Archive: July 2013

Not long ago I returned from three weeks traveling through India by myself. While planning this eight-city adventure, a voice inside my head kept telling me I was nuts: India?

Midsummer is the perfect time for public relations and communications-agency owners and leaders to evaluate their companies’ achievements over the past six months. Many will review work product, staff performance, and new business wins, as well as client results and satisfaction.

There was a time when PR professionals tried to demonstrate the value of their contributions by counting clips and calculating the cost of the placements, as if that space had been bought as advertising. That time was, sadly, now. I’m saddened to hear that that’s still the method some agencies and their clients use.

When Twinkies parent company Hostess went out of business late last year there was an outpouring of sentiment from millions of people for the spongy cake with the creamy filling, which dates back to 1930. Saying goodbye to such an iconic brand was hard to, er, swallow for a lot of older consumers, who equate Twinkies with their childhood.

Maintaining a satisfactory work environment is not only an ethical practice, but also a way to help craft a quality external image. 24/7 Wall St. recently released its list of America’s worst companies to work for and identified nine exceptionally bad corporate work environments.

Branded content is ubiquitous, but you need to have a solid strategy in place to capitalize on it. Doing so will not only ensure that your content gets seen, but also that it doesn’t end up going viral for the wrong reasons.

Anthony Weiner — or should we say “Carlos Danger” — is in the throes of a new crisis stemming from his apparent sexting habit. His poll numbers have already taken a huge hit, as reported by CNN.

Facebook is going to implement menus and options that will enable users to say why they are hiding a particular ad or sponsored post in their news feed. This presumably voluntary feedback will help brands target their paid content better on Facebook.

New York mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner, also known as Carlos Danger in the sexting world, issued an apology this week after more salacious text messages surfaced between him and a twenty-something Indiana woman. The messages were exchanged after he …

New York mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner, also known as Carlos Danger in the sexting world, issued an apology this week after more salacious text messages surfaced between him and a twenty-something Indiana woman. The messages were exchanged after he resigned from Congress in 2011 amid a sexting scandal, promising to rehabilitate. At his press conference […]