The Publicity Hound’s Blog  

The it-borders-on-kiddie-porn photo of Miley Cyrus in the current issue of Vanity Fair magazine screams for comment from artists, photographers, parents, teens, and anybody else who wants to jump onto this controversy.

Miley, who was photographed by Annie Leibovitz,  has issued a statement saying she’s embarrassed by the way the photo turned out. And her father, Billy Ray Cyrus, is reportedly upset.

Hollywood types have already weighed in with their “what’s the big deal?” comments.   

Parents, what do you do you think?

Artists, is the photo truly art, as the Vanity Fair editors claim?

Photographers, if given the opportunity, would you have shot a famous 15-year-old half nude?

Bloggers, bring it on.

Artists often comment about how difficult it is to generate publicity for themselves. Commenting on controversial topics is one of the best ways. During the teleseminar I hosted on “How Artists Can Sell More Artwork from Online and Offline Publicity,” I suggested artists create a Google Alert for topics they want to follow.   

Google Alerts will keep you updated weekly, daily, or several times a day about when that topic appears someplace online, either in a blog post or video or news story.    

Posted In: Celebrity tie-ins, Blogs, Photos & Graphics, Publicity on the Internet, Magazine Publicity
posted On: 4/30/2008: 1:08 pm: By Joan
Comments: 2 Comments

NBC’s hit series “The Office” returns at 9 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, April 10.

That’s good news for its huge legion of fans, which includes “producet placement watchers” who are looking for the next brand name to pop up in the popular series.

“The Office” is known for, among other things, its liberal use of branded products on the set. Some companies—like Staples, Sandals Resorts, Hewlett-Packard, Gateway and Cisco, for instance—pay big bucks to get their brands in front of viewers.

If you have a consumer product that you want to get onto a popular TV show or onto the set of a movie, you don’t necessarily have to negotiate expensive product placement agreements like those companies have. Often, production coordinators will accept all kinds of products, from bottled water to artsy jewelry, and place them on the set for free.

Amy Bates Stumpf and Rebecca Lightsey, both experts at product placement, explained during an interview I conducted with them “How to Get Your Consumer Products onto the Sets of Movies & TV Shows” that the hard part is getting through to the right person. It could be the set dresser. Or the product placement coordinator.

The magic of technology can place your product onto sitcoms that have been in syndication for several years. That means that if you have a consumer product that’s a perfect tie-in with a show like “Home Improvement” for example, you might be able to get it onto the set.

Posted In: Celebrity tie-ins, Business Promotion, TV Publicity
posted On: 4/3/2008: 7:45 am: By Joan
Comments: No Comments

Authors, have you written a book that would be the perfect goodie bag item for a man or woman who has just gone through a divorce and will be attending a divorce party April 4 in Fort Lauderdale?

Publicists or celebrity agents, do you have an up-and-coming young female celebrity client to endorse and be actively involved with a tween and teen website and jewelry line? If so, Heart of Gold wants to know.

Those are just a few of the promotional opportunities listed at PRNewswire’s ProfNet Post blog. Subscribe to the RSS feed to stay atop opps like these.

Posted In: Celebrity tie-ins, Business Promotion, Authors & Publishers
posted On: 3/22/2008: 3:19 pm: By Joan
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Newspapers are headed for extinction, but celebrity news has never been more in demand.

The Associated Press wire service is hiring 21 writers this year, spread across Los Angeles, New York and London, says Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood Daily blog.

It’s also cold comfort that AP insists its new separate entertainment vehicle is “not about gossip, unnamed sources and innuendo or about ‘peephole’ journalism with AP photographers becoming paparazzi.” Instead, the wire service claims it’s just giving its members what they want “in an area of growing interest” because it “makes good business sense.”

If the AP covers a story, it will send it to hundreds of its member papers. So there’s a big advantage to getting into an AP story. The push for more celebrity news is a great chance for experts to piggyback onto it. 

Debra Holtzman does just that. She’s an author and child safety expert and keeps a close eye on celebrity news. When she sees a celebrity putting a child at risk, or announcing a pregnancy or adoption, she responds by writing press releases.

For example, when Madonna and her husband, Guy Ritchie, decided to adopt a baby boy, Debra wrote a press release headlined Madonna and Guy’s Perfect Baby Room for David, with tips on how to create a safe nursery. She has received lots of coverage from top-tier publications as a result of her press releases.

What kind of celebrity news can you piggyback onto? (See “Special Report #50: How to Piggyback onto Celebrity News to Promote Your Product, Service, Cause or Issue.”)

Posted In: The Local Angle, Celebrity tie-ins, Publicity on the Internet, Newspaper Publicity, Pitching the Media, Press Releases/News Releases
posted On: 3/21/2008: 5:17 pm: By Joan
Comments: No Comments

Posted In: Celebrity tie-ins
posted On: 2/26/2008: 10:22 pm: By Joan
Comments: No Comments