Message to Space

Promoting its brand-new luxury sedan 2015 Hyundai Genesis, Hyundai made an

advertisement called Hyundai’s New Thinking Campaign: A Message to Space. The video

contents, made to be aired on TV and advertised over the web channels, were made to exhibit the

maker’s concern to promote family-oriented, high-tech, and luxurious side of its vehicle 2015

Hyundai Genesis. I personally believe that this campaign is well orchestrated and is attractive

enough to draw in people’s viewership both online and through televised channels.

Web Address:

http://worldwide.hyundai.com/WW/Experience/Campaign/AMessagetoSpace/index.html

Citation: A Message to Space | Campaign | Hyundai Worldwide. (n.d.). Retrieved April 20, 2015,

from http://worldwide.hyundai.com/WW/Experience/Campaign/AMessagetoSpace/index.html

Kim 5

Swipe File #4: Flyer and poster to find Lauren Spierer

Lauren Spierer was a 20-year-old college student at Indiana University Bloomington

when she suddenly disappeared after a night of partying at a local bar Kilroys on Kirkwood on

June 3, 2011. Her disappearance generated national press coverage but still remains unsolved

(Wikipedia). There was a university-wide effort to spread the word on this missing student, and

basically all media channels were utilized for the effort. And the displayed poster/flyer above

was posted all around the university campus and the city of Bloomington. All the stakeholders of

Indiana University made full effort to locate her at an early phase, but failed and the case still

remains unsolved.

Web Address: https://pibillwarner.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/lsp.jpg

Citation: Disappearance of Lauren Spierer. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved December 10, 2014,

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Lauren_Spierer

Kim 6

Swipe File #5: Failed and Unethical PR Effort of Tokyo Electric Power Company, Inc., on

Fukushima Nuclear Plant Explosion and Continued Emission of Radiation-Polluted Waste

Following the tsunami that wiped out the northeastern part of Honshu island of Japan,

most notably the Fukushima prefecture, explosions of nuclear power plant in Fukushima took

place due to power cuts that suspended operation of hydro coolers for nuclear reactors. The

powerplant, under the ownership and management of Tokyo Electric Power Company, Inc., the

largest and most well-known supplier of nuclear-powered electricity in Japan, displayed a

terrible risk-management system and inability of their PR department to properly warn the public

of potential dangers of the explosion of their power plant. Until this day they are trying to hide

and manipulate all measures of the impact from the pollutions caused by radiated materials

stored within the plant.

Web Adderss: http://www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/imce-images/japan-nuclear-

2012-5-26-4-0-2_0.jpg

Citaton: Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved January 3, 2015,

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_Daiichi_nuclear_disaster

Kim 7

Swipe File #6: Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act and Indiana University’s Reaction

There were talks pertaining to the Indiana state

legislative’s consideration to pass what’s called

“Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” which would

allow retail business owners right to decline service to

people with certain sexual orientation that may go

against the owner’s personal religious belief. This

quickly received national and global criticism and was

also debated by Indiana University President Michael

McRobbie publicly over the newsletter sent to all that

has @indiana.edu e-mail address. He criticized the

Indiana state legislative’s attempt to discriminate

people with certain sexual orientation and confirmed,

over his words, that Indiana University as an academic

institution promoting equal treatment without regard to

“their age, race, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender

identity, marital status, national origin, sexual

orientation, religion or veteran status.” The letter to the

university community was a good encouragement to

those that were discriminated by the legislative

proposal and was a good PR move to separate the

institution’s identity from that of the state which funds

the institution.

Web Address: http://lesc.iu.edu/emails/iu/office-of-the-

president/religious-freedom/web.html

Citation: McRobbie, M. (2015, March 29). A Message

from President Michael McRobbie. Retrieved March

29, 2015, from http://lesc.iu.edu/emails/iu/office-of-

the-president/religious-freedom/web.html

Kim 8

Swipe File #7: Jordanian Government’s Attempt to Accuse Islamic State of Its Violence

Disregarding any international standards for humane treatment of prisoners of war,

Islamic State treated Jordanian fighter pilot harshly and ended up executing him by burning him

alive. This movement received global criticism, mainly because of Jordanian government’s

attempt to accuse Islamic State of its inhumane treatment of war prisoners and overall violence

that goes against all the social norms. Jordanian government posted images that were released

and/or were leaked from sources in Islamic State in order to build public criticisms on Islamic

State. This attempt, however, was unsuccessful as Islamic State retaliated Jordanian

government’s PR attempt to criticize them by executing the pilot. The negotiation over release of

the prisoner that Jordanian government wanted to accomplish did not happen and it was proven

once again that Islamic State’s violence is above and beyond imagination.

Web Address: http://static01.nyt.com/images/2014/12/25/world/SYRIA-1/SYRIA-

1419461318542-master675.jpg

Kim 9

Swipe File #8: Sony’s Failed Attempt of Product Placement on the Upcoming James Bond Film

The title says it all—Sony Electronics failed to sponsor Daniel Craig, actor for his

famous role as James Bond in 007 film franchise, approximately $5 million dollars for a product

placement in the film of its new Xperia smart phone. The reasoning from the actor was

detrimental to the manufacturer, as it was due to Sony smart phones’ mismatch to the cool image

of James Bond character.

Web Address: http://metro.co.uk/2015/04/25/daniel-craig-turned-down-5m-spectre-deal-

because-sony-phones-arent-cool-enough-for-james-bond-5167150/

Citation: Lee, A. (2015, April 25). Sony phones just aren't cool enough for James Bond.

Retrieved April 25, 2015, from http://metro.co.uk/2015/04/25/daniel-craig-turned-down-5m-

spectre-deal-because-sony-phones-arent-cool-enough-for-james-bond-5167150/

Kim 10

Swipe File #9: Indiana University President Michael McRobbie’s Letter Showing His

Condolences to the Family of Hannah Wilson, a Victim of Recent On-Campus Rape and Murder

There was yet another

unfortunate incident of rape and murder

of one of the Indiana University

Bloomington’s student Hannah Wilson.

She was a Psychology student who was

going to graduate this May with a

bachelor’s degree. She was celebrating

Little 500 week with her friends at the

night when she was kidnapped, raped,

and murdered by an Uber driver she

called.

President McRobbie’s been very

active in sharing his opinions and/or

collected opinions of the university

community, unfortunately due to a

number of unfortunate incidents that

happened in and out of the institution. I

personally feel appreciative of his

willingness to communicate with

students and speaking on behalf of the

community, since it bonds people

together.

Web Address:

http://view.s7.exacttarget.com/?j=fef916

7172670d&m=fe8a1372756d0d7973&ls

=fe5411797562077a7d11&l=ff1f1d777c

63&s=fe5a15777d6c077f7110&jb=ffcf1

4&ju=fecb137177620479&r=0

Kim 11

Swipe File #10: Samsung’s Attempt to Utilize Its Partnership with Marvel Comics to Create

Special Edition Galaxy Smartphone Series

People get excited for cool things and that tendency gets amplified for high-tech products

that are coupled with popular media. This is the synergy that Samsung Electronics is trying to

achieve through their partnership with Marvel Comics with their newest film Avengers: Age of

Ultron. Thanks to one of its high-tech smartphone’s outstanding design feature, the web went

viral for designing custom edition smartphones, which were mostly unofficially photoshopped

images. Samsung paid attention to this movement, particularly to ones themed in Marvel’s hero

characters, and decided to make the Marvel-themed phones a reality. I personally believe this is a

good example of real-time interaction with customers and brining what’s receiving positive

reviews from customers into a reality to maximize sales and profitability.

Web Address: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0vk87z3sPA