Downton Abbey has enjoyed tremendous attention and affection from its fans and the media over the four seasons the British-bred period costume drama has aired here on PBS’s Masterpiece Theatre. But as with any TV series poised to again compete for viewers against a myriad programming choices across big screens and small, the show needed […]
Downton Abbey’s Bottle Bonanza Read More »
I was among the first New Yorkers to sign up for Uber back in May 2011 when the premium on-call taxi service announced its Big Apple debut at the New York Tech Meetup. I must admit that I didn’t take my first ride until a couple of years later when my college-aged son ordered one
UBER: So Cool, Yet So Uncool Read More »
The hits keep coming, but not the media hits clients crave. Rather, today has surfaced a trio of PR faux pas’s that will surely leave those who’ve toiled in the business for any length of time scratching their heads. The first offense involves a thin-skinned upstate New York hotel, built by the Vanderbilts and Rockefellers
Shocking Stories From The PR Trenches Read More »
In my last post, I talked about the recent Online News Association and Twitter-co-hosted meetup that explored the issue of verifying news and images that spread unchecked via social media. The topic, and the tools/techniques showcased, were put to the test the very next day with the downing of a Malaysian airline by Russian-backed separatists in
Israel Ups Its Social Narrative On Gaza Read More »
Last week, we found ourselves at Twitter’s New York City offices for an event whose topic couldn’t have been more timely in light of the downing of Malaysia Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine the next day. We met for the monthly gathering of the Online News Association’s NYC chapter, a vibrant Meetup group with 1750 members all
News You Can’t Use Read More »
Earlier today, Buzzfeed’s Charlie Warzel tweeted a link to his story that exposed Verizon for giving preferential help to customers with large social followings. The revelation went public via an accidental tweet to the 78,000 followers of Verizon Support’s main Twitter account. Warzel tried to contact them to ask about the inadvertent tweet: “When reached
Creepy Tales From Comcast and Verizon Support Read More »
A little more than ten years ago, I found myself sitting in the green room of NBC’s “Today” show alongside the founder/CEO of one of our agency’s largest clients, Sun Microsystems. I was asked to accompany Scott McNealy on the morning following his testimony before Congress about Microsoft’s monopolistic ways. I hadn’t previously met Mr.
Tech Monopoly Money Read More »
I stumbled across a post from the managing editor of BroBible, a site that I’m told is a must-read for the testosterone-driven set. In this particular post, J. Camm laments the inane PR pitches for this app or another that incessantly penetrate his inbox on any given day. “It’s exhausting opening all of them, knowing
That Errant Sex Tape Read More »
I don’t know how many times I’ve shared this tale of how Mark Cuban, in the nascent days of citizen journalism (i.e., blogging, CGM), took to his blog to pointedly refute, line-by-line, a decidedly negative New York Times profile of him by Andrew Ross Sorkin. (The original interview was conducted via email, the full text
Look What Mark Cuban Started Read More »
The new business pitch went down as one of the most memorable in the annals of new business pitches. The late Geoff Nightingale, a wicked smart, bigger-than-life PR agency creative executive turned up at the final presentation with a cute little dog on a leash and a brown paper bag in hand. He proceeded to
Pitchin’ Nightmares Read More »
