Kimberly-Clark’s product for light bladder leakage, Poise® pads were first featured on Saturday Night Live in March 2010 when Kenan Thompson spoofed a Poise commercial featuring Whoopi Goldberg. Now, it appears Poise is becoming a pop culture regular on the show. During the Weekend Update segment, SNL host Alec Baldwin, playing Tony Bennett, does a live commercial for Poise pads, holding up a packaging and thanking his sponsors. Although this was not a paid integration, it certainly looked like one!
Watch the segment here:
Poise on Saturday Night Live Weekend Update
Image courtesy of Dreamstime.com
Vagina as a new trend? According to an article in today’s New York Times, it is. Many of the new sitcoms, CBS’s “Two Broke Girls,” NBC’s “Whitney,” and ABC’s “Suburgatory” used the word vagina, not va-jay-jay, not hoo-ha, and no bleeping, in their premieres this week. In the article Emily Kapnek, the creator of “Suburgatory” says, “How could anyone take issue? It’s not like vagina should be perceived as a dirty word.”
Props for her enlightened viewpoint! We hope this trend continues to evolve. In a survey our client U by Kotex* conducted just two years ago with Harris Interactive, 43% of women felt more comfortable saying “penis” than “vagina.” We can’t help but think that our ongoing U by Kotex campaign has been helping to pave the way for this trend –whether by smashing walls of euphemisms with Khloe Kardashian or working with Tyra Banks to encourage women to sign the Declaration of Real Talk.
What’s your point of view on all this enlightened talk about vaginas? Are we all becoming a “little desensitized” as noted in today’s Times? Or is it that we’re just craving real talk? I’m happy to see that the networks are updating their language in the sitcoms. But I’m curious, is it only ok to use the word for comedy’s sake and not for education? Let’s see what the networks do next.
As healthcare PR professionals, we are all watching how pharma is evolving in social media: from Facebook walls to Twitter accounts and the first pharmaceutical branded Tweet, the industry is taking important first steps into the space. MMC works with social media influencers 24/7 and we know how important it is to build communities and relationships with our clients’ key customers.
In preparation for the peak melasma season this summer, our long-term partners at Galderma charged us with increasing awareness of melasma and Tri-Luma, the only FDA approved, triple-combination cream for the treatment of melasma as well as driving traffic to the brand web site.
Based on our experience in engaging online influencers, we knew we had to overcome the inability to sample the product (Tri-Luma is prescription) with personally tailored engagement and access to resources and thought leaders.
We targeted online beauty influencers that focused on skin care, dermatology-focused sites and African American, Asian and Hispanic online influencers because melasma disproportionately affects these demographics. Even though these online targets are based all across the country, we were able to offer them face-to-face interaction with leading dermatologist and media darling Dr. Jeanine Downie through virtual desksides conducted via Skype.
Keys to our success:
- Work with someone the media know and love. Dr. Downie was the perfect spokesperson not only does she suffer from melasma and use Tri-Luma herself but she was a recognizable name and face to our target who could also discuss the emotional effect of melasma.
- Customization and flexibility. We allowed each online influencer to conduct the interview in the most convenient way for them: whether being phone, Skype or e-mail.
This outreach resulted in strong relationships with important online influencers and in-depth media coverage containing key brand messages. Some examples of coverage include FutureDerm, Hot Mama Daily, Daily Beauty Break and MakeUpForLife.
Congrats MMC on taking home a Certificate of Excellence in The Holmes Report’s Best Places to Work! I’m proud to work at MMC and I know all of us at the agency are. Awards are just the icing on the cake!
Here are some reasons why MMC will always be number one:
1. We have this amazing blog where we can write about anything we want from nail polish to running marathons to our grandparents.
2. We not only work hard but play hard. No one throws a party like MMC!
3. We like to show off our creativity. And it just so happens to be one of our strong points.
4. MMC for a Cause offers us the chance to give back Bake-offs, Today Lends a Hand, Dress for Success cocktail parties and NY Cares Day just to name a few.
5. Celeb sightings! Fabio in the Great Room? When?
6. We’re always empowered to speak up and speak out. We just have to seize the opportunity.
7. MMC offers training programs not only to better our PR professional skills but to better us as professionals and people.
8. We have our own gossipy pub in Hot Hot Hot! and an MMC awards show, the Asta Awards
9. Last but not least, we come to work every day knowing that we are working with some of the smartest and savviest PR professionals in the business and that the day ahead will not only challenge us but allow us to have fun.
On behalf of all the Ambassadors, thanks to all the MMCers who participated in the survey. We have high hopes for next year!
