Depending on your passions and personality, buying a car is either like death and taxes or it’s like vacations and massages. It’s either unavoidable or a much-anticipated joy. I tend to fall into the former category where I dread the activity of …
Archive:
A PR Homage to The Hunger Games
March 26th, 2012 by Diane SchwartzIf 24 PR executives were sent every year to the Arena to battle it out, would you watch? Would you be one of the “tributes” or better yet (worse yet?), would you volunteer to be a tribute to save your colleague from near-imminent death? No need to …
A Cool Head in a Sea of Angry Customers
March 19th, 2012 by Steve GoldsteinWe’ve all had to deal with angry customers. Disappointed clients, infuriated readers, resentful consumers—whatever your line of work, there’s somebody who’s not happy with what they bought from you. If you’re a communicator wo…
Goldman Sachs Director’s Exit Interview For All the World To See: Toxic and Cautionary
March 14th, 2012 by Diane SchwartzGreg Smith, executive director at Goldman Sachs, resigned today and he wants the world to know that the environment at the Goliath investment firm is “now is as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it.” The New York Times today is ru…
You Don’t Work Weekends — Or Do You?
March 13th, 2012 by Diane SchwartzIt’s been noted that Monday through Friday is a typical work week in North America, with weekends freed up for everything but work. There are exceptions with the occasional business trip that bleeds into the weekend or a project that needs extra atte…
PR Pros Lie? Say It Isn’t So
March 13th, 2012 by Scott Van CampA blog post by a writer at the U.K.’s Guardian has fueled an ethics debate over the weekend that has reached across the pond to America. The post, provocatively titled “Have you ever been lied to by a PR?” was actually in response to another post…
Trying to Prove PR’s Value? All You Need Is an iPhone
March 9th, 2012 by Steve GoldsteinA flight attendant went berserk on an American Airlines plane this morning as it taxied for takeoff in Dallas, and some of the action was broadcast on the Web. This got me thinking: Who got the first email or call at American when the story broke? I th…
Saints Bounty: Consequences Loom, but Not For PR
March 5th, 2012 by Scott Van CampHas the news that the New Orleans Saints had a “bounty” program—paying defensive players $1,500 for a “knockout” and $1,000 for a “cart-off” of offensive opponents—been a PR disaster for the NFL? Hardly. Currently the NFL is exp…
Ben & Jerry’s ‘Lin-Sanity’ Flavor Leaves Bad Taste
February 27th, 2012 by Scott Van CampJeremy Lin’s hoop success not only brought questions about how players of different ethnicity, experience and education are judged in the NBA, but also questions of political correctness and racial sensitivity—or insensitivity—off the court. …
Innovation Is Overrated
February 24th, 2012 by Steve GoldsteinWe asked a simple question on the PR News Facebook page this week: “What words are overused in press releases?” “Innovative” popped up the most among the responses. Did your eyes glaze over when you read that? That’s the …