FPRA Annual Conference: General Session D, The New Media Roller Coaster Ride - Cynthia Gordon
Cynthia Gordon, VP of Corporate Communications and TV Program Development at Universal Studios, gave an interesting presentation on “The New Media Roller Coaster Ride.” She described how Universal used bloggers, appropriate Web sites, YouTube and much more new technology to market their brand and events, such as the popular Halloween Horror Nights.
Universal will soon come out with a new Harry Potter theme park, authenticated by J.K. Rowling herself. Webcasters and fans of the adventure stories were allowed to get a sneak peak at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Islands of Adventure. By using new media technology Universal created a BIG buzz about the theme park and invited average media users to help spread the word. Over 300 Million critics with blogs & digital videos are available for hire as potential marketing executives. Maybe you can be one of them.
It’s funny to me how people over 35 seem to be so surprised by new media. As students, we are probably under 25 and we grew up in a time where new media wasn’t really new to us; it’s just the way it is and we grew up with these new advancements. To us catching up on our news online or watching the latest events unfold on YouTube isn’t shocking or amazing to us. This is just the way it is. What I mean by this is we aren’t awestruck enough to let this new technology scare us or intimidate us. We can utilize our skill and knowledge to expand our PR strategies.
Maybe this is our “in” to impressing our bosses and becoming indispensable.
Blogs, podcasts, Facebook/MySpace, links, Web sites, all those “techy” words; to us they are every day vocabulary and we probably know more about them then we think. Just ask someone over 40 if they know the basics of Web site design. Maybe you’ll get a yes, but I assure you the average wouldn’t know.
For instant, my mother once asked me to look up a Jacksonville number while I was in Tallahassee. Then she said, "Oh, you can't because you don't have a phone book." I was like, "Mom, its called Google!" She just didn't think of that because it wasn't second nature to her like it is to me. So study up on new media because it might be our golden ticket to becoming the new giants of PR.
