PAN Blog

Recently, TerraCycle a company that makes all-natural, all-organic, 'goof-proof' liquid plant food made from worm poop and packaged in reused soda bottles was catapulted to the top of the headlines from a law suit filed by Scott’s.

Scott’s claims that TerraCycle’s packaging will confuse potential customers because it is very similar to Scott’s Miracle Gro formulations. The company argues that potential buyers will be confused because TerraCycle’s packaging includes the colors ‘ green’ and ‘yellow’, pictures flowers and vegetables on the bottle and also places their company name in a circle. Scott’s is also rejecting the claim that TerraCycle has made in that their product is as good as or better than "a leading synthetic plant food."

This is a fascinating story because it is the classic case of a sustainable company versus a giant. As the world turns, and companies are being held accountable for their environmental impact, I think we are going to see a lot more of these ‘david and goliathesque’ battles. TerraCycle is a company that was cooked up by college student looking to change the way companies do business and the world, one bottle at a time. Though a basic middle school science project of putting worms in a box with organic waste materials and churning out compost this three year old company has stumbled on a natural and sustainable goldmine.

We are all concerned with our ecological foot print but yet we still continue to throw plastic bottles in the trash instead of recycling them. TerraCycle has found a smart purpose for those bottles by packaging their product in them. The company has even coined a bottle recycling program called the ‘Bottle Brigade’ that donates five cents for every bottle you send them to a charity of your choice.

Pretty neat huh ?

Not sure if I am just behind the eight ball on this or if not many people know about it, but Google has a public policy blog. Go figure! It's pretty good reading. I suppose a company of its size and stature must be involved in policy, but kudos to them anyway.

Fisher Price announced this morning a recall of 1 million toys. The toys potentially have lead paint in them. If you have small children, you should check out the full recall list. Toys include Sesame Street, Dora and many more.

When I asked my staff to send me some of their favorite reads, I was very impressed to see how much everyone is reading. We all lead very busy and hectic lives, and we don’t have much time to set aside for pleasure reading. I’m very happy that so many of us continue to enjoy reading books – there’s nothing better than using your imagination, and not being able to put a book down because it’s that good. As I mentioned in the Summer PAN Newsletter, two of my favorite pleasure reads this Summer are Wild Fire, by Nelson DeMille and Cross, by James Patterson. I’m a huge fan of both authors, so I’m always reading their books. I highly recommend both!

Although its summer and you might not feel like reading a business-oriented book, these two are GREAT: The Long Tail, by Chris Anderson and Practice What You Preach, by David Maister .

I’m always looking for a great book to read, please feel free to share your favorites. I still have another month to enjoy!

I look forward to hearing from you.
Happy Summer Reading!

So now that Rupert Murdoch has bought the venerable Wall Street Journal for a cool $5 billion will he keeps his hands off of it? In other words, will he stay out of the kitchen and let the reporters and editors cook up their own editorial stew? That's a key question as many reporters are no doubt watching how new ownership will impact their independence. As a former reporter, I know that journalists cast a wary eye at outsiders. At the same time, all you can really do is tell it like it is.

To paraphrase the immortal Al Davis, just report, baby.

My desk is a royal mess, I have paperwork, magazine and newspapers piled everywhere except on my laptop, phone and lamp (my picture frames are like bookends though). My system of management is simple, those piles closest to my right hand require immediate attention those farther out represent coming work and those at the farthest reaches are long term plans. On my left is the creative pile. Here lay a stack of ideas representing all my clients in no particular order. This stack is the least organized but the richest in content; it's next to the phone. Farther out is just junk I never get around to tossing because I feel like there is good idea in there somewhere.

This style of information management, or filing, reminds me of Andy Rooney from CBS' 60 Minutes. He's a notorious clutter bug and pack rat. I think once a year he does a special on his style of filing; it's always amusing TV. ("Being Messy Has Its Perks")

Anyway, a lot has been said about the types of people who maintain a clean desk versus those that are messy. As a member of the messy group I've got to say there is a system to my untidy madness.

Not really my desk, but it feels like it:

A study issued by Stanford and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that items placed in a McDonald’s wrapper tasted better to young children. In the study, children were presented with multiple food items such as carrots, milk, and apples in McDonald’s wrappers. The children were then given the same food items in unmarked packaging. The children were then asked to identify which items tasted better. The Golden Arches always won.

In the business of marketing, we know that packaging can often make or break a product. An interesting question to ask ourselves also is, does size matter?

In an effort to cash in on the millions trying to lose weight many companies have joined the 100 calorie movement and have transformed their tasty, sugary, salty, and high-fat snacks into 100 calorie bite sized mini packs. Even Burger King has joined the club by announcing they will be introducing a line of 100 calorie fries & ketchup packets. What will they think of next? 100 calorie hamburgers? Do these items taste as good as their larger counterparts?

At a recent Weight Watchers meeting more than half the room admitted to eating more than one of the 100 calorie packages. When asked why, many of the members admitted that they missed the larger cookies or crackers and felt compelled to eat more. Many also said that they felt more satisfied with the regular sized snacks.

This made me think, why then don’t food manufacturers just package the regular sized portions? This will not only satisfy our sensory needs, but also instruct the public on what the correct portions are.

Just some food for thought.

Good post the other day on Fast Company's blog about apporiate dress. This is something that I believe has been lost over the years. When I started in PR, a long, long time ago, everyone wore a suit everyday and that is just the way it was. It almost put everyone on a level playing field. I miss those days. We didn't have to put too much thought into what to wear, we always looked fairly impressive and it was a uniform appearance. However, business casual has it's perks. It is much easier to transition from daytime to evening activites and in the long run, more cost-effective. What do you wear to work?

Thanks to my BBC news blog, it took me two seconds this morning to learn Nokia is recalling 46 million phone batteries due to overheating. This comes a day after Nokia made news for launching a beta of a new mobile social networking site.

Of course, I immediately panicked because I just purchased a new Nokia phone last week. Ironically enough, it took me longer to figure out how to take the battery cover off then it did to learn of the recall. (And truth be told, it was a colleague who actually figured it out!)

Thankfully I’m in the clear. Hope you are too.

Does anyone else feel they can’t do anything right?

I flew (or should I say attempted to fly) down to Baltimore via Baltimore/Washington International Airport from Boston’s Logan Airport. I was flying US Air from Boston to New York City’s LaGuardia Airport, then onto Baltimore. My flight was to leaving Boston at 1 PM, arriving in New York by 3:20 PM and then off to Baltimore to arrive by 5 PM. It was imperative I arrive in Baltimore on time. Why, you may ask? Well, me, along with four other friends and family were on our way to watch a three game baseball series - Boston Red Sox vs. the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards – and of course - I had the tickets.

My flight from Boston was about 90 minutes late arriving at LaGuardia so I de-board the plane and start running through the US Air terminal in order to make my connection. Luckily I had carried on my luggage. As a arrive at the gate for my Baltimore connection, the monitors say the flight is delayed until 4:15 PM. Ok – no big deal. I stand in line to find out why and as I am standing there the monitor changes to reflect that the flight will now leave at 4:35 PM – with no explanation.

I finally decide to go to special services to see if there was another flight to Baltimore - either on another airline or out of JFK or Newark Airport. I even inquired about flights to Reagan International Airport and Dulles Airport, both in Washington D.C. I of course have to specifically spell out my request to the counter agent, although I believe it is their job to find me another flight when the delay is their fault. I should not have to spell out the specifics of looking on other airlines and airports.

After the ticket agent insisted there was nothing else she could do for me, I went back to my gate. The flight didn’t leave NYC-LaGuardia until almost 6:00 pm – THREE HOURS late, arriving in Baltimore around 7:30 pm. I was supposed to arrive there at 5 PM. I was over an HOUR LATE to the game which started at 7 PM.

The weather that day was rain. Not thunderstorms, not torrential downpours, just rain. Family and friends who were also coming from Boston to Baltimore had no problems arriving on time using other airlines.

Needless to say, after sending my complain letter to US Air, I do not even want the free ticket they may offer. I will NEVER fly US Air again.

As an avid runner my attention was drawn to Boston.com this morning for the story on “A Running Debate”.
This debate has been in question with runners and race directors over the past few months on whether or not ipods should be allowed during races. Last Sunday, I joined 12,000 other runners for the 35th annual Falmouth Road Race. This was my third year running the race and I did notice a drastic increase in the number of ipods and armbands on runners throughout the race. Nike has even caught on to this new trend in running. This summer the Nike plus running shoe hit stores designed with a transmitter that sends information about speed, distance, and calories burned to a runner's ipod.

The day before the Falmouth race there were rumors floating around that ipods were being banned this year and taken away at the starting line. Within my charity team of 15 runners about half of us were going to be running with our ipods. Looks of panic came over everyone at the thought that their music would be taken away before the race. We soon realized that we were safe and that it would be virtually impossible to try to confiscate thousands of ipods at the starting line.

Music is a HUGE part of any runner's training regiment, and when it comes to race day if you need the music that has brought you this far then I say go for it! Possibly it is a generational gap? My father a diehard athlete couldn't believe that I would be running with an ipod this year. But I say whatever gets you through the hills of Falmouth and 90 degree August heat and if that happens to be your ipod and your favorite song on repeat then the more power to you! Not to mention, I think the Nike Plus will be my next pair of running shoes. :)

To donate to the charity group I ran for this year - please visit The Genesis Club and help us to "Make Strides for Mental Health"

Today marks a special day in the season. This Friday is an especially meaningful one for New Englanders because it marks the last unofficial day of summer. New England summers are bordered by two big holiday weekends - they begin with Memorial Day and end with Labor Day. After the 1st of September and Labor Day things just seem different; all the kids are back in school, the air is not as sticky and there's a frightening briskness to the air that hints at the approaching Fall only three weeks away.

Of course, the end of August always bares signs of the coming seasonal change. I almost drove off the rode a couple weeks ago when I saw my first cluster of foliage, glowing bright orange at the top of an oak tree still surrounded by green neighbors. Soon the streets will be swarming with "foliage watchers" with cameras in hand and backbacks slung over their shoulders that blaringly scream "tourist!", who have traveled the world to see New England's most colorful time of year. You'd also know them because they'll be the ones standing in the middle of the street taking pictures of a tree in the middle of rush hour (oh yes, I've seen it before). Meanwhile the Mass natives will flock to Vermont to see the real autumn colors amidst mountains spotted with quintessential New England towns (not to mention the best apple pickin' and maple syrup). It will all come so fast after Labor Day.

So moral of the story is, enjoy the last weekend of summer. Hit the beach, take the boat out for its last summer run, wear your bathing suit every where you can (using your own discretion of course), and exhaust every last ounce of propane in your grill with a full weekend of BBQs/cookouts (Hellooooo Bobby Flay!). It is all too fleeting!

Happy Labor Day!

PAN Communications recently held its 12th Annual Summer Outing at beautiful Rye Beach, NH. The amount of fun had by all is indescribable. Just to recap: the theme was 007, the weather was beautiful, the food was delicious, the scavenger hunt was a blast, the volleyball tournament was intense and the bonding (no pun intended) experience was priceless! Click here to see more pictures!