PAN Blog

BusinessWeek's Stephen Baker wrote in his Blog today about teenagers and the media. He addresses newspapers and television and the the need for an on-demand medium in order to reach them.

http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/blogspotting/archives/2005/11/newspapers_in_t.html

The teenagers in my life would rather surf the net for information than pick up a newspaper or watch the news. If young people don't read the newspaper (and never will?) and if they don't watch TV, how will they get information in the future? How will they know information is from a valid source? How will this impact the way media works? The way companies and PR agencies communicate? My next read is "We the Media" in an attempt to grasp this.

It's unlikely that youth will change the way they gather information as they grow up so PR professionals will have to change they way they communicate to this audience.

It's also likely that youth will be the one's to use blogs both to gather information and to create it. Not only will they be controlling the way PR practitioners communicate in the future but in many cases, they'll be controlling the message.

See Stephen Baker's Blog Entry Here:

I hesitate to do it again, but Stephen Baker is among my "must read blogs" and Stephen's recent posts got me thinking today. He has been posting quite a bit recently on Jargon, as are other reporters: http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/blogspotting/archives/2005/11/blogs_breed_jar.html

Stephen's conversations on jargon starts with a post denouncing jargon, followed by a post mentioning that blogs breed jargon, followed by a third which made me laugh about jargon in an industry that....well, I'll just let you find that entry on your own....

The point is that there is a vast difference between jargon and use of technical phrases. It's OK for example, to develop a pitch or write a press release targeted to a security reporter mentioning some widely-used acronyms such as DVR. Where phrases get termed as "jargon" is when:

1) This technical information is sent to someone outside the target audience who would undestand it
Or:
2) When the pitch (or other various written materials) never address the core questions: What is this and why do I (or my readers) care?

Media eventually becomes niche; TV, newspapers, magazines....and blogs are no different. Blog communities will get more niche and PR people will become smarter about who they're targeting and how.
We can only hope that if people don't finally fix the second part of jargon (never addressing the what and why simply) they'll hopefully figure out the first by addressing thier targets a bit better as the blogosphere becomes more niche.

It all boils down to the most simple thought in PR or Marketing in general: KNOW your audience and speak clearly!

For most PR agencies, it’s not every day that you win an account that really jazzes your staff and represents a fun, sexy story that is sure to take off with the media. Well, that’s the case with our newest client, Eleksen, that we announced today via a press release . Simultaneously, Eleksen also announced their North American presence.

PAN has been charged with helping to make their product, Elektek, a household name and we are up for the challenge. Given our blend of consumer/fashion and technology experience, you’ll be hearing a lot more about Eleksen, Elektek and wearable technology in the coming weeks and months.