Sunday December 8, 2024

What Can They Do?

The condo board of the collapsed building in Surfside, FL has hired a crisis PR firm.  The reason is to handle hundreds, if not thousands, of media queries and to stick to the facts of the case as they are known for the moment.  The situation in which the board finds itself is not good.  […]

Counting Laws Before They Are Passed

 Democratic Senators are making plans for legislation they will pass if they win a majority in the November elections.  It is too early to plan.  There is no guarantee they will conquer Republicans who have been running the chamber.  It would be a deep embarrassment should they remain the minority party.  It is far better […]

When Will They Learn?

There is a type of executive who believes rules don’t apply to him.  And, it is a he rather than a she. Consider this case.  A president in charge of women’s magazines who degrades women in office situations.  Why hadn’t he been fired long ago?  There is an unspoken rule in such situations.  If a […]

Will They Ever Learn?

Huawei has been caught again using images from DSLRs as examples of photographs its smartphones can take.  Since it is not the first time the company has done this — and been caught — one wonders if Huawei will ever learn that in the internet age, few secrets remain for long.  It is dumb for […]

And So, They Fall

There is another dropout among Democratic candidates for President — Jay Inslee.  That makes three with many more to come.  It is a sign of hubris for so many to be in the race.  They should have known the chances of rising to the top were slim at best.  Yet, they launched political marketing organizations […]

Know How They Feel

I know how the media feel about PR practitioners who flood them with irrelevant pitches and releases.  Every day I get a dozen or so emails from PR newswire.  I use none of them.  There is one agency that importunes me to interview authors.  I don’t do book reviews or author sit-downs.  Just once, recently, […]

They All Failed

Every one of these products had publicity and glowing marketing materials.  It made no difference.  They died.  There are many reasons for the failures.  Some were redundant.  Some were aged out.  Some were absorbed into other tech.  Some failed because the market wasn’t there.  Some missed their price points.  It is instructive to read lists […]

They All Had PR

It is good for PR practitioners to remember that PR and marketing do not guarantee survival.  All these technologies had PR and marketing plans.  They didn’t live.  There are numerous reasons for their failure. They did not adapt to the marketplace no matter how good they were.  It is a sobering thought.  In my career, […]

What Were They Thinking?

The story out of Volkswagen is so strange that it is nearly unbelievable.  That a car company would have the audacity to fudge tests on its engines and then sell tens of thousands of them before the EPA caught on is putting a loaded gun to the head and pulling the trigger.  Didn’t anyone in the […]

They Must Be Kidding

So, you’re drilling a gas well, and it explodes with a roaring jet of flame that jeopardizes the local community, kills a well worker and injures another.  What do you do for homeowners living in fear of the fire?  Offer them free pizza, of course.  Seriously, that is what Chevron has done in Pennsylvania along […]