PAN Communications prSPEAK

As of this typing, Wayne Gerdes is attempting to drive a Toyota Prius from Chicago to New York City on only one tank of gas. One tank of gas you question? Yes, as part of the CBS morning program, “The Early Show,” Wayne Gerdes is trying to drive this car roughly 792 miles with only one fill up of a less than 12-gallon gas tank.

It’s a great segment and ultimately will have valuable information (when he gets to NYC this evening) when facing gas prices estimated to rise above $4 per gallon within the week. Wayne Gerdes operates the blog, cleammpg.com, that is designed to help balance the environment and raise mileage per gallon – the term is called hypermiling. Hypermiling is not new, Mr. Gerdes ran a very thorough post on his site nearly two years ago about hypermiling with a very detailed “how to” that explains the concept.

As discussed during the program, hypermiling will definitely tick off other drivers, especially those in a rush, but it will save on fuel consumption considerably. When I purchased my Subaru several years ago, it cost $15 to fill the tank, today it’s above $50 and rising. Crazy. So while I am interested in purchasing a larger SUV, the hypermiling makes me think twice about what vehicles I do want to drive and may even help me conserve should I get my larger vehicle.

We look forward to hearing what you have to say on the topic of hypermiling … can you do it?

The media has made it clear that they detest being spammed with press releases and off-track pitches. In fact, many bloggers and editors alike have published lists of Naughty Spammers, calling out repeating offenders. Their requests for researched and customized pitches that offer unique and useful data, experts, and insight is of course legitimate. No one likes spam.

So it has been noted – A pitfall PR professionals must work to overcome is how we utilize one of our most basic tools, the press release. So, how do we walk the fine line between newsworthy and spam?

Brian Solis of FutureWorks contributed a noteworthy blog post to TechCrunch on this subject and outlined the different types of releases (Traditional, SEO, and Social Media). More importantly he discusses how the press release can still be relevant if developed correctly for today’s more diverse media/new media landscape.

“Let’s help them, help us in the process,” Solis states. By golly I think he may be onto something.

Check out the post and feel free to share your thoughts on what you see in the future of the press release. It’s not a static subject and deserves some discussion!

Just read an interesting piece off the UPI Wire talking about gas prices and worker productivity . Are the gas prices bringing you down? What are you doing to change your ways or save some dollars in your pocket?

It is no secret that nutrition is a hot (and healthy) trend for Americans. Recently, I attended a community Earth Day event in the beautiful suburbia of Westport, CT for a client, World of Grains, new whole grain snacks. As I handed out samples and information to the families attending I was amazed at the detailed questions and comments I received.

- How much sugar?
- Does it have wheat?
- Does it have quinoa?
- I am on a gluten free diet.
- I am on a vegan diet.

It is apparent that Americans have read a lot about ingredients and nutrition and are hungry for more information. You cannot open a women’s lifestyle magazine without a new health food or study featured. The media is in a constant search for the latest “good for you” food and the readers are consuming it.

As a PR professional I really enjoy leveraging the experts I have on hand to deliver the facts to the media and in turn the consumer. Recently, with World of Grains we partnered with the experts at the Whole Grains Council to provide the media tips on how to spot healthy whole grains in the supermarket. The outreach benefits all parties — gets the word out about the healthy product options, highlights the organizations’ mission, sells the magazine, and most importantly gives the consumer the facts to live better.

I just read a very good article from this weeks issue of BusinessWeek where it discussed Apple’s move into corporate American offices. It got me thinking, do we as employees have a choice in what technology we can or should be using? Should we have a choice or should employers standardize across the organization?

We have a client, InterNoded,that says that in the coming years workers will bring their own mobile devices into the office and expect the company to support it. I can see it more with mobile devices, but what about desk/laptops? Should employers have reimbursement programs set up so that you and I can go buy our own system and synch it up at work? What do you think?

(Dom, take note, Juniper is starting to roll out some Macs to its workforce…)