Stories by Seth Arenstein

With the unofficial start of the summer on July 4, Americans break out their grills. Demand for beef rises as a result. How can a vegetarian staple like hummus compete at this time of the year? Sabra Hummus did its homework and combined its research with humor for a campaign that goes to the heart of customers’ anxieties.

There was a slew of PR-related studies released recently. Some contained good news for the industry, others did not. Included in the findings: a good portion of executives in the U.K. don’t know what the abbreviation PR means; earned media remains a good bet; PR firm profitability remains in good shape; and MuckRack has added publisher data to its suite.

With PRNEWS’ Top Women in Healthcare Communications awards luncheon coming up later this month, we asked our data partner Shareablee to look at the most socially active pharma and healthcare insurance providers for the first months of 2019. Clearly, these sectors need to address their social media strategies as both suffered major downturns in consumer engagement vs 2018.

There are few topics that touch more people than healthcare. For the broader public, healthcare often is equated with cost. Fair enough: American healthcare spending as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product is enormous. We asked finalists for PRNEWS’ Top Women in Healthcare Communications to discuss several issues, including communicating about cost.

There are few areas more talked about than healthcare. Just look at the recent presidential debates. So, you might think healthcare communicators have it easy. The truth is they need to deal with life and death issues as well as explaining the high cost of healthcare. And what about all that medical mumbo jumbo? Ahead of next month’s PRNEWS Top Women in Healthcare Communications awards, we asked several finalists and honorees about communicating some of the industry’s pain points.

If “purpose” is to last as one of PR’s top buzzwords, brands need to step up their game. Already in the past few weeks we’ve seen Nike forced to adjust its purpose concerning treatment of pregnant spokespeople. Now Google, which espouses free speech, among other lofty values, is warning staff there will be repercussions should they protest as Google employees during this weekend’s Pride festivities in San Francisco. Apparently for Google, free speech has its limits.

On July 16 PRNEWS will honor some of the best female communicators in healthcare during its Top Women in Healthcare Communications awards luncheon. NY’s Yale Club will be the venue. Ahead of that gala event, we asked a trio of healthcare communicators, who also will help us present the awards, about how to break through the noise of the internet and maintain the human touch.

Nur Ashour, founder of cooking blog Catastrophic Cook, took to Twitter over the weekend to report that she was harassed “for wearing a hijab.” The incident occurred at a Dallas Starbucks. At first glance, it might seem to be a case of a brand being dragged into a potential crisis. Going deeper, that’s not quite it. Ashour’s complaint is against the woman who harassed her, but also includes Starbucks employees who, she alleges, did not come to her aid.

There are few fields more compelling than healthcare. And with the stress and regulation involved in healthcare, communicators in this field are some of the most creative, strategic and versatile in the business. It is fitting that PRNEWS is presenting the Top Women in Healthcare Communication Awards in NY during a gala luncheon July 16th at The Yale Club. Communicators from key healthcare practice areas will gather to celebrate, learn and network.

It’s not really news that more and more data issues are popping up at Facebook. The company’s business model is predicated on a deeply conflicted data scheme. Still, the company has hurt itself by failing to accept some of the basics of crisis management. Here are a few lessons from the latest Facebook scandal.