It was supposed to be just another innocently fun episode in the life and times of the cute little GEICO pig, the happy hog who reps the lighter side of the “save you money” insurance. Ronn Torossian 5WPR has written before about how the pig was a solid PR move by GEICO to present another aspect of its product. However, not everyone is happy about what the little ham has been up to lately.

In a recent ad, Maxwell the Pig sits in a car at lookout point, presumably with a date (he’s been on several). The car is broken down and he’s searching for a tow truck using the (hey!) GEICO road assistance app. Pretty nifty, right?

It is far from earth shattering news that a client placement on Oprah.com is a big deal says 5WPR CEO and Founder . Along with a few other media outlets, Oprah’s website is in exclusive company — the “holy grail” for food & beverage, beauty, and products from other industries that appeal to her target market. Last week, our Consumer team at 5W was fortunate enough to see the results of weeks and months of hard work pitching the top tier magazine and website, and placed our client Groupe SEB’s T-Fal ActiFry, in Oprah’s Favorite Things 2013 holiday product recommendations. While this feature is nothing out of the ordinary for teams in all practice areas at 5W, there are a number of things to be gleaned from this media placement:

The Power of Oprah. According to Compete.com site analytics, Oprah.com received approximately 1.8 million unique web visitors in September, the last month of full rankings. In PR and media circles, that is considered to be a big number.  Does that mean that 1.8 million people will read that article? Of course not, but it does mean that our client was placed in front of a lot of eyeballs. Additionally, in a true testament to the ActiFry’s quality, Oprah actually posted a photo of herself holding the product back in February with the status update: “This machine ..T-Fal actifry has changed my life. And they’re not paying me to say it.” Do you know how many people liked it? Around 29,000. Talk about a major celebrity endorser. Speaking of social

In the wake of this summer’s National Security Agency (NSA) public relations debacle surrounding Edward Snowden revealing operational details of mass surveillance, the American public is quite wary of how, and with whom, their private information is shared.

Following last week’s LinkedIn Intro announcement, security and technology researchers have responded with skepticism and criticism regarding the technology which allows for e-mail account synchronization with LinkedIn profiles in order to tell the recipient more (or less) about the sender. In short, the application allows for a sort of LinkedIn verification, showing mutual connections and other information about the sender with the goal of becoming a more personal, less spam-like exchange.

The possibilities are nearly endless for creating new forms of public outreach.  No one understands this more than 5W Public Relations CEO Ronn Torossian, who has been a PR expert for over 15 years.  With these resources, it will not be long before the entire public relations paradigm shifts and the interconnected worlds of business, the web, and media outlets are able to fully work as one to provide everyone with exactly what they want.

For example, if you Google “airlines” or “flights” multiple times over a few days, you will begin to notice that the ads popping up on your Google searches and YouTube videos tend to be about travel.  This is the way that these sites work with advertisers to try and find those people most likely to use their services.  If you are regularly traveling, an ad telling you about 10% off hotel rooms may be something you genuinely want or need.  It’s called “microtargeting,” and it has proven to be fairly effective.

The work we do as public relations professionals helps to build brands through earned media and at the core of this is content. Every day we are working with our clients on press quotes, byline articles, presentations, and more. All of this is content. And content as they say in today’s day and age is king. There are basic SEO best practices that PR executives can integrate into the work they are already doing to further help their clients drive website traffic and increase brand visibility.

Here’s a quick breakdown of SEO and PR together being the future of the Public Relations industry from our Digital Marketing Director Cary Leibowitz.

Though it is sad to say that this nation has been visited by more than its fair share of tragedy in the last year, both natural and man made, it is an amazing to see how, even in the toughest of times, a nation can come together to help heal from those wounds. We are not strangers to this. In the aftermath of 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, Americans mobilized to volunteer their time, their money, and the sweat of their brow to help out however they could.

But with the growth of social media as a tool for volunteers to reach out and organize, those who wish to help now have an even more powerful ally as they try to fix whatever has broken among us. Ronn Torossian, CEO of 5W Public Relations firm, highlights five ways that social media is being used by disaster relief volunteers.

Everyone from Facebook to Reddit, to the Washington Post and NY Daily News is talking about a Scottsdale, Arizona, restaurant, Amy’s Baking Company says Ronn Torossian 5WPR CEO.  However, this is a perfect case of how “bad PR” really can be BAD. There is a cliché in public relations agencies and that all publicity is good publicity. That’s not true.

After a particularly horrendous appearance on the television show, Kitchen Nightmares, the owners of Amy’s Baking Company were enticed into a social media war. The fight quickly got heated and spread across the social media spectrum. So epic was the subsequent PR train wreck that the story was picked up by media outlets from New York to Los Angeles.

Sometimes, when thinking about major corporate public relations, there is a tendency to think big first. Of course, when your target market is regional, national or international, you have to think big. But when it comes to successful corporate public relations, there are several good reasons to “think globally, but act locally.”

As one of many PR agencies in NY, 5WPR works very hard to stay engaged in our community. Not only can we make our neighborhoods better places to live and play, but we can better serve our client by making sure the PR firm they hire knows the hears of their customers.