Air Pacific Media Monitoring: Week of April 28th to May 2nd

United Remains the Problem Child of the U.S. Airline IndustryBusiness WeekApril 24th, 2014http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-04-24/united-remains-the-ugly-stepchild-of-the-u-dot-s-dot-airline-industry

• Summary: United was one of the few airlines that did not emerge from the winter quarter with profits. Mainly due to the airlines canceling about 35,000 flights due to weather equating to 7 days out of the 90 days of the quarter were not flown. The company has created an efficiency effort called Project Equality to lessen their costs by 250 to 300 million this year. They include focusing on revenue management, airline seating, better efficiency with hub travel, and better efficiency with aircraft size and route. 
• Relevance: Being on the west coast, weather is not as much of a factor, but we should keep these strategies in mind to lower costs to increase profit. 

Travelers Love Airlines- Except for the Flying

NBC News

April 21st, 2014

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/travel/travelers-love-airlines-except-flying-n86131

• Summary: In the latest customer index satisfaction report, consumers gave the airline industry overall good marks, however the drop off is the actual flight. Most companies saw an increase in their satisfaction reports, but JetBlue and Southwest saw a decrease. The report believes that is due to the rise in ticket prices. Both companies have a motto of low cost travel, they get dissatisfaction when the companies' ticket prices are expensive.
• Relevance: Make sure to keep this in mind if ticket prices need to rise due to costs. 

Making Jet Fuel Out of Garbage

Environment and Energy Publishing

April 25th, 2014

http://www.eenews.net/stories/1059998443

• Summary: British Airways and Solena Fuels have partnered together to make 50,000 metric tons of jet fuel from municipal solid waste per year. This is the first project in the world to convert trash to fuel. Recent studies have shown that this fuel could reduce greenhouse gases by 95 percent compared to those emitted by fossil fuels. However, this technology is quite expensive. About 600 million dollars will go to developing Solena Fuels technology. British Airways plans to fly from JFK airport to Heathrow in 2017 fueled with this trash fuel if everything works out.
• Relevance: Look into purchasing this fuel to appeal to green aware consumers. 

Company Camera: Portland Bolt and Manufacturing Co. 

Oregonian

April 30th, 2014

http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2014/04/company_camera_portland_bolt_a.html#incart_river

• Summary: A company profile that is based in Portland, Oregon, done by the Oregonian. 
• Relevance: Something that our PR company needs to pitch to the Oregonian to get the news out about Air Pacific. 

Frontier Airlines Now Charging for Carry On Bags

KGW.com

April 28th, 2014

http://www.kgw.com/news/business/256993071.html

• Summary: Frontier has decided to lower their tickets prices by 12 percent, but with that comes fee prices like charging to carry on bags, or certain seat assignments.
• Relevance: No word on whether consumers like fee- dependent airlines in comparison to the big four, but Air Pacific should look into becoming a low cost airline without fees to stand out. 

Reading Summary Chapter 13

Chapter 13: The Internet and Social Media 

• Characteristics of the new media system: widespread broadband, cheap and easy to use online publishing tools, new distribution channels, mobile devices, and new advertising paradigms
• Internet was first created for academic researchers in the 1960s, widely used in the 1990s by the public 
• How the internet helps public relations
• information is updated quickly without having to reprint materials
• allows interactivity
• readers can dig deeper into subjects that interest them
• no space or time limitation
• cost effective way to spread news
• you can reach markets without having to go through editors
• accessible from anywhere and 24 hours a day
• Social media considered Web 2.0
• “one of the most dramatic, if not revolutions, in history, exploded in 2007
• Blogs- used by people to post opinions or diary like entries, virtually no costs
• Three types: organizational, employee, and third party blogs 
• Facebook and Myspace are essential for PR because they gain consumer insights, build brand awareness, and create customer loyalty 
• Youtube: second most popular search engine after Google, streams about 40 percent of all online videos
• Flickr: photo sharing website that allows individuals to share photos of vacations, personal photos and even their birthday party
• primarily used personally 
• companies are strongly discouraged to sell products on the site 
• companies can use it to generate population and involvement on the consumer side
• Texting: a message sent through a cell phone
• 75 percent of mobile users send texts on the daily
• 90 percent of college students send a text on a daily basis
• Companies uses three levels of texting:
• Broadcast text: send a brief message to all employees at the same time
• Subscription: users sign up to receive tests from groups or organizations 
• “One-off”: cell phone user can send a text message to a source to get an answer
• Twitter: social networking and microblogging site that allows users to post messages of up to 140 characters in length 
• Tips for PR use of twitter:
• Think outside the box: create ways to engage with public 
• Avoid bulletin board syndrome: use it to engage in conversation with followers
• Don’t be a “twammer”: limit the number of tweets you post
• Be committed to updating: good idea to post once a day 
• Use twitter in a crisis: ideal form of communication when there is a crisis or fast breaking news 
• Wikis: collection of webpages that enables anyone to access them and provide input and modify content 
• Podcasts: digital media file that is distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds for playback on portable media players and personal computers 
• Advantages: cost-effective, ability of users to access material on a 24/7 basis, portability 
• Uses for organizations: news about the company, in-depth interviews, features giving consumer tips about products, training materials for employees 
• Web 3.0: researchers predict mobile phones will become mini-computers, news releases will be modified to be read on mobile devices, cost of mobile enabled content will go down which will allow consumers to send and receive vast amounts of information 

Air Pacific Media Monitoring: Week of April 21st to April 25th

"Airlines look for ways to cut down on weight, squeeze in more seats"LA TimesApril 20th, 2014http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-travel-briefcase-20140421,0,131113.story#ixzz2zeNCEZRB

• Summary: At the aircraft interiors expo in Hamburg, Germany, the focus was on airline seats. Many new ideas were featured like new positioning of seats, lightweight seat options and different cushioning. The goal of these ideas were to cut fuel costs for airlines and fit as many customers on a plane that the area can hold. 
• Relevance: Air Pacific should look into these new options for ultimate low cost travel. 

"Fliers say bill will give airlines license to lie about fares"
USA Today
April 21st, 2014
http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/2014/04/21/transparent-airfares-act-airline-ticket-tax/7956227/

• Summary: A new bill called Transparent Airfare Acts of 2014 will allow airlines to show the actual cost of the fare without including taxes. They will be able to advertise the cost, but when you are ready to buy, all taxes will show up, making it more expensive than the advertised price. Airlines want this to pass because they say it will help with transparency, but some consumers feel it is false advertising.
• Relevance: Air Pacific should be aware of bill and follow it throughout the process as it could affect how the airlines prices flights. 

"Pricey fuel has helped stabilize airline industry"
Tusla World
April 17th, 2014
http://www.tulsaworld.com/business/aerospace/pricey-fuel-has-helped-stabilize-airline-industry/article_3d9b81f2-5337-5720-b36b-dc17bd010ccc.html

• Summary: With the average price per gallon paid going up from 1.42, a decade ago, to 3.03 just last year, it has made airlines even the playing field. It is much harder for low cost start up airlines to come in and out profit the higher more established airlines. 
• Relevance: Something to keep in mind for Air Pacific. Maybe advertise for new travel and as we start gaining ground, we can advertise low cost travel. 

"Oregon wine flies free on return Alaska Airlines flights (check the details)"
Oregonlive.com
April 18th, 2014
http://www.oregonlive.com/travel/index.ssf/2014/04/oregon_wine_flies_free_on_alas.html

• Summary: Alaska Airlines has partnered with wineries around Oregon to allow one free case of wine as free checked luggage. This project is to increase the amount of flights to Oregon and to encourage travelers to buy Oregon wine.
• Relevance: Alaska Airlines is one of Air Pacific's competitors. We should look into creating a similar program! 

"The Southwest Flight Attendant is Here!"
Ellentv.com
April 21st, 2014
http://www.ellentv.com/videos/0-jcon5e6w/?autoplay=true

• Summary: Southwest flight attendant that became a YouTube star after her safety speech is invited to talk on Ellen Degeneres' talk show. 
• Relevance: Great PR work that we should look into doing once Air Pacific is rolling. 

Reading Summary Chapter 14 and Chapter 15

Chapter 14: Preparing Materials for Mass Media 

News Release 

• most common tactic in public relations 
• Planning worksheet should answer these questions:
• What is the key message?
• Who is the primary audience?
• What does the target audience gain from product or service?
• What objective does the release serve?
• Is a news release the best format? 
• Basic Formatting of a new release
• Single spaced, 200 words or less, inverted pyramid approach, top line should give name of organization, second line should give date, third line should be the headline, provide a dateline, end paragraph should give basic information about company, and lastly, there should be the contact information of the public relations person on the release

Multimedia News Release

• Smart Media Release (SMR) or social media news release, idea that allows you to embed a news release with higher resolution photos and graphics, video, and audio components 
• SEO- search engine optimization, the process of carefully selecting key words for the news release that make the content easily retrievable 
• Publicity photos attached with these SMR’s should be great quality, have an interesting subject matter, uncluttered composition, some sort of action, use scale, interesting cameral angle, good lighting and color
• Media kit, press kit: prepared for major events, gives editors and reporters a variety of information and resources that will make it easier for reporters to write about topic 
• usually includes main news release, new feature, fact sheets, background information, photos and drawing with captions, biographical material on senior executive, and several short brochures 
• digital media kit are more often used because of the cost effectiveness, and expand potential audience 
• Mat Feature Release (mat)- a feature angle is used rather than a lead, distributed through formats like Word, jpeg, or pdf 
• Fact Sheet
• Summary sheet about the characteristics of a new product that serves as reference for journalists 
• Corporate profile is one page summary in bulleted format that gives the basic facts about an organization or company 

The Pitch

• The objective is to contact journalists and bloggers on a one to one basis and convince them that you have a newsworthy story or idea 
• Use succinct subject line 
• Keep the message short, usually one screen length
• Don’t mass email all editors, break it up into smaller groups
• Establish a relationship with journalists, often helps not getting your email deleted right away 
• Email isn’t the only way, ProfNet (subscription), or Reporter connection (free) and Help a reporter out (HARO, free) 

• Distributing media materials can happen in five major methods: first class mail, fax, email, electronic wire services and online newsrooms 
• Most common are electronic news sources, where organizations use Business Wire or PR Newswire to distribute news releases or online newsrooms which is apart of their website, journalists can access everything like company profiles and news releases 

Chapter 15: Radio and Television 

Radio

• Audio news release (ANR): three differences, written for the ear, more concise and to the point, and the writing style is more conversational 
• most effective approach is to provide a radio station with a recording of someone speaking, another way includes having the radio announcer speak the script which also includes a soundbite of a customer 
• Radio PSA (Public service announcement): an unpaid announcement that promotes the programs that serve public interest, usually kept shorter, but can go from about 10 seconds to 60 seconds 
• Radio Media Tours (RMT): spokesperson does a series of one on one interviews with radios all across the country, relatively low cost 

Television

• Video news release (VNR): large organizations tend to turn to these when they want a more recognition for their product or service 
• typical 90 second VNR costs a minimum of 20,000 dollars to 50,000 dollars for production and distribution 
• on average takes four to six weeks to script, produce, and distribute 
• b-roll: two to three minutes of film with no recording over it, this allows producers to pick and edit so they can make their own story out of it 
• Guest appearances must have three requirements:
• Preparation: make sure to have a key message
• Concise speech: responses to questions should be 30 seconds or less 
• Relaxation: Tell client to forget about audience, view it as just a person to person conversation  

Air Pacific Media Monitoring: Week of April 14th to April 18th

Virgin America tops Consumer Reports airline rankings
KGW.com
April 7th, 2014
http://www.kgw.com/news/consumer/Virgain-America-rated-top-airline--254238521.html

• Summary: Virgin American is rated top airline by Consumer Reports. This finding was based on a survey taken in February that asked consumers about their satisfaction with the airlines particularly seat comfort, check in service, cabin crew, cabin cleanliness, and inflight entertainment. Spirit airlines, a company that prides themselves on low cost travel, was ranked at the bottom of the list.
• Relevance: Air Pacific's message is west coast, low cost travel. The company must keep true to that message, but look into providing the best accommodations for customers as well. 

Alaska Airlines is favorite among business travelers
Los Angeles Times
April 14th, 2014
http://seattletimes.com/html/travel/2023373889_alaskaairlinesbusinesstravelxml.html

• Summary: Even though a majority of business travelers fly United or Delta, when asked by Certify, a business management company, most preferred Alaska airlines first, then Southwest airlines. 
• Relevance: In our Portland market, we are aiming our campaigns towards business travelers. We need to take note of what Alaska airlines does well and what they could improve on for Air Pacific to be a contender in the business traveler market. 

Unemployment in Oregon: the past decade, in one interactive chart
Oregonlive.com
April 15th, 2014
http://www.oregonlive.com/money/index.ssf/2014/04/unemployment_in_oregon_the_past_decade_in_one_interactive_chart.html#incart_river

• Summary: Oregon's unemployment rate held below seven percent again for the second straight month. As people who left the labor force start to join in again, similar to this month, the increase of unemployment will continue.
• Relevance: Air Pacific will appeal to the Portland market because of the lack of jobs. This is a great way to connect with the community of Oregon, and more specifically Portland 

Most airline passengers unaware of rights to compensation when bumped
Komonews.com
April 14th, 2014
http://www.komonews.com/news/consumer/Most-airline-passengers-unaware-of-rights-to-compensation-when-bumped-255257591.html

• Summary: When airlines bump passengers off a flight, customers often do not know how much they could receive. Passengers could receive up to 1, 300 dollars for a four hour delay. 
• Relevance: Make these laws known to customers, but Air Pacific should strive to not oversell flights either. 

Why Southwest Airlines Is Building Parks in Each of Its 90 Cities
Gizmodo.com
April 15th, 2014
http://gizmodo.com/why-southwest-airlines-is-building-parks-in-each-of-its-1563417756

• Summary: Southwest airlines has teamed up with nonprofit, Project for Public Spaces, to renovate or build parks in the the 90 cities it travels to. Grant money from the airlines is being to make sure these parts are being used and maintained meaning offering classes, festivals, or even community clean up days.
• Relevance: This is a great way to connect to the community. Something that Air Pacific should think of when they need momentum. 

Reading Summary Chapter 7 and Chapter 8

Chapter 7: Creating News Features and Op-Eds 

• Feature story: provides additional background information, generates human interest, and creates an understanding in a more creative and imaginative way in comparison to a news feature 
• considered “soft news”
• often show up in speciality sections of newspapers
• provides “behind the scenes” perspective, generate publicity for products or services 
• Service journalism: concept of publishing consumer tips and “news you can use” 
• key components: save time, make more money, save money, or get something free 
• Three things to keep in mind when writing a feature idea

1. Conceptualize how something lends itself to feature treatment
2. Determine if the info would be interesting to a particular audience
3. Feature helps achieve organizational objectives 

• Six types of features

1. Case study: tell how individual customers have benefited from a company’s product or service or how another organization has used the product to improve efficiency or profit
2. Application study: similar to a case study, but this study focus primarily on how consumers can use a product or service in new and innovative ways 
3. Surveys and research study: use findings from study to create feature to engage reader
4. Backgrounders: multiple types, one focuses on a problem and how that’s fixed, or how technology has evolved over the years 
5. Personality profile: humanize a celebrity, people love reading about people 
6. Historical piece: significant milestones like anniversaries, birthdays, and major changes create features

• Parts of a feature
• Headline: draws the reader, two types: informational or alliteration 
• Lead: attracts attention and gets the reader to read the rest of the article
• Body: uses direct quotes, concrete examples, stats, descriptive words, and presents info in entertaining way,  not as short as a news release, but concise 
• Summary: clear, complete, and most important part of the story, the lasting message that the writer leaves the reader with
• Photos and graphics: can be important in a feature, info graphics are popular for this 
• Features can be placed in newspapers, general magazines, and specific magazines 
• Op-ed: opposite the editorial page, purpose of these articles is to present a variety of views on different social aspects or topics 
• In a public relations world, this is an opportunity for clients to reach audiences that are considered to be “opinion leaders” 
• generally 400 to 750 words 
• Letter to the editor: shorter than an op ed piece, rebuts editorial, clarifies information in a news story, or adds additional information in an original story 

Chapter 8: Selecting Publicity Photos and Graphics 

• Photos and graphics are important components of new releases, generate more interest 
• Components of a good photo
• must be high resolution, and appeal to media gatekeepers 
• technical quality: high contrast and sharp detail are extremely important 
• subject matter: grip and grin format is okay for trade magazines, but can be boring, large group photos are also not welcomed in general circulation newspapers and magazines, instead try smaller groups of locals that you can send to local cities’ papers
• composition: keep the photo simple and uncluttered, take tight shots with minimal background, emphasize detail, but not the whole scene, try to frame picture, avoid wasted space, no sunglasses 
• action: action projects movement and creates the idea that something is happening, always more interesting, sometimes mug shots are needed 
• scale: contain some element of known size so the viewer can understand how big or small an object is 
• camera angle: different approaches can create interest 
• lighting and timing
• color photos 
• Cropping and retouching  photos may be necessary, however could create ethical issues 
• Caption: brief text under photo that tells the reader about the picture and its source, all photos sent to the media need one, usually around two to four sentences
• Infographic: simple and well designed, colorful graphics
• Pie chart: ideal for showing what part of the total is used, often used by organizations to show budget or revenues
• Bar chart: ideal for showing comparisons between the years like income, sale or prices
• Graph: like a bar chart, but better suited for showing changes over a long period of time

Air Pacific Media Monitoring: Week of April 7th to April 11th, 2014

"Southwest Airlines, once a brassy upstart, is showing its age"
Yahoo News
April 2nd, 2014
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/southwest-airlines-once-brassy-upstart-023800228.html

• Summary: Southwest airlines started similarly with the message of low cost travel, but recently with the changes occurring in the airline industry, the airlines has started to show signs of similar problems that major airlines like United, American, and Delta have. Because of this change, employees are unhappy, flight prices have gone up, and people are not sure if they will be brand loyal for much longer.
• Relevance: As Air Pacific starts to build momentum, we need to use Southwest as example. The airlines should stick to the message they send from the beginning. 

"SeaPort Airlines Completes Cutover To Amadeus Altéa Technology Platform"
Amadeus.com
April 1st, 2014
http://www.amadeus.com/web/amadeus/en_US-US/Amadeus-Home/News-and-events/News/04114_SeaPort-Airlines-Completes-Cutover-To-Amadeus-Altéa/1259071352352-Page-AMAD_DetailPpal?assetid=1319592605951&assettype=PressRelease_C

• Summary: SeaPort Airlines, a company based in Portland, OR, starts using the Amadeus Altéa Technology. This will allow the airlines to connect US air transportation for small and midsize communities and it will re-establish services on discontinued nonstop city pairs. This technology also allows airlines to make interline agreements, an agreement that allows individual airlines to handle passengers flying on an itinerary with multiple airlines. Alaska Airlines has set up an agreement with SeaPort Airlines.
• Relevance: This technology might be something worth investing in for Air Pacific, or joining with SeaPort on as this will provide easy traveling for passengers. 

"Airline Industry Warms to Costly Real-Time Tracking After Flight 370"
Wall Street Journal
April 1st, 2014
http://stream.wsj.com/story/malaysia-airlines-flight-370/SS-2-475558/SS-2-497799/

• Summary: As the days pass by to find the missing Malaysia airlines flight, the airline industry is warming up to the idea of real time tracking. This technology could be very costly, but the industry is accepting that it will only help solve mysteries. There is new technology coming out  that will give a very detailed report from orbiting satellites in space, but only four countries air traffic control centers will be using the technology which is expected to be fully operational by 2017. 
• Relevance: Industry is looking to change to change air traffic control signals. This is relevant because it is a need to know for airline executives. 

"Alaska Airlines to offer in-flight entertainment on passenger's personal devices"
The Oregonian
April 4th, 2014
http://www.oregonlive.com/travel/index.ssf/2014/04/alaska_airlines_to_offer_in_fl.html

• Summary: Alaska airlines has announced that they will invest about 100 million dollars into providing inflight entertainment systems through GoGo vision. All seats will be outfitted with outlets and USB ports. The system will allow you to watch movies and TV shows for under six dollars on your own laptop. 
• Relevance: Alaska airlines is one of our main competitors. It is good to know what they are doing and how we can top them. 

"SkyWest to end flights out of Klamath Falls"
Herald News
April 4th, 2014
http://www.heraldandnews.com/news_flash/article_2c78bc24-bc24-11e3-bce0-0019bb2963f4.html

• Summary: SkyWest airlines announced that they will discontinue their flights out of Klamath Falls. An increase in regulations has made it hard for airlines to maintain profitability in smaller markets. 
• Relevance: How can Air Pacific pick these dropped routes down while still staying with the message of low cost west coast travel? 

Reading Summary Chapter 5 and Chapter 6

Chapter 5: Writing the News Release 

• Because so many news releases do not get published, 3 things must be uniform in a news release in order for it to be published 
• Standardized format, provide information that interests an audience, material must be timely 
• Why a news release? 
• Help achieve objectives, cost effective, and serve the needs of media
• Planning worksheet
• What is the subject of the message? 
• Who is the message designed to reach?
• What is in it for the particular audience? 
• What goal is the organization pursuing?
• What do you want to achieve with the news release?
• What key messages should this news release highlight?
• Who, what, where, why and how should be included in planning a news release
• Basic components of a news release
• Letterhead: The first page of the release has the organization’s letterhead. Some companies have a letterhead specifically for news releases. Letterhead usually includes name of company, address, telephone, and website.
• Contacts: All news releases should have a contact so if the reporter was to have any questions they could ask this person. Name, telephone, and email address are suitable, but more information can be given like twitter handle.
• Headline: The most important aspect of the story to give the journalist an indication about what the press release is about. The text should be slightly larger than the body, it should be written in active present tense and it should only have about eight to ten words in the title. 
• Dateline: The city where the release originated from appears at the beginning of the lead paragraph in all capital letters. It is accompanied by the date of the release. 
• The lead: Most important part of the whole release is the lead paragraph. It opens up the release with the most interesting point and only that. The rest of the release can go into details and other points. 
• Three types of leads: 
• Straight summary lead
• Informal lead- gives facts but in an informal way
• Feature lead- raises reader’s interest 
• Body of text: The rest of the details of the release are included in the body of text. These should be details that help the story, but if they were to get taken out, a reader could still understand. 
• Inverted pyramid
• Part one: Must have information
• Part two: Information that is helpful but not necessary
• Part three: least important, but nice to have 
• Description of organization (7th element of release that is sometimes included): This is a standard paragraph at the end of the release that provides background information about the company. It is often called a boilerplate. Information that can be included is market position, aspiration, size, scope of business activity, geographic coverage and company core values. 
• Traditional news release: double spaced, margins are 2 in from top and 1.5 all around, 10 to 12 point standard font, number the pages
• Online news release: single spaced, length should be between 200-250 words, brevity, subject line in email is most important factor, contact information should be at the bottom, a quote in larger type is often highlighted in the body of the news release 
• Multimedia news release: referred to as a social media release, include links to pages, place keywords in headlines and first paragraphs, distribute release throughout a service that carries hyperlinks to downstream sites, use high resolution media that can be easily downloaded, be selective of photos and videos 

Chapter 6: Preparing Fact Sheets, Advisories, Media Kits, and Pitches

• Fact sheets: One page background sheets about an event, product, or organizations
• Event or exhibit announcements-fact sheet for an upcoming event, exhibit, or trade show, includes basic information like name of the event, sponsor, location, date and time, purpose of event, expected attendance, list of prominent people on program 
• Company profile: fact sheet that gives key information about company, includes information like full name and headquarters address, product and services produced, markets served, annual revenues, stock market ticker, number of employees, name of CEO, position in industry, name of public relations person and contact information 
• Product specification sheets-fact sheet that summarizes a new product’s characteristics, includes nutrition information, production process, pricing, availability, convenience, how it serves consumer needs, another form of this would be a FAQ on a company’s website 
• Media advisories, media alerts: these tell assignment editors about upcoming events that they might be interested in
• contain elements like date, headline announcing event, contact information, brief description, appropriate five Ws and one H, interview opportunities, visual elements, brief paragraph giving background of sponsoring organization 
• Media kit, press kit: prepared for major events, gives editors and reporters a variety of information and resources that will make it easier for reporters to write about topic 
• usually includes main news release, new feature, fact sheets, background information, photos and drawing with captions, biographical material on senior executive, and several short brochures 
• digital media kit are more often used because of the cost effectiveness, and expand potential audience 
• Pitching a story
• research the publication: a pitch must be customized to a particular journalist, editor, and publication 
• Email pitch: short, sentences should be clean, sharp and to the point, and should have an enticing lead, subject line is probably the most important part 
• Telephone pitch: enough facts to support a full story, an angle of interest to the readers of the publication, alternative angles, offer to help secure stats and quotes, have credibility, and offer to follow up to get a decision from the editor 
• Twitter pitch: build a relationship with journalist or blogger before making pitch

Reading Summary Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 4

Chapter 1: Getting Organized for Writing

• Public relations - writing and distributing of messages in numerous formats across media channels and platforms
• Pr work has four components: research, planning, communication and evaluation 
• Pr writing is included in the communication component, only happens when extensive research and planning has been done to formulate goals for campaign
• Strategies - statements of direction 
• strategies are made through a list of tactics 
• Public relations writer - write news releases, formulate feature stories, contact the television show produced to make a pitch for a spokesperson to appear as a guest on that show
• Usually employed by company that is looking to communicate with their stakeholders or employees 
• Questions before writing should usually go along the lines of “How does this help the company achieve its objectives?” 
• Skills:
• Writing skill
• Research ability 
• Planning expertise 
• Problem solving ability 
• Business/ economics competence 
• Social media expertise 
• It is important that pr is up to date on media, always checking blogs, news outlets, electronic databases and search engines
• Outlining a purpose:
• What do we want the audience to do?
• Who is our target audience?
• What are our audience’s needs, concerns, and interests?
• What is our message
• What communication channel is most effective?
• Who is our most believable spokesperson?
• Word choice is super important. Using specific jargon for your audience is key 

Chapter 2: Becoming a Persuasive Writer 

• Aristotle sets down ideas of ethos, pathos and logos
• those ideas mean “source credibility”, “logical argument”, and “emotional appeal” 
• these ideas are still basis of persuasion writing today 
• Basic Elements of Communication
• Sender: organization that prepares and distributes messages
• Message: Important to decide key message, hone how you want the recipient to think, must be clearly expressed with understandable language for readers
• Channel: multiple channels to express message - mass media, websites, social media, brochures, newsletters, videos and events, the characteristics of the audience determine the best channel to use
• Receiver: most effective when tailored to specific audience, “group of publics”- customers, suppliers, employees, community leaders, investors —> each message to different groups require different language to be most effective 
• Theories 
• Media Uses and gratification: communication process is interactive 
• Vals model of lifestyles
• Survivors and sustainers:  low income families or people that consume inexpensive food and rarely go to restaurants
• Belongers: family orientated and traditional 
• Achievers: college educated professionals with high incomes 
• Used this model to appeal to each audience to raise turkey sales 
• Cognitive Dissonance: people will not believe a message contrary to their attitudes and formed opinions unless the communicator can present the info to make the receiver questions their beliefs
• 3 ways to do this: 1. Show that circumstances have changed 2. Provide the information of developments 3. Use a quote from respected person that supports the idea that the public trusts 
• Framing: people use certain facts to frame a story in order to generate maximum interest 
• Diffusion and adoption 
• 5 steps: 1. Awareness 2. Interest 3. Trial 4. Evaluation 5. Adoption 
• Public relations are most influential in awareness and interest
• Adoption process: 
• Relative advantage: Is this better than the product it replaces?
• Compatibility: Is this similar to my ever-changing values and needs?
• Complexity: Is it easy to use and understand?
• Trial-ability: Can you use this in a trial process?
• Observability: Are the results visible to others? 
• Hierarchy of Needs: basic human needs 
• Physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, ego needs, self-actualization needs 
• Factors of Persuasive Writing 
• Audience analysis
• Source credibility
• Appeal to self interest 
• Clarity of message
• Timing and context
• Symbols and slogans
• Semantics 
• Suggestions for actions 
• Content and structure 

Chapter 4: Working with Journalists and Bloggers 

• Reporters and editors spend a majority of their time processing information rather than gathering it 
• Study in 1973 shows that about 60 percent of front page stories in the New York Times and Washington Post were bureaucratic channels, official proceedings, new releases, and other planned events
• Public relations materials save money, time, and effort for the media
• PR reps are unpaid journalists- SJ Mercury editor says
• Public relations relies on media to efficiently distribute information and validate the credibility of the information 
• Earned media: the message has earned trust from media gatekeepers who publish the message as “news”
• Paid media: organizations buys space for message to be distributed in original format 
• Complaints about public relations from journalists
• poorly written material, distribution of information not relevant to a specific news outlet’s format or content, lack of access to the pr representative, receive items as a publicity kit but complaints are that these items are stupid, dull, and overdone, public relation’s business practices are relentless often not understand the word “no” which drives journalists crazy, and pr lacks getting to the point of a news release
• Complaints about journalists and bloggers from public relations
• constant flux of whether your client’s story will be used, journalists fail to contact organization for a comment, lack of preparation, they are bias, there is an advertising influence, journalists name call 
• Working with journalists
• Media interviews, news conferences, teleconferences and webcasts, media tours, previews and parties, press junkets- an all expense paid trip to visit a place, witness an event, or view a new product, editorial board meetings
• Media relations checklist on page 108-109 gives idea for how to deal with the media effectively 
• Crisis communication tests media relations. It is important to be a credible source of information for the media because pr is dealing with the reputation of company or a product that could be in danger

Air Pacific Media Monitoring: Week of March 31st to April 4th, 2014

"US Air Switches to AA's Alliance"
Dallas News/ Dallas Morning News
March 30th, 2014
http://www.dallasnews.com/business/airline-industry/20140330-us-air-switches-to-aas-alliance.ece

• Summary: With US Airways switching alliances, it moves the Oneworld Alliance (American, British, Qantas, Malaysia are some of the big ones) from third to first in domestic travel in the United States. With this merge, Oneworld alliance flyers will see benefits like having access to over 600 lounges in airports and being considered elite with all of the Oneworld network. 
• Relevance: Air Pacific targets customers that are looking low cost, west coast travel. This merge could raise costs for any alliance flyers, meaning we need market media campaigns for low cost travel.

"Industry shake-up batters California's Ontario airport"
The (Palm Springs, Calif.) Desert Sun
March 31st, 2014
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/03/30/air-industry-changes-batter-small-calif-airport/7085601/

• Summary: Because of the rise in airline fuel prices, airlines are offering less flights to smaller or medium sized airports, especially in markets where there are bigger hubs like LAX. 
• Relevance: Air Pacific should look into flying into smaller to medium sized airports. This allows for convenience for passengers and could benefit these airports. 

"Alaska Airlines Cancels Service Between LGB and Portland, Oregon Starting August 23"
The Long Beach Post
March 31st, 2014
http://lbpost.com/news/2000003511-alaska-airlines-cancels-service-between-lgb-and-portland-oregon-starting-august-23#.Uzoc69y51BU

• Summary: Alaska airlines cancels their service between Long Beach airport and Portland airport. 
• Relevance: Air Pacific should look into offering direct routes like the one above as there are less competitors in the market. 

"United Airlines to install 500 device charging stations at airports"
LA Times
March 30th, 2014
http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-power-to-the-people-20140328,0,6173108.story#ixzz2xfwHKWdu

• Summary: United Airlines is adding charging stations in the airport hubs for customers. Charging stations will include two plug in outlets and two USB ports.
• Relevance: Air Pacific should configure their airport waiting areas to allow for charging stations. This is always a plus for customers! 

"Alaska Airlines to serve wine made for altitude"
Puget Sound Business Journal
March 11th, 2014
http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/morning_call/2014/03/alaska-airlines-to-serve-wine-made-for-altitude.html

• Summary: Alaska Airlines has decided to serve local, Seattle and Portland Region, companies' alcohol on flights. All alcohol was made to be served on flights as things taste different in pressurized cabins. 
• Relevance: If serving beverages and/or alcoholic beverages on flights, Air Pacific should consider looking into beverages that are designed to be drunk in the air for ultimate customer satisfaction.