Chiquita Banana’s Sticker Contest is being recognized as an innovative contest involving its consumers in the re branding of their iconic blue sticker, a strategy also known as crowdsourcing. This blogger explains the growing trend of crowdsourcing, and showcases Chiquita as perfectly utilizing this new concept.

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Call me crazy but I thought it was a well-known rule of thumb that while appearing in a court of law for any reason at all, the PR standard is to 1. dress respectably 2. act accordingly and 3. generally try to leave a good impression. Gangsters who have never owned a suit will appear before a judge “suited and booted”, hair trimmed, nails clean with a humble demeanor. Psychopaths have been drugged and coached on how to appear “normal” and lectured on keeping a lid on crazed outbursts.
Where was her PR team when Lindsey Lohan decided a discreet “f*** u” delicately painted on her middle finger was just the right accessory to bring into court for her sentencing. I wonder if it was a hopeful use of the term? Thinking she could not possibly spend any time in jail she would cry hysterically and prominently flash the middle finger to the press in ironic triumph??? Or was it crazy foreshadowing and she knew she was going to the bink, the big heezy, “County”. I just find it hard to wrap my brain around the second scenario. Maybe her nail tech, best friend, agent placed the lovely verbiage on her nail unbeknownst to her while she was passed out after the requisite “Night before sentencing party”.
Whatever the reason or situation that led to Ms. Lohan’s unfortunate nail ornamentation one thing is painfully clear. No longer will she be remembered as that super talented actress in the Herbie the Love Bug remake. Now she goes down in the same manner as our esteemed Tara Reid…just another chic, who for a second could have really done something but instead initiated her own demise and managed to go out without a shred of dignity left in tact.

Do you hear that?
Oh, just hundreds and thousands of the Cleveland hearts breaking.
All-around-good-guy LeBron James arguably demonstrated one of the worst PR mistakes known in sports.  Teams trade players and players leave teams all the time – so what happened here? Lets go down the checklist of how-to-lose-the-public’s-good-faith in 60 emotionless and slightly boring minutes.
1)    Make the personal decision to take his talents to the Miami Heat? Check.
2)    Opting out of the low-key press conference and instead deciding to rally ESPN and all NBA fans to witness “The Decision”? Check.
3)    Blast his Decision in an hour-long fiasco that nationally humiliates every Cleveland fan — young to grown? Check.
You can’t blame the media; James generated the ESPN circus all on his own.  This isn’t even just a sports story anymore; this is TV.

What a breakup.  

1. 1. We’re living in a reality-TV obsessed world, so it’s best to use real people and real stories to spread the good word.
2. 2. Hearing it straight from the horses’ mouth adds credibility; generate an Employment Image campaign and let your employees and their experiences speak for you.
3. 3. The charities that you support are grateful; let them give back by acting as third-party spokespeople.
4. 4. Tell them yourself!  Include your good deeds in your company boilerplate and integrate the information into corporate sponsored events when relevant.
5. 5. Show them the numbers! Commission an economic impact report – internally and externally – and use that quantitative data to support your story.
6. 

As traditional media struggles to remain relevant, and adjust to compete with new media by implementing social networking, video, etc., even the mighty Playboy brand is vulnerable.

The company is currently in a bidding war over its future.  Shares of Playboy increased by about 35% on Monday morning as Hugh Heffner bided to take the company private while competitor Penthouse simultaneously made a play to gain a share of the company.