The Hemlock Pages

Roses are red, says the poem, and violets are blue, but in fact roses come in almost every shade of the rainbow, including blue.

If you search, you can find yellow roses, which originated in the Middle East, pink roses (the original damask roses), white roses (alba species), traditional red roses, and even blue roses, the first of which was created in Japan in 2004.  There are even black roses, sold under the names Ink Spot, Black Magic and Baccara, though in fact these “black” roses are really only a very deep shade of red.

By any name, and in any color, roses are the most beautiful flower in existence, as well as the most varied, thanks to generations of breeding and cultivation for perfect forms and unique colors. In fact, roses are so well loved that certain cities, notably Tyler, Texas and Portland, Oregon, dub themselves “The Rose Capital of America” and “The City of Roses”. Both cities boast phenomenal rose gardens, and Tyler’s unique claim to fame is that it grows and ships more than half the roses distributed to garden centers across America.

Whether you are looking for a single rose for your beloved, or a dozen roses in such unique shades as blue or black for a special occasion, you can’t go wrong calling 1-800-FLOWERS, a worldwide chain of florists which can supply any color, style or variety of rose you have in mind.

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Many companies now tie their online reputation to business outcomes through online reputation tracking tools. For example, using social media tools like Google alerts and Technorati, public relations professionals can identify and ameliorate negative influences on corporate reputation and branding efforts.

While the idea of reputation is not new, applying it to corporate recognition and branding platforms is an idea that has emerged only in the last few decades, almost simultaneously with the rise of online information systems. Electronic intermediaries, or online reputation management systems, can effectively gather, analyze and distribute reputation-improving information to help your business achieve the sort of reputation that makes the product sell itself.

In the past decade, measuring, aggregating and molding public opinion has become an integral function of online PR firms, which can focus brand and influence public perception, as well as improve search engine rankings. No longer is it necessary to grin and bear it when negative publicity damages your corporate reputation. You can, with the ease of a mouse-click, reverse or offset the injurious remarks and prejudicial comments with positive feedback.

Reputation management, however, isn’t limited to brand and feedback, but also to an understanding of what, and how, a competitor is doing. “Keeping your enemies close”, as Lao Tzu recommended, is not only good war strategy but good business strategy, because your competitor’s successes (and failures) can help you target novel and unexpected ways to advance your own company’s reputation and sales figures.

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