Media Relations

In the 24 hours following statements made by President Trump and the Department of Justice that could endanger the civil rights of LGBT Americans, the ACLU rapidly established itself as the dominant counterpoint in the media narrative, and deployed successful calls to action from organizing rallies to soliciting followers’ questions and concerns, which were addressed by ACLU lawyers in a live stream that garnered thousands of views and shares.

Reality checked in with me recently when a few parents on my son’s rowing team, knowing my affiliation with PR News, asked me to write the press releases for the club. Sure, it’ll be easy,… Continued

Reebok’s Twitter account took a satirical streak July 14 when it mocked President Trump’s comment to France’s first lady Brigitte Macron that she’s “in such good physical shape…beautiful.” The post has since gone viral, with more than 46,000 retweets and nearly 79,000 likes as of this morning. The tweet is a rare example of a big consumer brand challenging President Trump on his favorite social media platform. “We saw this as an opportunity—as a learning moment,” says Inga Stenta, senior director of brand management at Reebok.

Here’s one question you don’t want to be asked by a brand representative when you’re trying to resolve an ongoing issue: “Who did you speak to the last time you tried to resolve this?” Once… Continued

When I ask my friends in PR what they’d do with a bigger budget, their first instinct is to smile that “yeah, right!” smile. It’s hard enough to keep the budget they have much less… Continued

President Trump’s June 29 tweets about “Morning Joe” hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough have generated plenty of outrage in the professional media, on social channels and in home kitchens across the land. In his… Continued

On June 16, Amazon announced its $13.7 billion acquisition of Whole Foods in a press release. But what does its messaging look like to its investors and top stakeholders? In the 10 days since the press release and accompanying front-page headlines, messaging for investors has centered on sales, showing that automating more jobs is a good thing, aligning with government priorities and maintaining a CSR narrative. Here are five ways Amazon has been communicating the acquisition as a benefit to investors.

“We know data visualization is important, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy,” said Kevin Hartman, head of analytics, consumer, government and entertainment for Google, at PR News’ Visual Storytelling Boot Camp in Chicago. “You have to keep your storyline simple and readable,” said co-presenter Carolyn Barth. “And you have to know your audience and think about what’s practical for them.”

In the course of your career, you’ll have attended dozens if not hundreds of industry events where – if you’re like most human attendees – you’ve exchanged business cards as if by rote, refilled your… Continued

Andrew Hayes, VP, corporate communications at Fifth Third Bank, has seen media relations from the other side, and he wasn’t too impressed by the view. After running his own PR agency for 10 years, he… Continued