Stories by Seth Arenstein

It was not much fun job-hunting during the record economic downturn that followed in the pandemic’s wake. Yet Olivia Olson used the moment to her advantage, finding PR pros willing to answer her questions during informational interviews. She landed at Ketchum well prepared for her media coordinator position.

Each month, we look at new terms picking up steam in the crisis landscape with a definition.

There’s one thing you can say about social media–sometimes it helps remove doubt. It goes to a principle that communicators know well: Nothing disappears once it’s posted on social media.

It’s a loaded question to ask when a PR crisis ends. With some crises, reminders last indefinitely. In other cases, the actual crisis lasts for months. We begin a series that updates crises mentioned in previous editions of Crisis Insider and offers additional insights.

For some, transparency and trust took a detour recently. A marketing company dangled COVID-19 vaccine in front of employees to see if they’d bite on a phishing scam. Some communicators believe the move might be justified in an effort to ward off cyber crime. Let the debate continue.

As if we needed another illustration of the long tail of social media posts. Alexi McCammond seemed to have everything going for her: intelligence, a great job, youth and a well-connected beau. Her upward path hit a bump or two, but she’d recovered, until racist social posts she wrote as a teen resurfaced.

In the second installment of our “Young Voices” series about new communicators, we profile Michael Galfetti, a young PR pro with Mission North. A double major in government and philosophy in college, Galfetti tells us why he thinks writing is PR’s top skill and how companies can retain talented communicators.

Was there a recent time when communicators had a more confusing ecosystem in which to tell stories? US-based PR pros are working in a climate that includes political fragmentation, a year-old pandemic mired in those political divisions, an erosion of trust in public and private institutions and a meteoric rise in disinformation.

Late last year Yves Saint Laurent Beauty launched an ambitious, multi-pronged effort, Abuse is Not Love, around IPV. The program aims to educate audiences, including YSL employees, help advocacy groups get out their messages and fund academic research to bolster thought leadership around prevention and youth awareness.

PRNEWS interviewed Alan Sexton, Prudential Financial CCO, who believes PR pros, who work throughout the enterprise are vital to succeeding within business ecosystems. In addition, he’s tracking the employee experience in a WFH world, with an eye to avoiding cultural decay.