Never Mind: As PR pros know, when you refuse to tell your brand’s story, chances are decent that someone else will do it for you, accurately or not. That’s been the story with Theranos, which likely has cemented itself as a case study in college PR classes. A former Wall St and media darling, Theranos sought to disrupt the blood-testing industry. Its revolutionary device is called Edison. An Edison test required just a drop of patient blood and cost far less than standard blood tests. Edison’s potential made Theranos a star and its young founder, Elizabeth Holmes, a celeb and a billionaire. Late last year The Wall St Journal reported Edison didn’t work as advertised. Essentially the company refused to discuss the allegation, and the rumors started (PRN, Dec 21, 2015). Last month, after failing to address persistent stories about the existence of a negative report from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) about a Theranos laboratory (PRN, April 4), the brand admitted finally it was working with the federal agency to address “issues” (PRN, April 18). Those issues could result in stiff fines for the brand and preventing Holmes from owning a laboratory for two years. Skip to May 19 and there’s another Wall St Journal report, this one alleging Theranos has voided two years of results from Edison tests and has issued thousands of corrected blood-test reports to doctors and patients. The results on the corrected reports were made using traditional blood-testing equipment. The Journal found doctors who confirmed receiving the corrected reports. In addition, it located a doctor who sent a patient to the emergency room on the basis of an erroneous Edison report. In response to this latest media report, Theranos, in a statement, said, “Excellence in quality and patient safety is our top priority and we’ve taken comprehensive corrective measures to address the issues CMS raised in their observations.”
News Bits: Omnicom Public Relations Group acquired Rabin Martin, a global health strategy consulting firm. – DDCworks moved its HQ from the suburbs to The Cast Iron Building, in Philadelphia’s rejuvenated Center City. -- JWT said it filed to dismiss Erin Johnson’s harassment suit against it and former chairman Gustavo Martinez.
Platform Prater: Instagram in a few months will be far more useful for business communicators with the addition of Facebook-like analytics tools and profiles, according to reports in Later and TechCrunch. Businesses will be able to use profiles that will include a contact button, access to maps and directions and a categorization feature. The analytics are expected to be similar to Facebook’s deep dive data tool.
Studies: Organizations have much work to do in “prioritizing and communicating strategy internally,” a new organizational clarity study of companies in five countries (U.S., U.K., China, Brazil and India) by the Institute for PR concludes. In addition, most employees were unlikely to feel fairly rewarded and some organizations do not have a solid understanding of the workforce, which hurts organizational clarity. Takeaways: employees are diverse and internal communications should no longer be treated as a “one-size-fits-all proposition”; create continual conversations with employees; “strategy alignment and clarity start at the top”; “if employees do not understand the marketplace they will not be interested in the company’s direction and their role, so place employees at the apex of business strategy.” IPR says Organizational Clarity: The Case for Workforce Alignment and Belief is the first iteration of its Clarity Research Project. – Overwhelmed by the amount of content you’re asked to produce? You’re not alone, a poll of 100 marketers finds. Not only that, the focus on churning out more content “is causing marketers to lose confidence” in their ability to personalize content to the needs of customers. The Content Fitness Report from PAN Communications says marketers continue to struggle with measuring content’s effectiveness and “aligning metrics to brand goals.” Although the marketers said they’re gaining confidence in their digital abilities, “keeping up with content and mobile trends” remains a concern. On the positive side, marketers are keen to adopt “more interactive approaches to targeting their audience.”
People: National Geographic Global Networks promoted Chris Albert to EVP, global communications & talent relations for National Geographic Channels. A good friend of PR News, Albert began with Nat Geo as director of communications in 2000 and was with Sony Pictures Television. – República named Lourdes Mateo de Acosta SVP of communications and head of its PR practice. Mateo de Acosta has held senior positions at Edelman and Weber Shandwick Worldwide among others. – Jackson National Life Insurance named Emilio Pardo SVP, CMO and CCO. Pardo was chief brand officer and executive team member at AARP.