We’re glad April showers bring May flowers, but with the spring season comes a lot of hardship for some people. We wish the best for everyone affected by the floods and tornadoes.

Here’s some news you may have missed:

1. Explaining Osama Bin Laden to Students

The White House hosted a free webinar yesterday for students and teachers to help explain the recent killing of Osama Bin Laden. This gave a chance for participants to ask questions live and have them answered by the deputy assistant to President Obama. From laptops to smartphones to tablets, this is one example of how technology has advanced communications, giving us opportunities to reach audiences in new, unprecedented ways. What are the best strategies for implementing new communication methods?

2. Sony Security Breach

Sony has been in the news for a few weeks now concerning its PlayStation Network, security issues and potentially stolen credit cards. Complaints have started circulating, saying Sony didn’t inform customers in a timely manner of the cyber attack and are afraid to own up to their security shortfalls. We know that in crisis communications, two key points are to be transparent and timely. How would you handle a crisis communications dilemma like this?

3. HP Spilled the Beans

Accidental information leaks are never good, and Hewlett-Packard’s interim VP of Engineering did just that. Reports indicate he accidentally published HP’s plans for their cloud service on his public LinkedIn profile. It’s speculated HP wasn’t going to reveal details until later this year. Although online forums such as LinkedIn or Facebook can be valuable tools, one wrong move can create disastrous results. TVG offers social media training that can help your company avoid these blunders. Check out our Services page for more information.

4. Life Size Hot Wheels

Remember playing with Hot Wheels? Well, the Indianapolis 500 is taking viewers back to their childhood. Team Hot Wheels will attempt a world record jump in a heavily modified truck on a bright orange track at the race at the end of this month. They’ve created a YouTube series to promote the event, with one video accumulating more than 445,000 hits. As video plays a larger role in how people engage with brands, this may be a good example of how to do it correctly. How do you think video has changed brand interaction?

5. Branding BMW

BMW’s tagline is “The Ultimate Driving Machine,” and has stayed that way since 1975. Now they are looking for an agency that can help them remind customers the German auto maker hasn’t deviated from their history. A lot goes into branding a company, and a tagline is definitely an important factor. As with any branding campaign, you need to find a way to reinvent the brand without alienating clients or deviating too far from your roots. Click here to see the branding work TVG has done for past clients and what we can do for you.