Here She Comes, Miss America

A hot topic this week not only at gloss, but also online, was the Miss USA pageant. Specifically Miss California’s response when Perez Hilton asked her if other states should follow Vermont and legalize gay marriage. Her answer stirred up much discussion, see the video below:

I asked some of the gloss girls for their thoughts. Not on what Miss California’s beliefs were, but on how she communicated her message:

“I think Miss California suffered from a lack of active listening skills. Perez Hilton’s question was not “Do you believe in gay marriage?“ – it was about other states following suit in providing their citizens the choice of marriage.”

- Jessica

“Put simply, communications in about delivering your brand to your target audience. Miss California failed to embody the Miss USA brand in her answer – a brand that “unites” and “inspires”, according to Perez. As a result, she alienated her two target audiences: 1) the judging panel, which included Perez Hilton, a gay American. 2) An American public that supports “change” in their country (we know this because of the overwhelming success of the Obama brand).”

- Laura

The lesson to be learned is that when you’re addressing an audience, you need to make your message relevant to them or you’ll be doing yourself a disservice. I’d love to pose a question to you gloss-ettes out there: Are pageant contestants properly prepared to answer judges questions? (Remember Miss Teen USA contestant Miss South Carolina’s answer about maps in classrooms?) Or to maintain the relevance of pageants, is it to the organizations benefit to have a controversial contestant each year?

Veritas’ Senior Vice President, Bill Walker, wrote about this on the Touchdowns & Fumbles blog, check out his stance here.

Going green is not enough this Earth Day

Jake Greene presents an interesting angle on promoting yourself as environmentally conscious in his Brazen Careerist post “Green is the new Goth”. In his article, Jake writes, “Everybody’s going green, which means that your desire to help the planet no longer sets you apart from other candidates in the job market. It is admirable, but not memorable.”

While Jake focuses specifically on being successful in today’s tough job market, his message about effective green messaging translates to brand marketing. In honour of Earth Day, we all want to be conscious of our consumption, clean up a little more, and be a little kinder to the earth, but simply saying that we are “going green” will no longer set your brand apart from the rest. What’s required now is a meaningful product or service that inspires Jennifer to contribute to real change.

For Earth Day, I’ll be doing my part by being more conscious of what I’m recycling and making a better effort to recycle more. What’s your Earth Day plan?

gloss Girls TRI to conquer cancer

This summer gloss girls Whitney and Lauren are teaming up to conquer cancer by participating in the Joe’s Team Triathlon for Toronto’s Princess Margaret Foundation.

The inspiration behind the event is Joe Finley, a cancer survivor and founder of the most successful grassroots fundraising initiative in the history of the Princess Margaret.

Whitney on participating:

“It’s been such a pleasure to assist Joe and Cara Finley with media relations for Joe’s Team. Their passion, and their dedication to bringing people together for a life changing event to conquer cancer is absolutely contagious. How could I not participate?! Check out this video. A small taste of this great event and the amazing people involved. Still can’t watch without getting teary! Looking forward to taking on a challenge beyond anything I’ve ever done before. Hope you can join us.”

Lauren on participating:

“Joe Finley is one of the most inspirational men I have ever met. After meeting Joe Finley for the first time, I quickly made up my mind to participate in the event. What really made me want to participate was when Joe mentioned the feeling you get after accomplishing a feat like this. He also mentioned the strength in numbers and how this event will truly be making a difference.”

This Thursday April 23rd, Whitney and Lauren will take their fundraising to the next level by throwing a fundraising event to benefit the cause at the Foundation Room.

Event details can be found below:

When: Thursday April 23, 2009

Where: Foundation Room (19 Church Street, Toronto)

What: An unforgettable event to benefit cancer research at the Princess Margaret Hospital with drink specials, a talented Canadian band called Winhara and a crowd of spirited individuals with the goal to conquer cancer.

About Joe’s Team:

Joe’s Team sprint triathlon is the single most successful grassroots fundraising campaign for The Princess Margaret, having raised over 1.2 million dollars in just two years. Created by cancer patient Joe Finley, who completed his first triathlon following invasive chemo and radiation treatments, Joe’s Team benefits Head and Neck Translational Research at The Princess Margaret. This year, the Joe’s Team triathlon takes place on July 11th at the CNIB camp on Lake Joseph in Muskoka.

For more information please go to http://www.joesteam.ca/

The Challenge: Whitney and Lauren challenge, you, fellow Blog readers and friends of Gloss to invite 3 or more friends to come to this event. And go…

Simply Inspired

The gloss team met this morning to converse about different marketing trends and news that has been publicized over the last couple of weeks. We hold this meeting on a weekly basis to inspire certain blog topics. However, the inspiration this morning was not about marketing nor was it about public relations. It was actually about a woman by the name of Susan Boyle. Boyle made her debut on the reality TV series Britain’s Got Talent singing "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Misérables. When she came out on stage, people were rolling their eyes and giggling at her as she disclosed her age and her inspiration, Elaine Page. And then she sang. The below segment is a gentle reminder to never judge a book by its cover.

Susan Boyle Sings on Britain's Got Talent 2009 Episode 1 @ Yahoo! Video