The “messenger god” meets the mortals (a lot of ‘em!) at Moxley Carmichael’s 2010 client party

We were a little nervous when former Sheriff Tim Hutchison and state Sen. Tim Burchett arrived at the Moxley Carmichael party at about the same time last Friday. The two men are locked in a not-all-that-friendly race to be the next Knox County mayor. But all was well. Soon the room filled with many other [...]

Expect News Sentinel’s new publisher to be active in community - once he gets his feet on the ground

“Good communities don’t just happen,” Patrick Birmingham told area leaders last week. “This is a great community because the people in this room have worked hard to make it great.”
 
Birmingham is the new publisher of the Knoxville News Sentinel. Bruce Hartmann, the former publisher who recently was promoted to a larger role in the News [...]

Attention Knoxville City Council candidates: If you’re “sorry” to call during dinner, don’t do it!

At 6:45 on Tuesday night, I was cooking dinner (if you can believe it) when the phone rang. Against my better judgment, I picked it up. Sure enough. A political call.
“I’m sorry to call at dinner time,” the friendly woman said. “But I wanted to remind you to vote in the city election November third.” [...]

Pilot Pumpers: three days of hijinks for a good cause

When is pumping gasoline fun? When it’s for charity and you have a bunch of high-spirited local celebrities doing it!
That was the case the first three days of this week during Pilot Pumpers, the annual United Way fundraiser when more than 70 media folks and politicians pumped gas for customers at Knoxville area Pilots. Pilot [...]

Moxley Carmichael launches the New Streak

Although the Blue Streak sometimes discusses new media and journalism and public relations, it’s really a blog about Knoxville and Knoxville happenings.
We at Moxley Carmichael thought we also needed an outlet for discussing the exciting things going on in the field of communications. Not a day goes by when we don’t discuss in real life [...]

What I’ve learned from “Blue Streak” readers

People have a strong response to anything written about downtown.

People like really personal stories about others in the community.

Damn spammers will try to attach their links to anything!

These are just some of the interesting tidbits I’ve picked up since starting this blog a few months ago.
Every week we get a so-called “analytics” report that provides all [...]

New media delivers business, fun - and hope

We are all about new media here at Moxley Carmichael. I started twittering in May ‘08 and got on Facebook shortly thereafter. We have this blog and are about to launch a second one. We were the first PR firm in town to hire a new media specialist. We have either met with or have [...]

Bloomberg author visits: big ideas for small business

You should never work with anyone who gives you a headache or stomach ache.
Don’t finance your customers unless you are a bank.
When things are slow, do an all-office clean-up. Not working in a pig sty is a morale booster.

These are just a few of the 201 “great ideas for small businesses” espoused by author Jane [...]

Top media execs on effect of new media: who knows?

Four Knoxville media heavyweights agreed on one thing Thursday when discussing the impact of “new media” on their businesses: they don’t have a clue what’s going to happen.
Jeff Lee, general manager of WBIR, the number one TV station in the market, Bruce Hartmann, president and publisher of the News Sentinel, Knoxville’s daily paper, Ed Brantley, [...]

When target marketing involves heavy lifting

On Sunday, I saw the best example of target marketing I’ve seen in a long time.
Was it a fantastic Web site? An impressive e-mail program? An attention-grabbing TV commercial or direct mail campaign?
No. It was three guys in grungy clothes hauling a 700-pound Steinway grand piano down a long steep flight of stairs. And hauling [...]