Archive:

Super Bowl XLVIII is now set, with the Denver Broncos pitted against the Seattle Seahawks. But brand managers and PR pros have been scrambling for weeks if not months to come up with the most effective way(s) to align their message with the big game. Indeed, throughout the next 10 days or so, expect to […]

You can feel yourself age when you use such antiquated words like “telephone” in front of your 12-year-old son. “Mom, who says ‘telephone’ anymore?” He has a point. Every now and then “telephone” creeps into my language, as do other throwbacks like Rolodex and VCR.  Just as we don’t say “telephone” very often, we also […]

English has 1.1 million words, more words than any other language, according to the Global Language Monitor and other sources. That’s double the next most prolific language. And English adds about 15 words per day, or one every 98 minutes. So 400 years after the greatest English wordsmith of them all, William Shakespeare, the language […]

When police officers leave for work they literally put their lives on the line. Ditto for military personnel and firefighters. When PR pros leave for work they may face a manager unhappy with the results from the latest branding campaign or have to engage in interoffice politics that few companies and organizations are immune from. […]

At PR News’ recent Media Relations Conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., Amy Eisman of American University’s School of Communication and a founding editor of USA Today brought up the concept of the “journalist whisperer.” This is a PR professional who can speak a journalist’s language on the platform they want to be […]

The good thing about New Year’s resolutions is that no one is really listening closely to what you are resolving to do.  But resolutions do crystallize our goals and make the month of January, at least, a little more interesting. For communicators the world over, you should expect 2014 to bring the following: > Crises, […]

There are certain people who even when they’re smiling warmly have a certain gravitas. They have a certain air that suggests intelligence, calculation, control, even as they engage the people around them. Bill Clinton has that. So does Denzel Washington. Oprah Winfrey. Colin Powell does, and Ronald Reagan did too. One thing that struck me […]

Surprise! Beyonce released her fifth album on Friday without advance notice and with much fanfare as 80,000 fans purchased her self-titled album within 72 hours of release on itunes, and if it doesn’t hit #1 this week then call me Stupid. That’s right – Beyonce’s non-marketing marketing included no ads, commercials, media interviews, late-night hosting […]

The next two weeks are prime time for holiday office parties. Office parties are the few occasions when we gather with our colleagues but don’t necessarily feel obligated to talk shop. They’re a license for people to lighten up from the daily and demanding grind. But for PR managers and directors, these gatherings are an […]

In a Dec. 6 PR News webinar on writing relevant, share-worthy press releases, Myra Oppel, regional communications vice president for utility company Pepco Holdings, and Jana Telfer, associate director, communication science, for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, tackled the thorny question of whether the news release is dying—or already dead. Their answer: it’s toast. […]