Media Relations

Joe Biden’s campaign was all but dead just weeks ago. Today he’s the frontrunner for a chance to unseat the president. Working with few resources and little infrastructure in Super Tuesday states, Biden communicators honed their messages and turned to garden-variety earned media and social media. It worked.

PR pros continue to consider earned media a valuable tool, according to a snap survey of 150 communicators. On the other hand, a majority say gaining media coverage is harder than ever. Perhaps as a result, 90 percent of those surveyed told us they spend very little time pitching and developing relationships with media.

Here’s a brief guide to what communicators should be doing and thinking about as the virus begins to make its way across the country.

In a wide-ranging address during day 2 of PRNEWS’ Crisis and Measurement Summit in Miami, political strategist Ana Navarro had positive and negative things to say about social media. In the end, though, she believes PR pros have a difficult but important mission to promote truth in messaging. “Don’t give up on the facts,” she said.

The Super Bowl can be a benchmark in a communicator’s career. An experience at the big game can make or break a brand, as well as bring out the best (or worst) in any professional. The hours are long, but the payoffs can be great. So what can we learn from Super Bowl PR veterans on how to handle what seems to be a larger-than-life media event?

Technology has made the world much smaller. Still, in many ways, humans remain very insular. What’s in front of us often receives most of our attention. As a result, where a news story occurs can… Continued

Away continues to experience a public failure that undermines its stated values as a community-focused global travel brand. It’s painfully clear that the luggage company’s senior leadership, especially its co-chief executive Steph Korey, needs a lesson in reputation management.

This past December at PRNEWS’ Media Relations conference in Washington, D.C., Toner talked about the changing world of Media Relations in a digital landscape, why a multi-channel approach incorporating both marketing and PR is the path to making it happen, and how to make your multi-channel game seamless.

Ethics has long been a hallmark of public relations. In this fourth and final installment of PRNEWS’ 2020 predictions, the theme of ethics seemed to dominate. Whether it be in technology, storytelling or writing, several of our prognosticators emphasized ethics’ importance in the coming year.

Embedded in Gervais’ barbs was far more than a subversive comedian taking jabs at a captive audience— a reminder that, in an election year, problematic business decisions  from the top tiers of a brand will continue to leave a mark on the celebrities, and spokespeople, who are doing work on behalf of that brand.