I had a chance to spend the morning at NYC’s Waldorf Astoria’s Starlight Roof. No. It wasn’t a wedding, bar mitzvah or even a debutante ball. Rather, our industry’s leading weekly magazine gathered PR’s movers and shakers for a look at What’s Next.The PR Week NEXT Conference, in celebration of the glossy’s 10th anniversary, commenced…… Continue reading PR Week’s NEXT Conference
Category: public relations
Pitch-Optimized Gmail
As someone who’s endured more than his share of misguided PR pitches,e.g., think inane dot-com come-ons, The New York Times’s intrepid NY-based tech reporter and “Bits” blogger Saul Hansell definitely deserves a medal for his fortitude.It’s a wonder to me that he still works with so many PR people, let alone has the time to…… Continue reading Pitch-Optimized Gmail
PR Critical Issues Forum
The Yale Club in New York City was buzzing today with a packed room of buzz agencies, or rather, members of the PR agency trade association The Council of PR Firms.Scoping the table tent cards, most of the big marquee firms were on hand including Ketchum, Weber Shandwick, APCO, Fleishman Hillard, Porter Novelli, Burson-Marsteller, Wagoner…… Continue reading PR Critical Issues Forum
Spray Wash
I wonder if McCain campaign COO Steve Schmidt pulled a Tom Cruise and hired his sister?Here’s campaign spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt’s explanation given to reporters who were barred from capturing Sarah Palin’s first date with a foreign leader. “The decision was made for this to be a photo spray with still cameras and video cameras only.”…… Continue reading Spray Wash
Off-Label PR-scription
I moderated a panel on social media earlier this week on which sat a savvy young PR woman whose firm handles a considerable amount of work in the pharmaceutical space.Her presence there perplexed me given the draconian regulations under which that industry operates, especially in the area of social media and online communications. What possible…… Continue reading Off-Label PR-scription
Not Ready for Prime Time
I love Joan Walsh’s comparison of Sarah Palin’s comments on Iran to those of Miss South Carolina on why Americans don’t know simple U.S. geography. First Miss South Carolina: “I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some people out there in our nation don’t have maps. And I believe…… Continue reading Not Ready for Prime Time
Road Trip Careerists
In the rush to tie up loose client ends before the Labor Day weekend, I’ve been hindered in bandwidth to pop out a pithy post.So I checked out what others in the PR punditry were up to and stumbled across (or is it stumbled upon?) Kevin Dugan’s link to Prof. Robert French’s OpenMic Project connecting…… Continue reading Road Trip Careerists
The Great Firewall
When this blog first visited the subject of how China would handle a sharply focused media spotlight, it recognized the immense public relations challenge that lied ahead for the Chinese authorities, the IOC, and their respective outside agencies.Thus far, the series of gaffes and misdeeds have by and large been washed away by the fluidity…… Continue reading The Great Firewall
Dem Past Mistakes
To engage or not to engage…that is the question. For as long as I can remember, good crisis managers stressed avoiding knee-jerk reactions to unpleasant characterizations in the media of your company or person.Crisis pros advised: “Why draw attention to something that will disappear with the next news cycle?” “You’ll only make matters worse.” “Time…… Continue reading Dem Past Mistakes
PR-Less Pitches
Robert Scoble has a worthwhile discussion on his blog. It sums up how he likes to be pitched story ideas. Hint. It’s more geek-to-geek than PR to journo, with a little crowd-sourcing thrown in for validation. It’s also “PR-less”:This is the way I love to learn about a company.No, not from a PR firm.No, not…… Continue reading PR-Less Pitches