Dear Leslie,No one said it would be easy. Lucrative? Yes. High profile? For sure. Exciting? Well…it is Bentonville, after all.But changing an intransigent corporate culture is damned hard work. A dose of social media certainly didn’t do it. Quite the opposite.The last thing you needed today is an HP-like scandal followed by inadequate answers that…… Continue reading Tap Tap Tap
Category: public relations
The Committee to Unprotect Journalists
If you think American journalists are under government siege, their plight pales in comparison to the way Russia deals with its investigative scribes (or any other malcontent).They just murder them, or so it appears, based on today’s news emanating from that increasingly despotic regime.AP Moscow reported moments ago that Ivan Safronov, the military affairs writer…… Continue reading The Committee to Unprotect Journalists
Flaming the Fans
March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. On this first day of the month that ushers in spring, we’re seeing some lion-like behavior aimed at two vital critics at arguably the most influential newspaper in the nation.The first incident involved the braggadocio restaurateur whose too-real reality show didn’t help in…… Continue reading Flaming the Fans
Life’s a Beach
I’m not a big MySpace fan, but there are plenty who are (for now). I much prefer FaceBook for my boys given some of the safeguards in place there.Relatively quietly (unless you consider Ynetnews.com a mainstream media outlet) the State of Israel has opened an outpost on News Corp’s dominant and youthful social network. And…… Continue reading Life’s a Beach
The Micropersuader
You have to admire Steve Rubel. Sure, many PR people are jealous of his high ranking (89) on the Technorati stats or that he’s become a really famous PR person. (I wonder if he even considers himself a PR person?)Hey Steve, this blogger finally broke the 36,000 mark — a motivating milestone rationalized by simple…… Continue reading The Micropersuader
Scribes & Shooters
I’m not obsessed with paparazzi. Though one couldn’t help but notice the $200 million that Getty forked over last week for celeb photo agency WireImage. (Would WireImage’s shooters even consider themselves paparazzi?)The paparazzi do however play an incongruously glorified role in today’s complex ecosystem of news gathering — especially when one considers the ever-widening news…… Continue reading Scribes & Shooters
Million Dollar Motion
It was fun seeing Ellen doing some man-on-the-aisle (versus MOS) interviews last night during the Oscar telecast. She handed a screenplay to eventual Oscar-winning director Marty and posed for a close-up with Clint after giving her digital camera to Steven Spielberg.She even had the temerity — and good comic timing — to ask the world’s…… Continue reading Million Dollar Motion
Coal-Fire Sale
Talk about doing a 180. When the news first broke that fabled buyout king Henry Kravis would embark on his(tory’s) biggest deal ever, the first write didn’t exactly position the target in the most favorable light.Following the superlatives from NYTimes deal reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin, there, in the second paragraph, was the rub:”The amount of…… Continue reading Coal-Fire Sale
Getty Gobbles
We all know how much money an exclusive image of an A-lister out-of-context, or preferably out-of-control, can command from consumer-facing media.But the market value of the companies that intermediate between the shooters and the media came further into focus yesterday with news of the sale of Wire Image to GettyImages for…$200 million.The news release summed…… Continue reading Getty Gobbles
Divorce Dancing
I was with a lawyer friend last night when the subject turned to litigation PR, a most robust and lucrative PR industry practice specialty. We both agreed that lawyers and PR people are frequently at odds over what, when, how and even if, trial information should flow into the public domain.We also debated the risks/rewards…… Continue reading Divorce Dancing