I received my PepperRubel T-shirt today, thanks Josh! Meanwhile, Ebay bidding for the signed version continues to climb.

I was home visiting family in Pennsylvania over the weekend and as things inevitably do, family and friends asked me about my work and tried to understand what I do. Fortunately for me, now that my work is focused and dedicated in the emerging media realm, I hear less of "Oh, I need a publicist, I'm writing a book..." or "I saw your commercial the other day." Now I hear, "Can you help me set up my WiFi?" or "Can you look at my iPod?" or, from those *very* advanced individuals, "Do you have blog?"

It's hard to explain marketing on the web or via mobile applications, partially because while everyone knows that marketing exists, many don't exactly know what it is let alone how it applies to the new technologies that people around the world use everyday to send and receive information.

The way that I've been looking at this area lately, beyond the fact that it's an opportunity in almost every way to influence buying decisions, build brand awareness/recognition/loyalty and drive trial, is as static vs. live.

Last week, at Syndicate, I stayed for Doc's presentation and he spoke at length about live searches. I won't get into that here - you can bug Doc for that;) However, the topic of static vs. live that he spoke about is exactly why PR is a critical partner for emerging media applications.

Online/mobile multimedia spaces are the exact opposite of the traditional product marketing world. In the past, big brand marketers would be unlikely to change a brands' logo or packaging unless the brand were in trouble. For instance, in the magazine world, the word "relaunch" has been a dirty word. Editors heard relaunch and waited for pink slips to be issued.

In this new world, relaunch is the formula for success. Anything that remains static, is old. Passe. Played. Just one week following a few myspace profiles and you won't recognize an individual's page from hour-to-hour or day-to-day. And same with the brands on myspace who are winning the battle of friends - they are smart enough to understand the formula that Madonna tapped more than 20 years ago. Give members a reason to come back. Change your look. Change your content. Change your image.

Now, the real stretch for marketers, is to keep changing without losing your brand identity or equity. That's the challenge in this live vs. static world; never lose your Brand Champion.

So how can PR help? In a fast moving world that's no longer "Pre-launch, Launch, Sustain" but rather, "Pre-launch, Launch, Sustain, Relaunch" - PR professionals finally have the chance to do what we've been saying we could do all along: relate to the public.

There's no time to change a pre-planned media buying schedule when your beta home page has been leaked two weeks before launch and consumer/media feedback spreads like wildfire. However, a smart PR team can quickly leverage that leak, respond to it and make it into an opportunity for the Brand.

And that's why this blog is called, pikpr;)