Pitch Imperfect: PR’s Lost Art

In previous end-of-the-year assessments of the public relations biz, I’ve tackled the following trends and developments: 2015: The need for PR pros to consider paid digital marketing schemes to advance their client’s communications objectives, i.e., “we no longer can rely solely on the benevolence of journalists to tell their stories (“New Media & The PR…… Continue reading Pitch Imperfect: PR’s Lost Art

Trump: The Art of the Lie

It’s hard to imagine how Mr. Trump can survive the incessant onslaught of negative media coverage until the GOP Convention in July, let alone the general election. (I imagine GOP kingmakers are currently conspiring on how to blackmail their controversial candidate to bow out of the race and begrudgingly endorse a Ryan or Romney in…… Continue reading Trump: The Art of the Lie

Content Marketing Is So Last Year

KIMOJI’S APP LAUNCHES TOMORROW!!! pic.twitter.com/aXl8hiMobn — Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) December 20, 2015 Many in my line of work will view the title of this post as heresy. Nonetheless, an admittedly unscientific look at who or what really moves the needle nowadays will likely reveal that those carefully crafted pieces of branded content contributed to…… Continue reading Content Marketing Is So Last Year

In Search Of A Better Media Experience

The clients of each company include many of the most prestigious news brands in the media industry. One works with the likes of The New York Times, Bloomberg, Reuters, ABC News, and NewsCorp, while the second represents prestige publishers like Time Inc., CBSi, Hearst, NBC, Meredith, Vice, and Vox Media. Each, in its own way,…… Continue reading In Search Of A Better Media Experience

Not Lovin’ It: Two Ill-Fated Promotions

There’s nothing like a good facilitator to get a team’s creative juices flowing during an agency brainstorm session. I’ll never forget the late Charlie Farley — yes that’s his real name — after whom Cohn & Wolfe named its creativity award. Charlie had a knack for and a few cool techniques for extracting some out-of-the-box…… Continue reading Not Lovin’ It: Two Ill-Fated Promotions

New Media & The PR Pro: A Look Ahead

I can’t decide whether these are the best of times or the worst of times for public relations professionals. Clearly, we’re thriving in a changed and changing world that, frankly, is not well suited to those accustomed to the status quo. On the one hand, companies still crave and handsomely compensate their agencies for stories…… Continue reading New Media & The PR Pro: A Look Ahead

PR’s House Of Media Cards

Appointment TV has seen better days. Sure, live sporting events, big-time award shows, live TV talk, and breaking news still have the capacity to draw large, shared audiences in real-time. But more and more consumers are opting to time-shift their regular cable, broadcast and video viewing to align with their own schedules. Netflix’s release of…… Continue reading PR’s House Of Media Cards

Lena Dunham and Charles Blow: Literary Tales & Sales

As someone who has dabbled in book PR over the years, I can’t help but notice how the art and dynamics of this specialized practice have evolved. Most significantly, I’m seeing how a newly published author, with a sizable social media following, can play a pivotal role in driving awareness, esteem and…ultimately sales. There are, however,…… Continue reading Lena Dunham and Charles Blow: Literary Tales & Sales

News You Can’t Use

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…… Continue reading News You Can’t Use

The Pleasure & Pain Of Branded Social Media

During a recent Bulldog Reporter webinar I moderated on the subject of media relations 2.0, a senior communications professional from the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) noted that when the organization wanted to announce news, it simply posted the story to its Facebook, LinkedIn and Pinterest pages, Twitter and Instagram feeds, and probably one or two…… Continue reading The Pleasure & Pain Of Branded Social Media