Thanks to the Internet and other technological advances, public relations has undergone more changes in the past decade than Joan Rivers’ face. But there’s one medium that’s still as effective as ever, even if it has fallen off the radar of most PR pros (except those at Pavone, of course).

I’m talking about TV — or more specifically, product placement on television programming. In most cases, I’m referring to shows in which the product is part of the story or the focus of the show and not just a prop in the background of a sitcom (though we have had some good success with that tactic, too).

Take a couple of recent successes cooked up by the Pavone PR team. True to PR’s “earned media” foundation, all of these placements cost absolutely nothing, aside from the time it took us to pitch the idea and coordinate or assist with the opportunity.

We’ve worked with the Food Network to score placements for Turkey Hill Dairy. A year or so ago, the show “Unwrapped” visited Turkey Hill’s Lancaster County headquarters to tape a segment for a show about peanut butter treats where they featured Light Recipe Moose Tracks. Today, we’re helping out once again, as the Unwrapped crew wraps up an episode featuring Turkey Hill’s Double Decker Ice Cream Sandwiches.

We’ve even worked with the folks at the Rachael Ray Show to score placement of Utz Quality Foods’ Grandma Utz’s Handcooked Potato Chips as the show’s “Snack of the Day.” A clip of that media relations coup can be seen on the Pavone Food website. More recently, when the History Channel’s “Modern Marvels” wanted to feature a home being built for a March episode about start-to-finish manufacturing processes, Pavone helped to coordinate the taping of a modular home being built by our client, Excel Homes, and its builder partner, Atlantic Modular Builders.

These examples of coverage aren’t without their ROI, either. The six-minute History Channel segment resulted in a 361 percent increase in traffic to the Excel Homes website in the two days following the episode. Leads generated by the website also increased more than 400 percent. Those numbers should be enough to sway anyone who doubts the power of PR.

So has the Internet and technology changed the way we practice public relations? Of course it has. But there’s still plenty of PR gold to be mined in the world of television. You just have to know where to look for it.

Recently, I curled up with Cosmopolitan, one of my favorite publications.  Bombarded with ads on every other page, I noticed a common theme: weight loss advertisements.  I decided to count each ad containing such messages. The total was 17, including a 4-page foldout from a weight loss supplement called alli, which claims it can stop certain fats from entering your digestive system. As I started plotting what fatty treats I would devour if I were to play into this particular diet scheme, I realized I had become a victim of deceptive yet ingenious advertising.

While societal “norms” influence us to judge our peers based on the outside, advertisers are stepping in to capitalize on the appearance appeal.  It’s not a new strategy, of course, but it seems that marketers are cashing in on our waistlines now than ever before. Weight-loss advertising isn’t “losing” much of anything these days and in fact it has grown into a billion dollar industry.  More than $34 billion was spent on over-the-counter weight-loss supplements in the past decade. On average, 6 out of every 10 Americans are overweight and an estimated 68 million American adults are “trying” to lose weight. To put the facts in perspective, that’s about 10 million less than the estimated 78 million Boomers currently living in America.

A recent study confirms 15 percent of weight loss ads reviewed by the Federal Trade Commission, contained false information. So how does the weight-loss industry turn such a high profit on ads based on lies?

Since obese Americans nearly outnumber Boomers, I can understand how the large (and getting larger) target audience can be profitable, but what I can’t comprehend is why we believe the deception? The scary amounts of money pumped into this competitive industry only make me wonder, what other forms of deceptive advertising I have been victimized by?  Is effective marketing more valuable than honest marketing in today’s society? It certainly seems that way.

Last weekend, I caught a glimpse of an Eagles game highlight and saw something that made me smile. And no, it wasn’t just because the Eagles lost. Being a long-time Steelers and anything Pittsburgh fan, I rarely enjoy anything the Eagles do. This was slightly different.

My slight cringe following a Brent Celek score quickly turned to a smile as Celek struck the Captain Morgan pose. It was no OchoCinco celebration, but it grabbed my attention for another reason. It turns out that Captain Morgan had created a promotion in which NFL Players were encouraged to strike the pose after key plays throughout the games. In return, Captain Morgan would make monetary contributions to various charities, including Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund which benefits retired NFL players with health problems.

Celek jumped the gun and struck the pose a week early. It would’ve slid (this time) until another player helped adjust his pose and drew a flag for a “team celebration”. The NFL quickly caught on to the scheme by Captain Morgan and threatened players with hefty fines if the pose was struck again.

I understand and commend the NFL and Roger Goodell’s policies to keep the league and its players under control, but I also commend Captain Morgan for thinking outside of the box. With the ever-changing media landscape, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for advertisers to stay ahead of the curve and reach their audiences in novel ways. This type of theatre, or guerilla marketing, achieved just that.

So Celek ended the promo early. The false start just may have saved Captain Morgan thousands of dollars in charitable donations (possibly good for them, definitely not good for Gridiron Greats), but the subsequent PR from uncovering this scheme just may have gotten Captain Morgan the attention they wanted.

I just read an article about Vick getting a second chance with Nike — further proof that it’s possible for brands to get and give second chances. While other brands have turned their back on Vick after his 2007 sentencing for his lead role in organizing a dog fighting ring, Nike’s asked him back into their franchise of stud athletes. Seems as though Vick is getting recognized for his potential once again.

According to a recent article on ESPN.com, Nike, which signed Vick as a rookie in 2001, terminated his contract in August 2007 after the Atlanta Falcons star filed a plea agreement admitting his involvement in the dog fighting operation. At the time, Nike called cruelty to animals “inhumane, abhorrent and unacceptable” and halted release of his fifth signature shoe, the Air Zoom Vick V.

His first official game back was less than stellar, but I guess the Nike brand team, who knows a thing or two about making the right decisions, thinks the risk is worth the reward. I mean, after all, he was convicted and served his time, and now its time for his second chance… whatever that might be.

Nike obviously believes he has some selling power and that selling power is worth associating their brand with him. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out — the sponsorship deal, his professional career and ultimately how he handles his second chance. For his brand, one of the biggest things in his favor is that people have short memories both on and off the field. From my perspective, what he did was awful — there is no excuse for it. But now that he’s paid his debt to society, he is entitled to his second chance, whatever that might be and whatever he makes of it.

As someone who works in marketing, Vick’s involvement with Nike adds another dimension of interest for me. What Nike did is risky and we’ll find out soon enough if its worth the reward.

UPDATE: A day after Vick’s agent announced the star’s supposed return to Team Nike, Nike themselves denounced the news, saying the company has no “contractual relationship” with Vick and claiming only that Nike has “agreed to supply product to Michael Vick as we do a number of athletes who are not under contract with Nike.” Maybe they’re not ready to give him a second chance after all. At least not yet.

Any sports fan who’s ever paid a visit to Quicken Loans Arena to watch Lebron in action or are among the 47 people who have caught a Major League Soccer game at the Phoenix Coyote’s Jobing.com Arena knows that sports franchises are willing to sell the rights to just about anything — for the right price. How else can you explain the Jenny Craig Pavilion on the University of San Diego campus? (Luckily, fans got creative and began calling it the “Slim Gym.”)

But those are stadium names, and in this economy, teams have to look a little harder to squeeze out some extra income. Especially teams like the Yankees and Mets, whose combined 2009 payroll totals total more than $337,000,000. The Yankees have an “Official Paint” (thanks Benjamin Moore!) and the Mets have an “Official Pudding” (mmmmm….Kozy Shack). I guess you can slap the “Official” title on just about anything, which is what the National Football League did recently when they announced Proctor & Gamble as “The Official Locker Room Product of the NFL.”

That’s right, Old Spice deodorant and Head & Shoulders shampoo for everyone! (Except you, Michael Vick.)

P&G reportedly shelled out $10 million a year for the right to put the “Official Locker Room Product of the NFL” tag on a variety of products including Bounty paper towels (“Nothing cleans up blood from a mangled elbow like Bounty!“), Charmin toilet paper (“Because NFL players are tough on the inside, but soft on the backside.“), Gain detergent (“Got blood on your jersey from that mangled elbow?“), and Dawn dish soap (“Hey… dishes!“).

According to the Wall Street Journal article, P&G products are purchased primarily by women, who make up 33 percent of the NFL viewing audience, so I guess the partnership makes sense. Of course, men buy P&G products too. I just bought some Bounty paper towels the other day to help clean up a mess made by a leaky kitchen sink. Which reminds me, I should have a plumber take a look at that. Maybe I’ll call F.W. Webb. If they’re good enough to be the Official Plumber of the Boston Red Sox, they’re good enough for me.