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The “Star Lounge” Brought Out Celebrities and Athletes in Celebration of Super Bowl XLV in Dallas, Texas

On Super Bowl Friday, the snow didn’t stop the stars and athletes from coming out to the “Star Lounge” Super Bowl Gifting Suite to celebrate Super Bowl XLV at the Joyce Champagne Lounge hosted by Rocketdog Films to benefit The Boot Campaign.

While most Super Bowl related events were cancelled, the “Star Lounge” Gifting Suite brought out a variety of athletes and stars from NFL’s Marshawn Lynch and Ovie Mughelli, players from the Green Bay Packers and past Super Bowl Champs from the Patriots to US Olympic Gold Medalist Nastia Liukin, actor Kevin Sorbo, actress Joyful Drake (BET’s Lets Stay Together), Def Jam artist Lil Niqo and comedian Gary Owens.

Other NFL star athletes that were in attendance included: Matthew Hatchette (Buffalo Bills), Felix Jones (Dallas Cowboys), James Butler (former Super Bowl Champ), Josh Johnson (Tampa Bay Buccaneers), Rennie Curran (Tennessee Titans), Terrence Williams (Buffalo Bills), Andrew Ampisi (New England Patriots), Evan Olgesby (Miami Dolphins), Rashaun Smith (Caroline Panthers), Nick Folk (New York Jets) and Carl Banks (Super Bowl X Champ).

Guests received items from the following companies:

Porsche: Allowed guests to test drive the 2011 Cayenne and Panamera.

Pretzel Crisps: Gift bag item of pretzel snacks

One Drink: Provided bottles of their new sports energy drink

One Main Bakery provided healthy gluten-free granola bars for guests as a Gift Bag item

Monster Energy Drinks: Was the official beverage of the event and provided guests with a gift bag item.

Cardio Barre Hollywood: Provided guests with VIP gift bags and gift certificates.

The Fade Shop: Provided complimentary service of free haircuts and shaving for guests.

King’s Life Jewelry and Brands: Provided luxury watches and jewelry to guests.

Tourneau: The world’s largest selection of fine watches offered gift certificates and discounts to all guests.

King’s Life Luxury: This luxury watch company offered guests a sneak peek of the new $100,000 Black-Out Concept Rolex as well as Diamond Jewelry from Robb & Co. and the new Curtis & Co. “Big Time Grand” Watch (Launching at Bloomingdales March 1st) Celebrities also presented guests with “TheLuxCard” a members only card which gives them $1,000 towards any purchase from King’s Life Luxury, and access to future private showings and events http://www.curtisandcowatches.com/awristocrats.html, http://www.blackoutconcept.com/usa

Parlux: Parlux Fragrances creates and distributes prestige fragrances and beauty related products for brands such as Jessica Simpson and Marc Ecko. Guests received their new fragrance and cologne.

Shakti Mat- Laying on the all-new Shakti Mat’s regularly for 20 to 40 minutes at a time encourages your body to release endorphins. This stimulates the release of oxytocin – the feel-good hormone. Guests were given the all-new Shakti mat.

IntelliKal- IntelliKal is the most complex bone and cardiovascular supplement to hit the market. It is created with a special blend of essential ingredients making it smart. Guests received complimentary supplments.

ZQuiet- As seen on Lifetime Television, ZQuiet is FDA Cleared to treat snoring. In order to obtain FDA Clearance, ZQuiet had to prove not only that the material is safe – but also that the product effectively achieves its intended purpose. Guests received the snoring-free items.

De Odor Works- De Odor Works is an odor eliminating product, activated under running water. Guests received cool new products.

Brainard’s Natural Remedies- Guest received items and learned how blueberries and natural ingredients make Brainard’s Natural Remedies the best for sensitive stomachs.

Spinnaker: the SPINNAKER is a complete product concept- a chair; table and TV-table form a complete suite of furniture, both timeless and contemporary.

Online Trading Academy- a cutting-edge trading school focusing on stock trading, forex trading, options trading and e-mini trading education.

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From BET’s Media Room

The Elements Will Ignite As Comedian Mike Epps Returns to Host Hip Hop’s Most Exciting Night At the Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center in Atlanta on Saturday, October 2 and Premieres on BET Tuesday, October 12 at 8:00 p.m. EST
Legendary Rapper Jay Z Receives The Highest Number of Nominations in The BET HIP HOP AWARDS History With 10 Nods Across Eight Categories

NEW YORK, Sept. 8– The fifth annual BET HIP HOP AWARDS 2010 returns and the chemistry will be explosive. Celebrating the biggest names in the game, newcomers on the scene, and shining a light on the community, THE BET HIP HOP AWARDS ’10 is ready to salute the best of the best in hip hop culture. Back for a second round of show stopping tributes and fiery performances; host, actor and comedian Mike Epps is ready to lead hip hop’s main event from the Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center in Atlanta on Saturday, October 2 with the network premiere on Tuesday, October 12th at 8:00 p.m.EST

Voted on by an academy of music industry insiders and media members, the BET HIP HOP AWARDS ’10 nominations are in. Released yesterday on BET.com and announced on 106 & PARK, hip hop heavy weight, Jay Z leads the 2010 nominations list with 10 nominations and breaks the BET HIP HOP AWARDS record for highest number of nominations in the history of the five year old awards show. This year, Young Money’s Drake follows behind with eight nominations, and Rick Ross and Nicki Minaj tie with seven nominations each. For the complete BET HIP HOP AWARDS ’10 nominees list and categories please visit www.bet.com/hiphopawards.

Now that the nominees are in, viewers will also have an opportunity to be a part of the action by visiting www.bet.com/hiphopawards to learn about two exciting BET HIP HOP AWARDS ’10 interactive elements:

Verizon People’s Champ Award: an award presented in the show; determined by online & mobile voters.

DefJam Rapstar presents BET.com Hot 16: a competition where aspiring rappers can upload their rhymes (16 bars) to a beat provided by producers Cool & Dre for a chance to win an all expenses paid trip to the BET HIP HOP AWARDS ’10.

This year, BET once again teams up with Cossette Productions, the famed producers of the GRAMMY Awards® and the record-setting BET AWARDS shows, to handle production of the telecast. Stephen G. Hill, BET President, Music and Programming, along with Lynne Harris-Taylor, BET Vice President of Specials, are executive producers of the telecast.

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Ad Budget Tight? Call the P.R. Machine
By BROOKS BARNES

LOS ANGELES

Hobbled by a depressed DVD market and drooping sales of movies to foreign television networks, Hollywood studios are finally reining in runaway marketing budgets. Lionsgate, already one of the leaner operations, boasted that it cut marketing expenses by 66 percent in the second quarter from a year ago, while Disney dismissed about a dozen marketing executives early this month in an effort to shrink spending.

But don’t think that Hollywood believes it can get by with less promotion. This, after all, is the place that perfected the hard sell. As studios cut “paid media” (newspaper ads, television spots and billboards) they are leaning more heavily on armies of publicists generating what they call “earned media,” free coverage in magazines, newspapers, TV outlets and blogs.

The biggest movies are still backed by megawatt ad buys. On the other hand, Paramount Pictures did not buy a single billboard to promote “Paranormal Activity,” its recent horror film. The studio also saved tens of millions of dollars by forgoing a national television campaign. Instead, Paramount depended on its publicity arm to fan interest on blogs and in traditional media. The flack attack worked: the film, made for just $10,000, has sold $104 million in tickets.

Over at Disney, publicity executives are coordinating their efforts more closely with those of their advertising counterparts: If the P.R. team for the company’s ABC unit can land an article about “Dancing With the Stars” on the cover of TV Guide, for instance, the network will make certain not to also buy advertising space in that issue to push the show.

Disney recently went so far as to develop a computer program to help it determine how much monetary value was coming from such publicity efforts. It can quickly plug in data — “Access Hollywood” had a 30-second interview with a star of “The Middle,” a new ABC comedy — and the program spits out what that same 30 seconds would cost to buy.

There is another advantage to a publicity machine on overdrive. “At least with publicity — placed stories — there is a feeling that the message has gone through a filter,” said Paul Pflug, the co-owner of Principal Communications, a public relations firm that specializes in entertainment. “Journalists and their editors had to consider the pitch worthy of space. The message has been vetted in some way.” He said an article was more valuable to the studios because it is more credible to viewers than an ad.

Social networks like Facebook and Twitter have also changed the publicity game in Hollywood. The P.R. apparatus has largely assumed the responsibility of monitoring, shaping and creating attention on that part of the Web. Movie characters now have Twitter profiles and Facebook pages, for instance. Guess who updates the accounts?

The Web has also given studios a way to bring consumers into the movie-making process long before the first ads roll out. Casting announcements are one example. Five years ago, nobody but the trade newspapers cared who was cast as the third lead of “Inglourious Basterds.” Now teams of digital publicists convey every little pip and squeak of the early process to hundreds of bloggers.

And because one errant blog post can start an online brush fire, publicists do reconnaissance on bloggers — What is their audience reach? Is their writing snarky? Which other blogs pick up their links? — and manage accordingly.

Universal Pictures, looking for a way to bolster coverage of “Couples Retreat,” a comedy starring Vince Vaughn about an island vacation, decided to stage a lavish junket, one of those all-expenses-paid promotion-a-thons for writers and TV reporters. Instead of hosting the event at a Los Angeles or New York hotel, as is standard practice, Universal flew the participants to Bora Bora.

It cost about twice as much as a standard junket, but generated at least four times as much media coverage, the studio estimated. (The New York Times and many other media outlets ban the acceptance of these freebies on ethical grounds, because there could be an appearance of buying favorable coverage.)

“You’ve got to remain responsible with your resources while continually finding new ways for your campaigns to stand out,” said Michael Moses, Universal’s executive vice president of publicity.

Standing out on the cheap often means staging silly stunts that entertainment news outlets are happy to consume. The divisions responsible for pushing DVDs, particularly desperate for attention now that sales are declining, are big fans of this tactic.

Trying to drum up publicity for the DVD of “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs,” 20th Century Fox invited reporters to witness the construction of a 48-foot-tall ice sculpture resembling the star of the movie, Scrat the squirrel. To promote the DVD release of “Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure,” Disney publicists went so far as to get the United Nations to name the character an “honorary ambassador of green” to help promote environmental awareness among children.

AT a time of supposedly stark cuts, studios still send loads of giveaway items to the news media in the hope that it will prompt coverage. Disney just shipped jars filled with 90 toy soldiers to promote “Toy Story 3,” which doesn’t open until June. (“Attention troops!”) The studio, which has lost money in the last two quarters, also found the cash to send one-pound boxes of beignet mix to promote its animated musical “The Princess and the Frog,” which is set in New Orleans.

And to support “The Informant!” earlier this year, Warner Brothers shipped, at four pounds each, gallon-paint canisters filled with popcorn kernels. We guessed that the tie-in was that Matt Damon’s character in the film works for a company involved with corn syrup, but we still aren’t sure.

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Playing a bad lie: How Tiger botched a PR opportunity
By Ari B. Adler

By not addressing his infidelity right away, Woods let rumors aggravate a bad situation

Sexing, texting and vexing—it’s a perfect storm of reputation destruction, and its latest victim is Tiger Woods. To make matters worse, instead of facing the publicity storm head on and getting control of the story as quickly as possible, he went into hiding. That left the story angles to those less concerned about his best interests.

It’s probably a sad testament to the times, but when Woods’ SUV ran over a fire hydrant and into a tree around 2:30 a.m. one night last week, there were plenty of people who immediately thought, “drunken driving.” When it became clear that wasn’t the case, the rumors started to expand to include painkillers, speeding and his wife chasing him out of the house with a golf club.

While the rumors and the news reports about them began to grow, Woods stayed mum. He would not talk to the press. He would not talk to police. Therefore, instead of having a bad-news story last a couple of days, he has instead been faced with a nonstop, daily thrashing of his reputation. Breaking news alerts and breathless anchors eager to share any update have now given way to the online posting of a voicemail to and “sexts” from an alleged mistress.

This type of rumor, innuendo and celebrity smackdown news has always been a possibility, but it was generally dealt with by PR pros with a shrug and, “Well, it’s the National Enquirer—no one really believes that stuff, anyway.” Now, what used to be considered salacious material best left to the tabloids is finding its way to online powerhouses like the Huffington Post and to mainstream juggernauts like CNN and ESPN.

The tagline from that 1990s cult-classic television show “The X-Files” has never been more relevant. “The truth is out there,” we were told, week after week. These days, however, PR pros need to remember that not only is the truth out there, it’s now available in electronic formats that are easily reproduced and distributed.

That means they need to be even more aggressive—both with their clients and with the media. They need to get clients to be 100 percent upfront with them about every potential PR attack. Then, they need to go on the offensive and get control of the story immediately.

In Woods’ case, the story became the story, which is the last thing he needed. In the statement he finally issued, Woods said, “Personal sins should not require press releases.” He should stick to golf and stop trying to dabble in public relations. Often, in media cases like this, a coverup becomes a bigger story than the initial indiscretion. Though it may be another sad testament to the times, a famous man cheating on his wife is a one- or two-day story. The ones drawn out in the headlines for weeks at a time are those in which only a few details are revealed at first and the rest trickle out.

Consider what would have happened if Tiger Woods had held a press conference upon being released from the hospital. It’s quite likely the basic story would have been:

“Tiger Woods announced today that his car accident occurred after he left his home following an argument with his wife over an extra-marital affair. The golf pro allegedly had a long-term relationship with a woman he met just months before his wife gave birth to their daughter. Woods said he is working through the matter with his wife and asked for privacy for all parties involved to assist in his family’s healing process.”

Anyone going on the offensive after that would have been seen as opportunistic and risked their reputations. By confessing and repenting publicly with the whole story, Woods would have positioned himself as a potential victim.

Going on the offensive isn’t going to change the facts, but it will make them less captivating and, therefore, less newsworthy. Besides, with today’s incredible-story-of-the-minute news industry and their attention-deficient audiences, it never takes long for the spotlight to shift.

—-
Ari B. Adler is a media relations professional with experience as a newspaper reporter and editor as well as a government and corporate spokesperson. You can follow him on Twitter at @aribadler.

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Arianna Huffington To PR Pros: ‘The Press Release Is Becoming Obsolete’
By Joe Ciarallo, MediaBistro

Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington addressed the PRSA International Conference in San Diego yesterday. Speaking to a variety of topics, Huffington took the time to call out PRSA for not having wi-fi on site. “Make sure people can interact next time,” she said. (HAHA, I love it!)

Delving into PR tactics, Huffington made a bit of a contradiction in regards to press releases.

She stated, “The press release is becoming obsolete…even though we still do it at the Huffington Post.” However, Huffington, in comparison to other media moguls such as Rupert Murdoch, is a firm believer in free and open content. “It’s no longer about proprietary content anymore, ubiquity is what matters,” she said.

She also had the guts to give out her email address to the entire audience, ensuring that her Inbox will be flooded with pitches for weeks to come. After her keynote, Huffington interviewed former health-care PR exec turned whistle blower Wendell Potter. “In my job, I was able to remove myself from the humanity of what I was doing,” Potter told Huffington.

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