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March Madness begins today on hardwood courts around the country for a select group of college basketball teams. To mark this event, our monthly publication PR News asked several members of the 2018 PR News Rising Stars class to dish on the following questions: What about PR and marketing gets you mad and what can be done about it?

Asking the questions ‘So What? Why Now?’ when you’re writing a pitch or a press release was just one of many tips offered during PR News’ Writing Workshop March 15, 2019, in Washington, D.C. Others included the importance of grammar and excessive proofreading-one former journalist said she used to discard pitches that contained typos and poor grammar.

It’s the 75th anniversary of PR News this month and we are celebrating in a variety of ways during the coming months, with editorial features about PR’s history and on what’s to come. There also will be a commemorative Power of PR magazine and an anniversary party in NY in October. This 75th anniversary is a celebration of you, our loyal readers, event attendees, award entrants and engaged voices across all our platforms.

Each year, PR News recognizes the leaders and campaigns creating the most social good at our CSR & Nonprofit awards luncheon. The 2019 event, hosted at the the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., saw… Continued

What content is TikTok’s burgeoning young audience most interested in? In a word: fun. Hashtag challenges and lip synch contests have become the platform’s vernacular. The app has placed a heavy focus on artificial intelligence, meaning the algorithm learns quickly and is custom-tailored to each user’s tastes. There also isn’t much pressure for users to build a large following—at least not in the same way that Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have quantified influence.

Before social media, an exchange between a PR pro and a journalist was akin to what goes on in Vegas. It stayed in Vegas. Now, though, some reporters seem to revel in exposing the miscues of communicators, writes Frank Ahrens, the former VP of corporate communications at Hyundai Motor and now a VP at BGR PR. Pro tip: Write email pitches with the understanding they could turn up on social media.

The standard line today is that it’s best for brands to practice transparency as much as possible. Maybe, though, the largest brands can get away with not being transparent. Amazon made two significant policy changes in the first weeks of March and refused to say anything about them. Nike endured a few months of crisis prior to Colin Kaepernick with nary a public word. Was avoiding comment the right call?

That moment you’ve secured the first batch of influencers to promote your brand’s products, services or values is incredibly exciting. Partnering with people who can speak to what you do is an increasingly valuable media relations strategy whether your influencers are micro or macro. But with the Federal Trade Commission cracking down on influencers for not disclosing their partnerships and relationships, you’ve got to make sure that your contract, or influencer agreement, is clear in both language and expectations around disclosure.

The fatal crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 on March 10, 2019, re-opened PR issues surrounding a previous air disaster, the demise of a Lion Air flight in October 2018. Boeing’s 737 Max 8 was the aircraft in both crashes. Boeing denies a new flight control system in the Max 8 is to blame for the Lion Air crash. It also claims it communicated to airlines how to use the system. Some victims’ families deny Boeing’s claims.

There’s much to celebrate today, which is International Women’s Day, or IWD as it’s known on social media. While many brands are taking the day to tout the strides women have made, others are selfishly co-opting the moment in pursuit of profits. Meanwhile the PR community should have mixed emotions today too. PR has had plenty of success in recognizing women, yet sexism remains, as does a wage gap and a dearth of women in leadership roles.