"Story drives the form. Form does not drive the story." A local journalist instilled this mantra in me recently. And it would appear this mantra is being applied to annual reports. Over the last decade, annual reports have gone from dry as toast financial documents to become a brand's "secret weapon" (vs. bread and butter /rimshot). […]
Posted on June 14th, 2013 by admin
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The auto industry might be putting itself into a crisis with voice-activated systems for e-mail and other online activities. If there are accidents while someone is dictating an e-mail, look for torts to fly quickly and a PR headache. Auto companies insist they have worked through the safety of these connected systems. Outside experts differ. […]
Posted on June 13th, 2013 by admin
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It’s an axiom of public relations that good word of mouth can buoy a product/service and bad buzz can kill it. It seems the marketing industry is learning the facts all over again in social media. This time, however, marketers are trying to measure the exact effects of buzz in Twitter, blogs, Facebook, etc. […]
Posted on June 12th, 2013 by admin
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Almost lost in the revelation of NSA data-gathering is the crisis that the leaker caused his employer. Booz Allen Hamilton is paid well to keep government secrets. Imagine its panic when an employee of three months, a former CIA operative, goes rogue. The company didn’t hire him lightly. He went through multiple security clearances, and […]
Posted on June 11th, 2013 by admin
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This blog has reminded readers repeatedly that public relations is what an organization or individual does and not what is said. This was driven home again this last Friday night when our internet service failed at our house. We called Verizon Saturday morning and reported that our FiOs fiber-optic connection had stopped working. Verizon did […]
Posted on June 10th, 2013 by admin
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There is the old cliche of being put between a rock and a hard place. Verizon, the telecommunications giant, knows what that means. It is caught between the government, which ordered Verizon to turn over call logs for its Business Services unit, and civil libertarians, who are worried about government intrusion into privacy. Verizon has responded that […]
Posted on June 7th, 2013 by admin
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It takes little imagination to see Google Glass as a future PR tool. The camera alone will prove useful at events where practitioners serve photos in real-time to watching publics. Wearing Google Glass, a practitioner can move about crowds and pick out people and actions to image without the burden of a camera or a cell phone […]
Posted on June 6th, 2013 by admin
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A struggling Chicago newspaper has fired all of its photographers and is teaching its reporters to shoot photos with iPhones. It is the return of the one-man band, the journalist who does everything for better and worse. Predictably, the media are unhappy that more work has been thrust on them and the out-of-work photographers are threatening to […]
Posted on June 5th, 2013 by admin
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This is a terrific publicity campaign, and complaints about it are even better. In fact, the protests are hilarious from fanboys who “know” how Superman shaves. That they are aggrieved is only better publicity. Kudos to Gillette for coming up with the promotion. It would be good to say a PR firm was behind it but […]
Posted on June 4th, 2013 by admin
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What is a reputation worth in the financial industry? Billions. That is what an insider-trading scandal is costing SAC Capital Advisors LP. It is not the first nor the last firm from which investors have fled. It will happen again because there will always be people who take shortcuts in pursuit of profit. The sad […]
Posted on June 3rd, 2013 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 188 Comments »
