Media Relations

The 2015 NCAA men’s basketball tournament heads toward the Final Four this weekend. But consumer brands have been scrambling to align their messages with March Madness since it started nearly two weeks ago.

How do professional communicators prepare for the impossible-to-foresee developments in the aftermath of a catastrophic, tragic event?

Most any merger will have ripple effects throughout the companies’ communication efforts, but this one should be a real doozy.

Spring is in the air, and so are significant changes at some of the most popular brands. These are not marginal changes where a press release and a few media hits will suffice to get out the message, though. They are major breaks from the branded past that require long-term communication strategies and a sustained effort by PR pros.

Unlike some audiences that brands and organizations cater to, influencers are not monolithic but are a loosely affiliated group of individuals who can have a pivotal influence on PR’s ability to drive conversation and spread the word. But getting people online to share information about your company’s products/services or values requires a different mindset than blasting a press release to a similar demographic or giving a presentation to like-minded people.

While some have applauded Starbucks’ efforts, others have hammered a new campaign focusing on race in the U.S.

A special event is a great springboard for what your brand has in the pipeline and how you are better serving your customers and prospects.

SXSW Interactive returns for its 22nd year to Austin, Texas this week. This year’s festival is sure to offer up plenty of interesting and inspiring content for PR pros, with presentations and panels covering branding and marketing, content and distribution, the future of tech and emerging workforce trends.

New social and digital trends have done away with traditional models and fundamentally changed the way PR interacts with the media and the public. Cision’s “The State of the Media 2015 Report” examines traditional and social media in 2014 as well as the rise of mobile, video and new media entrepreneurs.

The Not There campaign is a clever demonstration of bringing an important issue into the public conversation to spark a dialogue and hopefully draw support for the cause.