The lady with a purse made of tape measures might be a quilter or other sort of crafter, but she is a nationally renowned measurement expert who is coming to Honolulu.
Katie Paine is founder and CEO of KDPaine & Partners LLC in New Hampshire, a company that measures the effectiveness of public relations.
The impact of PR can be immediate, and that is not always a good thing.
When the U.S. Census Bureau announced Monday’s online release of 1940 census data, 37 million resulting hits crashed the website. "Crashing the site could be a measure of success," she told TheBuzz. The site’s capacity has been girded.
Paine noted the long history of lean, finely textured beef in America’s food ecosystem before activists coined the term "pink slime" and used it to gross out a nation. Now a Pennsylvania-based beef processor has cited the controversy in its bankruptcy reorganization.
"That was pure PR," she said.
Goldman Sachs lost $2.2 billion of its value after a op-ed piece penned by a former executive hammered the company’s management.
"People say, ‘Oh, it’s hard to measure (PR) and value it.’ Well, no, it’s really not," Paine said.
She proudly describes herself as a "data geek."
Positive PR impact also can be measured, if planned.
Social media use has fueled and accelerated the speed at which both positive and negative messages are spread, "and it’s turned the public relations world, really, on its ear."
It also has put "a ton of tools in the hands of PR people and the community and left them with so many options they don’t know what to do."
Companies and their PR and ad agencies are faced with dividing marketing budgets among traditional advertising and other outlets such as a blog, Facebook page, mobile app, video channel and more.
Social media’s proliferation emphasizes "the whole notion that you have to take a holistic approach to what you’re doing," Paine said.
She will work to fit this and more knowledge into a noon presentation for the Public Relations Society of America — Hawaii Chapter on April 11 at the Plaza Club. The luncheon costs $30 for PRSA members and student-members or $45 for nonmembers. Reservations for the luncheon or the webcast can be made online.
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On the Net:
» prsahawaii.org/ Event/116/april-11-program-it
Rum rocker
Maui-based Sammy’s Beach Bar Rum has won a Double Gold award for package design at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition.
The bottle design was created for rock ‘n’ roll recording artist, restaurateur and spirits-maker Sammy Hagar by California-based Meat and Potatoes Inc. It was one of 165 entries and one of 11 winners selected.
The 2011 competition was quite good to Hawaii-based Kai Vodka LLC, which won Double Gold awards for its Kai Lemongrass Ginger Shochu/Soju and Kai Young Coconut Shochu/Soju, with the latter also taking home "Best in Show" for the category. Kai Coconut Pandan Vodka won a gold medal, while Kai Lemongrass Vodka won a bronze.
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On the Net:
» is.gd/SFOspirits-2012
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Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com or on Twitter as @erikaengle.
