Saturday April 27, 2024

How To Ruin Your Reputation, Cont.

This story, if true, is a case study in how to ruin a company’s reputation.  The allegations are that Dell Computer manufactured faulty computers, sold them to the public then hid the truth about bad components in them.  Of course, the story is from one side of a court battle.  Dell has yet to weigh in.  Still, […]

Inconsequential

This story is a reminder — as if PR practitioners needed one — that trivial questions can consume the public’s attention.  What the people are interested in may not be important but the practitioner in order to communicate effectively cannot ignore their concerns.  The  inconsequential often rules daily discussion and ignorance of issues is willed.  Many […]

Interesting Week

Sometimes it doesn’t pay to take time off.  In the past week, a general committed career suicide by interview and a president bolstered his polls with a financial reform bill.  About the general, Stanley McChrystal, one wonders if he paid attention to the PR training he had during his rise to the top.  His blunder was […]

BP Lost PR Control Before the Oil Spilled

A few weeks ago, I was interviewed on CNN by Josh Levs on one small facet of BP Oil’s disaster — online communications. Immediately following the interview, I wanted to do a follow-up post. And I was overwhelmed by the amount of potentially relevant links as the story continued to unfold. But this AP article in Sunday’s […]

Consumers Valuing Documentation Over Experience

In college, a friend and I compared vacations we’d taken over the years. She had a well-stamped passport and most of my trips were within driving distance.** When I asked about vacation pictures, she told me she didn’t take pictures on vacation. “I’d rather enjoy the trip than take the pictures.” I see her point, […]

Journalism, Curation and Changing Face of News Sources

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c McChrystal’s Balls – Honorable Discharge www.thedailyshow.com Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party Two seemingly unrelated pieces of news help me make a point. The first is above from The Daily Show. Jon Stewart rails on mainstream media for dismissing Rolling Stone for […]

Marketers Need to Think Venn, Not Silos

This research from Get Response tracks with my own experience: “A distinct minority of small-to-mid-sized-business (SMB) marketers use social media links or icons in their promotional emails.” And I’ll argue that even larger businesses do not consider steps like this…not instinctively.Marketers are so busy, we can sometime think in silos. It’s a result of focusing […]

Journalism and Another Social Media Paradox

A recent tweet from Jay Rosen reminded me of another social media paradox.Rosen’s tweet leads to a Yahoo! Finance job description that requires an interesting set of skills.“We’re looking for a natural leader who isn’t afraid to get his or her hands dirty. He or she must see the big picture but also be detail-oriented.”It sounds […]

Starbucks and the Social Media Expert

 Starbucks’ Chris Abruzzo, VP of Brand, Content and Online, did double duty during Internet Week NY speaking at CM Summit and the Mashable/CNN event. As you’ll see in this video, Starbucks is using social media to invert the way it goes to market for product launches.Many folks participating in social media would probably agree that […]

“If It’s Good, It’s Been Done”

Early in my career, I was on a team prepping for a BIG new business pitch. It was for a product and the creative copy we used was something along the lines of “Better Torque, Better Horsepower, Better Grip, Better Get One.”As I drove to the pitch that morning, I passed a billboard for a […]