Launch PR

The Amazon Kindle: Change is Coming

Amazon’s Kindle reader might just be the future of book reading as we know it. For those unfamiliar with the product: think iPod meets your local newsstand. It’s a convenient, portable reading device with the ability to wirelessly download books, blogs, magazines, and newspapers. It brands itself as a completely mobile and simple device for all to use—so fear not, non-techies.

Priced at $359, Amazon hopes to attract all of its usual book buyers onto this new format of literature digestion. With the Amazon bookstore connected directly to the device, users can purchase and download new titles or subscriptions in moments, and usually for cheaper prices than a bookstore. The Kindle also makes morning news consumption easier than ever by allowing users to subscribe to their publications of choice, and the content is delivered and downloaded in the wee hours of the morning while most are still in bed.

The online reviews and videos alone are enough to spark serious interest. The device appears effortless and fun to use, and consumers who have already purchased one have fallen in love. To capitalize on the product’s earnest and widespread satisfaction rates, Amazon has taken their consumer product reviews – something the company has championed early on – a step further.

The PR and marketing managers at Amazon have designed a method for prospective Kindle owners to view the product first hand. The appropriately titled “See a Kindle in your City” initiative allows Kindle owners/enthusiasts to volunteer for an informal meeting and demonstration of the device. An Amazon message board allows these prospective customers to connect with Kindle users all over the country, to setup meetings at local coffee shops, public parks, or anywhere at all.

The unique connections Amazon is creating allows the company to generate serious word of mouth buzz, including brand recognition and consumer satisfaction. But is there a catch to all the hype? In our opinion, no. Like Apple, Amazon highlights simplicity as the product’s #1 selling point. And lucky for Amazon, one of those early adopters who loves its simplicity is Oprah.

On Winfrey’s afternoon television talk show Friday October 24th she announced the Kindle is her favorite new gadget and even went as far to say it was her “new favorite thing in the world.” Amazon founder Jeff Bezos made an appearance on the show but had little time to get a word in under Oprah’s singing praises. She applauded the new technology and even delivered one to each member of the studio audience.

Having Oprah’s stamp of approval equates to large sales figures and success for Amazon. Her book club is the largest in the nation and her opinion resonates with millions across America. How big is Oprah’s endorsement? According to a study from the University of Maryland, when Winfrey announced her support of Governor Barack Obama during his campaign, an estimated 1 million votes were added to the Democratic nominee’s tally.

So what does all this love for Kindle mean to you? Is the device unique enough to overcome its hefty price tag? With Oprah’s recent endorsement, will the Kindle be the hottest new gadget on the market this holiday season?

For more information about new product launches, visit www.MMNPL.com.

Nike and Kobe Bryant’s Hyperdunk Sneaker Available This Month

Nike and Kobe Bryant’s have designed a faster, lighter basketball shoe for athletes—the Hyperdunk. In sports, everything boils down to numbers. From the points scored, to the speed of the athlete, to the seconds left in a game, every digit matters. So what are the stats on the Hyperdunk? The springy shoe, available July 26, weighs in at 13 ounces, three ounces (or 18 percent) less than the average sneaker. In turn, less weight equals greater agility on court.

Nike designed the shoe using Flywire, a lightweight yet resilient material. In fact the sportswear company designed performance products for each of the 32 sports competing in this summers Beijing Olympics. All the products, ranging from footwear to uniforms, will be lighter, more flexible models of the existing standard. “Every gram counts in competition,” said Nike President and CEO Mark Parker. “Athletes need superior lightweight footwear and apparel that they can compete in with confidence and that’s exactly what we’ve created for them.”

The models will certainly be valuable to athletes and Olympic competitors. Nike’s new products demonstrate its understanding of the needs of sports players, and build trust in the quality of their brand. Not to mention the coverage Nike will receive from having athletes all over the world model their sneakers during the Olympics! It is a great example on using timeliness and status to release a new product.

-Posted by Gillian_at_Schneider

'Fun Centers' to include Wii consoles in hospitals nationwide

During a time when people would do anything to get their hands on a Nintendo Wii, it’s refreshing to hear about Nintendo donating 1,250 consoles for a good cause. Beginning last week, Fun Centers equipped with Wii consoles were distributed to hospitals across the country to brighten up the lives of ill children.

On June 25, Discovery Kids star, Allen Alvarado of the TV show, Flight 29 Down and good ol’ Mario himself initiated the launch at a Super Mario Galaxy-themed event at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. Two new Fun Centers made their debut appearances to a crowd of excited children.

Along with Wii consoles, Fun Centers feature flat screen TVs, DVD players and 22 Wii games including Super Mario Galaxy and Wii Sports. Fun Centers are wheeled into hospital rooms where children can play right from their beds.

I completely agree with the CEO of Startlight Starbright (the children’s foundation responsible for the Fun Centers), Paula Vann Ness, who said, “Our Fun Centers transform the hospital experience for children, bringing enjoyment and laughter to an otherwise daunting experience.”  It certainly makes multi-week hospital stays pass by a lot quicker.

Fun Centers help keep ill children cheerful throughout their hospital stays, and in the case of the Wii (particularly with games like Wii Fit), can be used to encourage physical therapy and motor coordination exercises.

After reading about the launch of Wii Fit here on LaunchPR, this new partnership makes me wonder if Nintendo is ready to explore all that the Wii has to offer. Maybe the next big game could be one designed to help people combat physical disabilities.

WNBA and Adidas Team Up With I-design T-shirt Competition

The competition has moved off the court and onto the sidelines.  Basketball fans can now combine their love of the game and their love of fashion using one channel.  The Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), in partnership with Adidas, just launched I-design, a t-shirt competition through which fans can design a Shooter Shirt for their favorite WNBA team out of the 14 in the league.

The contest allows fans to feel connected not only to their favorite team but also to fellow basketball enthusiasts.  Completed designs are uploaded onto the Web site for anyone to provide input – either by rating or by commenting on the shirts.  What better way to feel connected to the game than to see your winning design sported on the court by your favorite team and favorite players?  The contest is a creative way for the WNBA to interact with its audience and enable fans to connect with each other, which in turn reflects some of the core values of a team, such as cooperation and unity.

The winning designer for each team will receive an autographed copy of the shooter shirt as well as tickets for two to one of the games.  There will also be a separate competition for the WNBA Finals. The winner of the WNBA Finals shirt will receive an all-expenses paid trip and tickets for two to a finals game.  Fans have until July 31^st to jump into the competition and make their voices heard.

To preview some of the designs and decide which shirt will be a slam dunk and which will fall short, take a peek at www.wnba.com/idesign.

SearchMe: Personalizing Search Engine Results

Click, load, scroll, backtrack and repeat.  Everyone is accustomed to search results at lightning speed, but filtering through the information on the other end and actually finding the desired content can still be a time consuming process.  This will soon be a frustration of the past. 

Searchme is changing the way we search.  With Searchme, users can view previews of Web pages instead of just their links.  Flipping through the pages is quick and easy, eliminating the hassle of loading individual links to determine if content is relevant.

In simplest terms, Searchme makes finding what you are looking for just as easy as searching for it.

Searches can be narrowed down by category, ranging from software and music to genealogy and history, to name a few.  Users can also choose “day” and “night” themes (white or black backgrounds) to match their unearthing mood.

In addition, the site highlights the users’ search terms on the results pages so they don’t have to filter through the information themselves.  Cache is no longer an option but a necessity.  Still in its beta form, Searchme has categorized almost one billion Web sites and is hard at work expanding the database.

Searchme is much more then a search engine, providing links to viewing and downloading videos and images of how it works, photos of Co-Founders Randy Adams and John Holland and a blog to keep users posted on how it’s doing.  Personalizing a search engine?  Now that’s social media at work.  Clearly, word is getting out – Searchme’s video tutorial has seen over 80,000 hits on YouTube.

Is Searchme the future of search engines?  Should Google and Yahoo! start rethinking their current search engine models?

New Community Launch:Nickelodeon Takes Initiative in Environmental Education for Kids

This Earth Day, Nickelodeon, along with parent company Viacom, launched a new “pro-social” environmental campaign, The Big Green Help, modeled after its original pro-social campaign The Big Help.  The network hopes it will educate children on environmental causes, promote daily energy saving and earth friendly activities, and provide new online games to increase awareness about environmental issues.  In carrying out the campaign, Nickelodeon has partnered with many organizations such as, The LeBron James Family Foundation, National Wildlife Federation, Natural Resources and Defense Council, NFL, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, and Girl Scouts of the USA.

In support of Earth Day and the new campaign, the most popular children’s network dedicated all commercial air time to promoting green causes and sending positive messages about the importance of protecting our environment.  As reported by Brandweek, Nickelodeon plans to devote 10% of on air time to “eco-friendly” messages, in the days following the launch. 

To provide a multi-faceted campaign and reach the tech savvy kids, Nickelodeon has launched an online community, TheBigGreenHelp.com, where users can learn more about the environment, play games, and share their thoughts and videos with others.  Nickelodeon is also providing information about this new endeavor on its homepage, Nick.com and online community Nicktropolis. To further accompany the launch, Nickelodeon held an event at Wal-Mart stores where 1 million promotional Sponge Bob Square Pants wildflower seed cards were distributed.

According to its press release, The Big Green Help will continue to promote green causes all year round across all platforms, in an attempt to educate children about climate change and ways they can help at home, school of within their communities.  Brandweek reported that Nickelodeon is spending $30 million a year on this campaign.

"Our research shows that kids believe they can lead the way in addressing positive change for the environment, and The Big Green Help empowers them to work individually and collectively to do that," said Marva Smalls, Nickelodeon's Executive Vice President of Public Affairs. 

In my opinion, it’s great that Nickelodeon is taking the initiative to educate children about environmental causes.  Creating an online community is an especially good idea considering the millennial generation has grown up with the internet and gaming.  Since children are the future of the world, it is important for them to recycle and help stop issues like global warming.

NEW COMPANY LAUNCH: babyGap Home

Launch Date: April 2008

The newest member of the Gap family, babyGap Home is due in mid-April. Mothers can now rely on the Gap for much more than t-shirts and pajamas. babyGap Home offers nearly everything new mothers need for their small children. In addition to their own products and designs, babyGap Home also partnered with more than 40 well-known children’s brands, including Scholastic, BabyBjorn, HABA, JellyCat, Maclaren, Maxi-Cosi, Little Twig and Crocodile Creek.

These alliances allow babyGap Home to be the perfect one-stop-shop for mothers. Although babyGap Home products are currently available online, stores will be opening alongside select babyGap stores in California, Illinois, New York and Texas. .

Relying heavily on online blogger outreach for their communications efforts, it will be interesting to see what kinds of profits this new venture brings to both the babyGap Home and its partners. As it now stands,  babyGap Home is “a premium collection of our favorite bedding, strollers, car seats, toys and more” that has yet to expand its product offerings and which focuses most of its marketing efforts, quite logically, on mothers,” said Pamela B. Wallack, president of babyGap and GapKids.

“Today’s mom stays on top of the latest trends – she wants her baby to be current and stylish. She also expects safe, high quality products at affordable prices,”according to Wallack. . “babyGap Home brings all of these things together in one well-edited collection. Our goal is to be a trusted editor, providing moms with everything they need and want in an aesthetic and sensibility that’s unique only to babyGap.”

Gap Inc. appears to be taking an innovative new approach with babyGap Home.  It steers away from the Gap’s traditional apparel model and includes other brands that complement the b abyGap’s unique offerings.  Gap is looking to try new things as it has continued to experience lagging sales in the last few years.  It will be interesting to see if Gap’s blog-intensive marketing will win over the moms.

So far, mommy and daddy bloggers seem to think highly of the initiative. Blogs such as lilsugar.com, lizjaredstanley.com, daddytypes.com, momlogic.com and cookiemag.com have told their readers they are looking forward to the launch of the brand.

NEW PRODUCT POST: Kentucky Grilled Chicken

In an attempt to attract health conscious consumers back to their restaurants Louisville based KFC, a subsidiary of Yum Brands, is launching its new product, Kentucky Grilled Chicken The new grilled product is served on the bone and contains far less calories, fat and sodium than KFC Original Recipe. The new grilled chicken is being tested in six cities with a national rollout planned for early next year.

“This is a transformation for our brand,” said Doug Hasselo, KFC’s chief food innovation officer. The brand hopes to build its core dinner business and strengthen lunch and snack segments.  If grilled chicken is successful it could boost KFC’s U.S. performance, which has declined in the last year.

The company says prices for grilled and fried chicken are comparable and insist that despite the marketing push for Kentucky Grilled Chicken the brand is not backing away from its famous fried chicken and have new fried items planned this summer. 

Larry Miller, a restaurant analyst with RBC Capital Markets, said KFC faces a possible “speed bump” in winning over health conscious consumers. The brand has lagged behind its competitors when it comes to offering healthier menu items. For example, Wendy’s offers a low-fat, strawberry-flavored yogurt cup with granola on its menu, Burger King offers the BK VEGGIE® Burger and McDonald’s menu offers Fruit 'n Yogurt Parfaits, their Premium Salads topped with grilled chicken and a snack size Fruit and Walnut salad.

Jayne Hurley, senior nutritionist with the Center for Science in the Public Interest said that although some KFC’s offer salads she would like to see the restaurant offer healthier alternatives for their standard side dishes which include, macaroni and cheeses and mashed potatoes with gravy.

This is not the brands first test with non-fried chicken. In 1990 KFC introduced its rotisserie-style chicken which ultimately failed due to equipment problems and long cook time.

The brand acknowledges the challenge ahead. “With Kentucky Fried Chicken being part of your name, trying to get people to understand that you have these non-fried options available now – it’s not an uphill battle but it’s certainly something we have to work on and make sure we communicate well,” said Hasselo.

The new Kentucky Grilled Chicken will be supported by TV ads in test markets which include Indianapolis, Colorado Springs, San Diego, Oklahoma City, Jacksonville, Florida and Austin, Texas. The iconic chicken bucket will also get a redesign to promote both fried and grilled chicken.

Will consumers see KFC as a healthy alternative? Or has the brand waited too long to add healthier options?

NEW SERVICE POST: Final Four on Facebook

In a return to its collegiate roots, Facebook teamed up with CBS Sports to be one of many exclusive online providers of NCAA March Madness On Demand. Full games, game highlights, “buzzer beaters” and bonus content can be watched on Facebook with the simple installment of CBS Sports’s third-party Official Tournament Bracket Application.

Along with the On Demand service, the application allows you to make tournament picks on a fully interactive bracket, monitor team standings, scoreboards and “trash talk” on the designated discussion wall. You can also create your own bracket pools (even John McCain participated after your friends all accept and add the application.

Unfortunately, some fans and users have spoken out against the multitude of technical errors and spam the application has caused on Facebook.

CBS has also stepped up its online efforts to promote this year’s Final Four with streaming content on YouTube, AOL Video and links on approximately 200 external sites, resulting in a reported 122% viewer gain by the network.

What website are you following March Madness on this year?

NEW PRODUCT LAUNCH: Lysol Healthy Touch

Launch Date: March 2008

Lysol, the number one disinfectant spray and toilet bowl cleaner, is launching its first line extension outside of the home disinfectant category. Lysol’s hand sanitizer Healthy Touch rolls out nationally to retailers this month and will compete directly with the popular Purell brand. According to its packaging, Lysol is positioning Health Touch as the “gentle foam cleanser,” killing 99.9% of germs. (For the record, Purell claims to kill “99.99% of most common germs.”)

The launch will be supported by a 30-second TV spot debuting April 1 and with an in-store sampling and display initiative during the back-to-school shopping season.

The $93 million hand-sanitizer category grew 16% last year, according to IRI. Purell has a 43% share of the market.

Do you think consumers will stay loyal to their existing brands? Will those using Lysol’s cleaning products be more likely to use Healthy Touch? Will those using Purell stay loyal?