Saturday April 27, 2024

Dreamer

Elon Musk is a publicist’s dream with bold announcements and big ideas.  He must be a PR practitioner’s nightmare with his auto company still not making money and with the pending merger with the solar panel company.  Musk’s galactic ambitions threaten to get in the way of his earth-bound duties.  Yes, he has a successful […]

The New Publicity

This is an example of the new publicity tools using Instagram.  The New York restaurant posts images of its food on influencer sites and reaps the reward of traffic through its doors.  The process is simple and clever, but it requires planning and segmenting the sites one uses.  Note that the restaurant refuses to pay for postings. […]

It Gets Worse

Wells Fargo bank already lost its reputation over consumer fraud in its community banking division.  Now it is looking ugly with the news that it punished whistleblowers who would not establish fake accounts.  Clawbacks of unvested equity won’t repair the bank’s reputation, much less the CEO’s.  It is clear now that the bank was running […]

A Billion Here, A Billion There

Google’s engineers are readying YouTube to go after another billion viewers in Asia.  That might not sound like much but from a marketing perspective, it is breathtaking.  Companies that serve a billion or more people are but a handful, yet Silicon Valley thinks in these huge numbers regularly.  It is no accident that media, such […]

Historic?

The media are hyping tonight’s debate between the two presidential candidates.  It is unlikely to be the greatest political show on earth.  Some media are predicting a viewership that will rival the Superbowl.  Maybe so, but it is unlikely that most will last through to the end of the talk-fest.  Both sides are going to spin victory […]

Needs A New Narrative

It is hard to prevent this when incidents like this occur.  The narrative of blacks being shot by police officers is deep and bitter for the African-American community.  Even when it is justified, the black community is suspicious and will rise in anger.  Who knows the exact circumstances in Charlotte?  Was the victim carrying a […]

Balancing Act

The Federal government has announced guidelines for self-driving cars.  The rules are voluntary but auto and tech companies are expected to follow them.  This has created a balancing act — how to spur development of safe self-driving cars while protecting passengers and others.  There is no rulebook for doing this. Autonomous autos are a new […]

Making Up The Facts

If there is one salient feature of Trump’s campaign for president, it is his and his people’s tendency to make up facts.  We’re used to politicians lying.  It comes with the occupation, but Trump’s claims are breathtaking.  In the face of hundreds of reports, he will assert that he didn’t do or believe something.  That is the case with […]

No One Is Safe

One urgent concern for PR practitioners is computer security.  It seems anyone with a tad of recognition is being hacked.  Colin Powell, Olympic athletes, the Democratic Party and on have all been invaded and their jewels of information released to the public.  A question PR practitioners should be asking clients is whether they have anything […]

Ludicrous

It is easy sport to dump on North Korea and its leader, but sometimes the country’s propaganda is too ludicrous to let slip.  Consider this. It is likely the supreme leader, Kim Jong Un, can barely tell corn from beans.   To say he is providing field guidance is a cruel joke on North Korea’s […]