Stories by Seth Arenstein

Prior to PR News’ Media Relations Conference in December, PR News and partner PublicRelay, a media monitoring and analytics firm, convened a Communications Leadership

There are few topics in PR and communications that are discussed more than crisis management. To get you ready for the PR News Crisis Summit in Miami Beach later this month, we asked speakers from that event to respond to our roundtable question: What two areas should communicators invest in so they can manage future PR crises?

It’s great when you’re so famous, your name is just one word. Cher is wonderful, so are Messi and Madonna. But what about not even needing words? Everyone knows it’s Nike by the swoosh. A piece of fruit with a bite taken out of it shows who made your laptop. Now Mastercard joins the small fraternity of iconic brands with wordless logos.

Influencers are so new to communications and marketing that the term still lacks a clear definition. What’s far clearer is the importance of influencers for marketing and communications. A new PR News-Meltwater survey shows about 50% of communicators are using influencers, and the overwhelming majority are satisfied with the ROI.

In each edition of PR News we highlight takeaways from select articles as well as important additions to the PR News Subscriber Resources Center, which is available to paid subscribers.

Despite the difficulties CEOs and brands experienced in 2018, they emerged victorious in the 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer, released late last month. The public trusts businesses and CEOs most to right the ills of society. “My employer” was the most-trusted entity.

It’s a constant question facing communicators and the brands and organizations that employ them: When do you react to a situation and when is it best to say nothing or almost nothing? Apple is remaining relatively silent about its FaceTime bug, though it quickly acknowledged the situation and disabled Group FaceTime. Was this the right way to go?

The bar is raised when a company prides itself on its open culture and encourages employee feedback. Google is discovering that corporate culture is a living creature that needs care and feeding. Some of the activities the company is alleged to have done seem to run counter to the image Google seeks to create.

Americans sometimes look admiringly at their more civil British cousins. More civilized isn’t quite how we’d describe the penalties Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority brandished in the direction of celebrity influencers the other day. The U.S. and its Federal Trade Commission seem far more civilized in their treatment of influencers.

2018 was a difficult year for CEOs and brands, yet the 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer found “my employer” is the most trusted entity. In addition, the 33,000 responders in 27 countries expect CEOs, not government leaders, to help right society’s ills.